A few weeks ago the university paper printed a nude picture (of a woman) from a show on sexual awareness held at school. I wasn’t really surprised as in the past they have printed sexually explicit material. But apparently there is a lot of controversy over it, even now and has resulted in some action against the student paper (I think some people were suspended). The critique is that children come to campus and that nude is going too far, etc. The student paper’s view is that student papers are always controversial and that freedom of speech should be preserved. Their final statement is that such material will be printed again and that they cannot in good conscience apologize and still maintain freedom of speech and a representative voice for the people.
What are your views? I am not sure this is freedom of speech since a lot of people were offended, and religious groups were as well. If a religious group is being offended and those protesting are being called prudes, then we are calling a religious faith tradition a prude and that really isn’t freedom of practice anymore is it. So one freedom at the expense of another?
To the best of my knowledge, there has not been anything from the MSA on it. Kinda sad huh. I am not a part of MSA, never have been and don’t know what their agenda is but shouldn’t it include things going on at a university they are a part of?
Oh and what is so special about universities that requires so much freedom of speech? I mean mostly only men read the financial sections of the city papers so why not print nudes there? Why less freedom in other print media that children do not really have access to?
Well see Im sure a lot of people will come in here and ask whats the big deal in one nude picture. To me, its just a cheap way of going about spreading information.
If they are serious about their cause, then perhaps they should come up with more interesting stuff. A nude pic, in my view , is starting off on the wrong foot. And yeah you'll have youngsters, you'll also have religious groups, but honestly I dont see why a nude pic is needed in there in the first place. Not as if its something people dont know about or are completely ignorant of.
btw yeah I was going to ask the same question Faisal just did.
MQ, what about other stuff they have printed in the past, pictures from a tranny show, sex toy information, picture of a woman lifting her shirt during the Stanley cup, explicit ads for clubs and bars?
Anyway, if thats the kind of school paper these guys run (or have always run) then another nude pic, especially for a worthy cause is really not that big a deal.
When you said 'sexual awareness', I thought may be it has to do with making people comfortable about their sexuality, like it is fairly fashionable to encourage homosexuals to come out and not be unashamed... things like that.
Safe sex, on the other hand is an issue that has more widespread appeal than making homosexuals feel good about themselves.
What are our views?
Duh! You are asking this on a Pakistani forum. Off course it a bad thing in the name of freedom of press.
Liberalism is a mental disorder indeed.
when people say the nude is a no no for children come to university, i dont get it, so its ok for adults? dont refer to kaleem's thread i find it suspicious piece of research
Sarah, i am always up for freedom of speech but in this case, i think they could have come up with lot of other better ways then to put a nude pic of a girl. now if they had done it in the past and it was never a bid deal, whats the issue now? the whole deal come down to is that students will see the pic and will be interested in reading the article....nice way of publicizing it.
Sarah,
I suppose you're talking about the Gauntlet here? Its been the talk of the faculty lately, and from what I've heard so far from my colleagues, I personally think it was a serious error in judgement by the Student paper.
I've heard that there's been confusion over permission by student whose pic was posted and she isn't even showing to her classes anymore after "feeling marginalized" ???
IMHO, Sexual Awareness Week is not supposed to be about strippers or sex shows... usually such events are held behind partitions and require verification of age too. Owing to such thoughtful event management, I believe the student paper should also realize its limits of freedom of print.
Umar yeah, the Gauntlet. She is a philosophy student, I am sure she must be smart enough to realize at an event, they take pictures. Besides, she is an exotic dancer and says the university needs to loosen up so I don't see why she is taking offense now. I don't think she was ever personally attacked, just the paper.
Age verification? They were walking the student center, not just confined to their little den of iniquity.
I am shocked, I thought this was the norm in universities, the way the Gauntlet was trumpeting the right of student papers to incite controversy?
