Letters to the Editors
Editors slammed
Sir and Madam, I am horrified at the level of editing in your newspaper I simply cannot understand why such a misogynistic, homophobic piece as ‘Sex on the net’ was allowed to go to print! Firstly, he is talking rubbish there is no ‘overwhelming evidence for evolutionary hardwiring’. I suggest you talk to a biologist this is a well-known fallacy. Besides that it is also clearly illogical.
Men are hard wired to have lots of sex, women are hardwired to be picky but he then states in the next paragraph that there are roughly equal numbers of both clearly women have managed to get over their evolutionary drawbacks. I hope the writers and editors of this newspaper learn to do the same.
Perhaps both men and women are hardwired for sex at which point why on earth are there dsitinctions between the sexes? The picture you provide with the article is purile and offensive (would you have called Dixie a conquest if she were a he?). I also find the link made between gay men and ‘higher promiscuity’ offensive.
Would you be shocked to learn there are monogamous gay couples? Also leaving out a mention of lesbianism was very telling is the reader to assume they do not exist? Or that they have sex so rarely (really, what is the chance two women both want sex at the same time?) that STD’s are never a problem. And bisexuals? A myth surely...
Please stop printing rubbish like this surely the student newspaper of one the best universities in the world should be intelligent and thought-provoking, not a tawdry repetition of the same prejudices and beliefs as the tabloid newspaper.
Amy Mason, Magdalen
A social response
Sir and Madam, Ted Alexander (Letters to the editor, 16th Feb) argues that campaigners for socially responsible investment should work to change the law through Parliament, as opposed to trying to ‘enforce’ their particular ethical considerations directly on investors who invest legally. My concern here is rich institutions’ material and moral support for firms which cooperate with regimes guilty of on-going and large-scale human rights violations.
I won’t name them, but consider one UK company’s erstwhile joint enterprise with the Burmese military junta, and another’s supply of equipment to the Indonesian air-force. I believe all peaceful means may be pursued in working to end such regimes’ atrocities, including trying to persuade (not ‘enforce’) investors to consider the human consequences of their decisions.
There is no pressing reason to privilege legal reform over the ‘ethical’ agitation of investors, as your correspondent proposed.
William Alter New
Biased and misleading
Sir and Madam, A few years ago, The Oxford Student was voted the best student newspaper in the country. I can’t help but think your standards have sunk since then. Your article ‘Disputes split Student Union’ in last week’s issue was misleading, heavily biased and badly written. The vast majority of the article repeated verbatim the views of one person, allowing little or no right of reply for OUSU offi- cials.
Furthermore, the real issue over the proposed reforms to vital minority committees within OUSU was obscured by the sensationalist way the story was approached. Your paper has in the past, and currently has the potential to produce better quality journalism. I sincerely hope in future issues it does.
Alexander Baker OUSU Press Officer
Throwing some light
Sir and Madam, The JCR Women’s Officer at St Hilda’s, Rosa Knight, has created an online petition calling on the City Council to install better lighting on Cowley Place, where the entrance to St Hilda’s is. The area really is extremely dark and intimidating at night, which is real cause for concern as all St Hilda’s students must pass through it if coming or going in the evening, and it’s also very close to Magdalen Bridge, where several attacks on students have taken place.
We are hoping students will lend their support http://new.PetitionOnline. com/ILoCP/petition.html.
Ellie Cumbo OUSU VP (women)
Protesting too much
Sir and Madam, From my chambers in Holywell Street I have of late observed some curious types wandering hither and yon shouting, “Stop the Oxford Enema Lab.” I have never had an enema, but I expect that their other chant, “Stop the Oxford Torture Lab” is no melodramatisation of the practice. It disturbs me that the university is involved. Shouldn’t this kind of thing be tested on animals first ?
Anonymous
23rd Feb 2006