14 Comments

• Grace Davis says:

  Great article Stuart. Everyday we’re walking on egg shells trying our hardest to be “safe” and inoffensive . I’m not sure where the balance lies, but I think you summed it up with: “newspapers do not exist to define culture — they exist to reflect it.” We try to present the ideals (ie, avoid anything that’s even controversial) but is that really reflective of our society or is it an attempt to manipulate it?
  But like you said, at the end of the day it’s up to the readers to decide what they want to read about.

• Marcy says:

  I think this reflects a lot of the USC endeavors. While yes, I agree that some things that are intentionally meant to promote hate or may harm another person shouldn’t be allowed on campus, but views that may stir up a bit of controversy shouldn’t be silenced, either. If you take for granted that your view on an issue may be the popular view, and ignore others to the contrary, you are seriously missing out on the opportunity to either strengthen your opinion.

  I feel sorry for some of the Gazette staff that may not be taking as strong of stance on an issue because they fear the repercussions. For those of you that want to be journalists, this is the time to really challenge yourself to be AUTHENTIC, because the audience may get bigger and there will be more people to piss off someday. May as well take those risks now while you are still idealistic.

• Marcy says:

  * I meant to say “either strengthen your opinion or open up to a new way of thinking”. . .something along those lines

• Elena Iosef says:

  Great article Stuart. I think overall a balance needs to be reached. I remember flipping through old Sex Issues and I have to say I wasn’t very impressed with the amount of photos which were, in my opinion, just there for shock purposes, instead of being there as pieces of creative, funny and insightful journalism. While I think edgy/sexy photographs (like ones done by Justin Wu and the other photographers two years ago) should be encouraged in an issue such as this, I also don’t think girls should be shown in demeaning positions either. I think the 2008 and 2009 issues struck a great balance in this area and that type of photography (which features opposite and same sex couples, etc.) should continue. The Purple Pipe pictures show that the Gazette photographers are clearly talented enough to achieve this type of balance, but this year’s sex issue photos were very mediocre, without even a hint of an envelope being pushed.

  I also found that while the articles tried to be insightful, most of them fell flat, telling us what we already knew. Many had great potential. There are SO many incredible and interesting journal articles out there about sexuality that could have been included in the articles. I know it would be more work, but it is that kind of insight that will grab student (and even faculty) attention. Otherwise students will likely not remember the articles a week later. I didn’t, and I love The Gazette (<3). Last year's issue was commended for its fantastic articles by countless professors and students, so the paper's potential to produce a stellar Sex Issue is clearly there.

  The past two spoof issues have also suffered from the censorship you mention. Gone was The Gazette's biting wit and in its place there only remained a reliance on safe and already accepted stereotypes in order to get a few laugh. The Gazette, much like Stella, must get it's groove back. Although it is a newspaper and must obviously do solid and researched reporting, it shouldn't allow the USC and an outspoken few to bludgeoning its writers into humourless submission when they have such fantastic potential.

• Mark says:

  The Gazette got neutered when you published your annual spoof issue a couple years back and spoofed people with no sense of humour but ample time to bitch about it. The Gazette editors should have ignored the criticism and told them to bugger off and start their own paper if they wanted to edit a paper themselves.

• Heather says:

  Mark, by “people with no sense of humour,” do you mean people who don’t find rape funny?

• Mark says:

  I mean the self-rightous Women’s issues network womynists who can’t take a joke. Get over yourselves and start your own paper if you can’t take a joke, however bad in taste it was.

• Andrew says:

  I agree Mark. I also blame Fab Dolan (then USC president) for completely lacking any spine in the matter. He bent over backwards for WIN just to save face. I was considering volunteering with the Gazette until I watched it get neutered.
  I’m just sad because I feel like a lot of very witty people are having their talent suppressed.

• Elena Iosef says:

  The article in question should not have been published period. It wasn’t very well written and didn’t keep in line with the rest of the pieces in the issue which were satirizing tabloid magazines. Although the intention of the article obviously wasn’t to encourage violence against women, the way it was written made it easy for some to misconstrue it as such. I agree with WIN and many other people that the article was, in general, in poor taste and again, should not have been published.

