The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: sexism

  • Double Down on Double Standards

    Double Down on Double Standards

    Katie Hill’s resignation highlights sexual misconduct double standards in politics

    At least 25 women have come forward with allegations against President of the United States Donald Trump, some from as far back as 1970.

    Allegations of at least two improper relationships with former staff were made against Congresswoman Katie Hill.

    Trump remains in office. Meanwhile, conservative media ran explicit photos they received from Hill’s previous competition as part of a smear campaign, resulting in Hill’s resignation on Oct. 27.

    We don’t believe Hill to be a perpetrator. We believe Hill to be a victim of revenge porn and of the double standards of our current political and social climate.

    We are entering an era where the up and coming generation are products of a technologically advanced world. This generation will be the next to represent us in politics.

    The men who remain in office despite their sexual misconduct must step down. The justice system must not fail to reprimand those who spread revenge porn the way they’ve failed the women who have spoken up against them.

    There are men who have been removed from their positions or missed out on opportunities because of actual sexual misconduct.

    The difference between these men and Katie Hill is that they were removed because they were sexual predators. They played an active hand in sexual behavior that was not consensual, legal or both.

    Roy Moore, a republican who wanted to fill the Alabama Senate seat left open by Jeff Sessions, lost to democrat Doug Jones in a 2017 special election.

    Moore had four sexual misconduct allegations against him for soliciting sex from minors per Alabama state law and voters were still conflicted on which way to vote.

    This behavior is worth the lost seat. Moore was not fit to be in a position of power as a predator.

    Hill is dealing with allegations of affairs but not of sexual harassment. Though you might be able to identify those affairs as an act of misconduct, the difference between these actions is the severity of the issue and the difference between a malicious act and impropriety.

    Last year Congress passed a law that prohibits sexual relationships between lawmakers and their employees, putting Capitol Hill on par with the military and the private sector.

    Hill’s resignation is about much more than the potential of affairs. She was forced to leave because a couple disgusting men with malicious intentions decided to air her dirty laundry.

    Hill is 32 and therefore a part of the millennial generation. The generation that grew up with the world at their fingertips in the form of the internet and smartphones.

    Sending a risqué photo to someone you trust does come with consequences. Though you place trust in the person you are sending photos to, they still possess the ability to betray that trust and expose something you sent in an understandable private conversation.

    What it does not mean is that you should be ostracized for sending them. Those who stooped low enough to disrespect someone by leaking nudes should be the ones who are ostracized instead.

    The congressional responsibility of making vital decisions regarding people’s lives and welfare from anything to health care, taxes and governing laws are placed in the hands of simple people.

    Because they are representatives of the people, we expect the individuals voted into office to uphold moral and ethical values and decision making.

    Hill has broken no moral code or ethical principle by privately sending photos to someone. The only thing Hill is guilty of is feeling comfortable enough in her sexuality and her relationship at the time to send provocative photos.

    To treat her as if she has made some treacherous decision that suddenly makes her ill fit to hold office, is ludicrous and childish.

    It’s time to grow up and move past the double standards we place on women in politics.

  • “Loaded” is packed with a kick

    “Loaded” is packed with a kick

    Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz breaks down the Second Amendment and white supremacy in her new book “Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment.”

    Dunbar-Ortiz spoke at Humboldt State’s Van Duzer Theatre on March 20 about her recent book “Loaded,” which explores the origins of the Second Amendment, white supremacy and how guns have controlled American society.

    Dunbar-Ortiz addressed gun culture, starting with colonial settler’s slave patrols and Indian militias. She said slave patrols developed into the the Ku Klux Klan. In addition, the police were formed by the Ku Klux Klan. In 1916, high school Reserve Officer Training Corps, or ROTC, began.

    “This shooter, Cruz, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was an avid ROTC person,” Dunbar-Oritz said. “He joined the ROTC when he was 11. He was known as the best shooter [and] was honored for that. He had on his ROTC T-shirt and pants when he did the killing. He had become a mad soldier.”

    “In the 1960s, we burned down all of the ROTC buildings on campuses across the country,” Dunbar-Ortiz said. “I participated in some of them. I am proud of it. We got rid of military recruiters in schools.”

    The National Rifle Association supplies ROTC’s with ammunition, weapons and targets.

    “They have some really amazing targets, human forms that can move around,” Dunbar-Oritz said. “They practice this in the school cafeteria. The only mention of this was the military honoring of two ROTC students who died at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.”

    “You think of this disconnect between gun violence and militarism,” Dunbar-Ortiz said. “I think it is really important to connect up U.S. militarism. The Indian Wars became the basis for all the foreign wars. They all turn into counter insurgency, that is, attacks on civilians, burning their crops and killing people. Vietnam, Central America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are all examples of this counterinsurgency. We have big responsibilities to do our best to save the world.”

    Irene Vasquez is mastering in natural resources at HSU.

    “It’s good to know the real history and to be appreciative of people who have worked so hard before us, the native people who are leaders,” Vasquez said. “It’s an inspiration for young native scholars and the people who are trying to change the systems to get into the higher roles to help their communities.”

    In 1968, Dunbar-Ortiz helped establish the Women’s Liberation Movement with her group Cell 16 in Boston. Cell 16 was named after the cells of a body.

    Dianna Beeler, a resident of Arcata, came out of great respect for Dunbar-Ortiz.

    “I was in a feminist consciousness raising group during the mid 60s in Los Angeles,” Beeler said. “Dunbar-Ortiz was out front, she was everybody’s hero. It is super to see that she has kept this going over all these decades.”

    The word “sexism” came about during this time.

    “The consciousness raising groups were to make people aware of feminism who had lived under a patriarchal society so long they didn’t know any better,” Beeler said.

    During her time with Cell 16, Dunbar-Ortiz published a periodical with Lisa Leghorn, “No More Fun and Games,” which helped women avoid male involvement that was not productive to the Women’s Liberation Movement.

    Ever since Cell 16, Dunbar-Ortiz has been publishing articles and books on women’s rights, indigenous people of Central and North America and an autobiography titled “Red Dirt: Growing up Okie.”