Seton Hall University - Galleon Yearbook (South Orange, NJ)

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(Above and Below) Pam Sheldrick talked about women ' s image in the news media. (Left) Marilyn Hayes (l-r) and Dorchen Leidholdt founded Women Against Pornography.

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hold the aristocratic power in El Salvador. The documentary film shown exposed the conditions under which the per- secuted peasants lived o n a daily basis. Ac- cording to the films ' makers, nonviolent peace rallies, demonstrations and protests far better working conditions and wages almost always end in violence, shooting and death. Fearful of being overthrown, the 14 families prevent the unification and social growth of the people they con- trol. The Junta, the governing body of El Salvador, helps this suppression with American guns. The peasant who must daily ride the bus to and from work does so knowing that every ride could be the last. A busload of peasants was stopped in the streets and all the passengers were killed; a 10-year-old girl witnessed the brutal shooting and stabbing of her mother and her aunt. The evidence given in the presentation supported the concluding statement of Dr. William Wipfler, director of the Human Rights Office of the National Council of Churchers; It is a crime in El Salvador to be a student, an educator, or a religious figure; it is a crime to walk the streets. The American people should not accept the events in El Salvador. 0 Mcmeri Against Pcrncgraptiy Walking down 42nd Street and the rest of the Time Square area, everyone notices that this is the pornography pit of New York City. Many people may remark, un- der their breath, how disgusting it is but they take no action. Other concerned in- dividuals ban together to do something about it, such as Marilyn Hayes and Karen Rose. They are members of Women Against Pornography who lectured in the Galleon Cafeteria on February 28, 1981. The event was sponsored by Every Woman ' s Center. The content of pornography is anti- woman propaganda. It supports the ideology that men have total access to women ' s bodies, Hayes said. To stress this point they showed slides depicting hard as well as soft core pornography. Some members of the audience questioned why they show the very material the organization is against. Through its presentation, they demon- strated the similarities between hard core pornography and advertising. Degrading images appear on billboards and album covers as well as Screw and Hustler. The pictures also showed the tragedies of child pornography. In many instances, children, as well as women in bondage, made it appear they derived pleasure from such treatment. These pictures are believed to encourage cases of child abuse and battered women. 0 Wcmerfs Image In ti c Media The natives sit hypnotized by the voice and images transmitted by their god. They follow the commands with no hesitation. The deity has total control over their lives. Expressions they hear become part of their children ' s daily vocabulary. The followers dress and act in the same man- ner as many of the transmitted images. The people can not tear themselves away even to eat meals. Many have small altars in various rooms in their homes. It also becomes a babysitter. Children spend an average of thirty-five hours a week in front of the altar. The god is television and the natives are Americans. The media have a great con- trol over every aspect of the citizens ' lives. In today ' s day and age of women striving for equality, the media, still stereotype women as fumbling, idiotic females. Television portrays women as moronic housewives, obsessed with cleanliness. Women are surrounded with the male ideal of female beauty, flawless with no wrinkles or lines. This is an impossible ideal to achieve. The progress for women ' s equality is very slow. To advance, the people in con- trol of the media must share the same ideals as those striving for women ' s equality, said Pam Sheldrick, a speaker for Sexploitation : Women in the Media, a program held in the Galleon Cafeteria. The event, sponsored by the Woman ' s Ac- tion Alliance, had approximately 125 peo- ple in attendance. When a woman is a gorgeous sex sym- bol, she gets every positive coverage. As soon as her flaws are discovered, she is scorned, Sheldrick said. Besides being exploited, women are not given the same amount of coverage as men. They do not

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have equal access to the media, especially the newspapers. Two thousand women marched on the Pentagon. No major papers in the area covered the recent event. In New York City, there was a press conference against the use of young girls as sex objects. This was not put on a straight-news page in the New York Times but under the fashion section, Sheldrick said. This problem exists because most of the power positions are occupied by men, Sheldrick said. Also, many women ' s groups do not have the money to generate adequate publicity. There are three alternatives to solve this problem. First, women can stay in the es- tablished press and strive to obtain the decision-making power. Many times we are laughed at and are beaten down, said Sheldrick. Second, concerned people can meet with the media controllers, such as the editors and producers, and talk calmly about the lack of coverage for women and demonstrate the severity of their problems through petitions and accurate statistics. Sheldrick has been informed several times that women ' s actions are not newsworthy. Third, many women have become so frustrated with the established press they have begun their own radio stations and newspapers. The first radio station of this type hit the air waves in February of this year. The main goal of many of these media outlets is to have the main stream media take over their coverage and even- tually put them out of business. Q A. Girzberg Soviet dissident and former political prisoner Alexander Ginzberg spoke to ap- proximately 120 people in the Student Center April 13 about his years of oppres- sion and imprisonment in Communist Russia. Ginzberg, a central figure within the in- ternational human rights movement, spent more than nine years in Soviet prisons and labor camps until his release to the West in 1979 in exchange for two convicted Soviet spies. Speaking through a translator, Ginzburg discussed the continuing human rights struggle in the U.S.S.R. which has inten- sified in recent years despite continuing opposition from world leaders. Ginzburg first came to the attention of Soviet officials when, while working as a journalist, he published a literary journal containing works by young poets critical of the government. As Ginzburg ex- 26