  What I DISagree with, however, is the way the Gazette and its staff was demonized. Many (uninformed) people criticized the paper for (apparently) hating women, which is ridiculous seeing as over half the editors and volunteers at the paper are women. As well, many people criticized the paper for apparently not giving enough students a right to have their voice heard, even though most of these people never even tried to volunteer for the paper, and those who did admitted that they quit shortly after because the editors wouldn’t let them write their own columns immediately after volunteering. Reality check: on what planet would you get your own column without first proving that you’re a talented enough writer to handle shorter pieces first? It was extremely disappointing to see the paper and all its wonderful achievements and writers get nationally tarnished due to one poorly written article.

  In hopes to regain its reputation, the Gazette, unfortunately, has let ANY complaint influence the content it publishes. Even my fellow graphics editor got one of his drawings of Kanye West pulled because there was a fear that it might offend others (even though it just commented on the fact that he somewhat of a d-bag, which his stunt at the VMAs this year clearly proved! haha). I understand wanting to be inclusive and not offend the student body. Of course I do. Everybody does. But there should be a limit to the amount of restrictions put on creativity. Like Stuart said, the paper should reflect the student body. If that student body engages in St. Patty’s day activities why shouldn’t the paper publish pictures that reflect this? Why should the paper promote a PC image of what certain people want Western’s student body to be? The paper is not a brochure. It is a publication BY the students and FOR the students and therefore should reflect Western’s climate, whatever it may be.

• Rob Hunter says:

  I graduated a few years ago and can remember the fire and the attitude that the Gazette had in my first year (2003-2004). It’s really a shame that a few loud people can neuter what used to be such a great, edgy publication.

• Michelle says:

  I understand students wanting to express their voices and their experiences here at Western, but I also believe that we need to beware of the image that were are presenting to the world outside of the Western bubble (yes, people out side of the western community do read the gazette).Do we really want to be seen as a school that believes in homophobia, sexism, racism and misogyny? If these characteristics are something that we want to tie to our university, a place that a majority of us are proud to call home, then I am not sure we should be claiming to have “the best student experience”, because honestly, what kind of experience is it for those of us who feel the backlash of these traits some of you are promoting in the gazette?

• Lindsay says:

  As a “self-righteous Women’s Issues Network Womynist”, I happen to enjoy the fact that the Gazette has raised it’s journalistic standards. I enjoy opening and reading my school newspaper, and NOT seeing it contain racism, homophobia, sexism, and above all, rape jokes.

  It’s not surprising that some commentors think that hatred towards others is funny, and that all of this is to blame on us scary, angry Feminists. The minoritized groups who are at the butt of your jokes and jabs who experience hatred every day have clearly never crossed your mind.

  Bravo, Gazette, on respecting yourself enough to enjoy ongoing improvements to your publication.

• Laura McPhie says:

  I was a first year student when the rape spoof issue came out and I was not part of the protests or of WIN, rather I was a female student who suddenly felt less welcome at a school that proclaims “the best student experience”. The subtext of that statement was suddenly: “for the white heterosexual male”. There is a difference between witty commentary and disgusting and crude jokes. I will admit that I didn’t find the gazette entertaining this year, but rather than throw the blame at a group that is defending the people who were severely hurt by a rape ‘joke’, why not challenge the gazette to raise to a new level. We are an academic institution not a frat house. We, as a school, should be able to recognize the difference between crude-harmful and satirical-progressive. We should not promote sexist, racist, homophobic and other hurtful language in the name of entertainment.

• Niknar Nad says:

  I somehow doubt Stuart was making a call to somehow shift the Gazette to an ‘all-rape-joke, all-the-time’ format.

  I also strongly, strongly oppose the question left by Michelle when she asked ‘what kind of experience is it for those of us who feel the backlash of these traits some of you are promoting in the gazette?’… I challenge her to name a few members of the Gazette staff actively promoting homophobia, racism, or misogyny – as those are the traits she was referring to.

  I think she may have missed the point of Stuart’s article, which was not about the need to publish more content similar to the infamous spoof issue article, but rather about the paper’s need to truly reflect student life.

  As Laura said, it’s an academic institution not a frat house… but students DO live in frat houses – or sorority houses – and all manner of sex, drugs and perversion take place there; things ideal for journalistic exposure to a discerning and interested reader who doesn’t bat an eye at the occasional disgusting or crude joke.

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