THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070093
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E01 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Grace Hsiu
LENGTH: 66 lines
I WANT TO introduce you to a pair of opinionated minds.
Their specialty is debating about whether women should be treated equally in the military. The whole women-in-the-military shebang can be watered down to this: The advent of women in the military has caused a spate of sexual harassment cases that have caused a rise in controversy because the primordial gender war is being dragged back into the spotlight by its ankles - only in a different form.
These two students debate during lunch. They debate during class. They debate after school. They debate before school.
They aren't even on the debate team.
Seventeen-year-old Taeko McFadden of Virginia Beach is bound for the U.S. Naval Academy and is pondering an engineering major. Someday she wants to fly. Her side of the matter of women in the military runs like this: ``Although women are not as physically fit as men - and I mean that a male's body is designed to endure more physically oriented activities like doing seven pull-ups as opposed to females doing two - women should still be treated equally. The population of women in the world is more than 50 percent. We should be able to participate in the military - and on equal footing as males.''
Sixteen-year-old Navy brat Jacob Gustafson of Norfolk rolls his eyes. He hopes to get into the Coast Guard. He is obviously not swayed by Taeko's arguments. He looks with exasperation at Taeko before laying his cards on the table: ``Sure, women can be in the military. But if they expect to be treated equally, I say that men and women have the SAME standards. So if a guy does seven pull-ups, a woman has to do seven pull-ups in order to be treated on the same level.''
What about the recent case of Jeanie Mentavlos and Kim Messer, who dropped out of the Citadel after the first semester because of alleged sexual harassment by other cadets and lack of protection from the school?
``On the topic of those two girls,'' Taeko says, ``I don't think it's right to burn clothes off a person - be it male or female. But I still believe that men should respect women, and those women should have realized what to expect from hazing as well. I mean, I have to expect certain things in the Naval Academy too. For one thing, I have to remain physically fit. These girls probably prepared themselves for the Citadel, but I think they relied too heavily on the school's protection. The school doesn't know half the stuff the male knobs do during hazing.''
``My whole deal on this is basically like this: If women want to be treated equally, let's have equal standards - no substandards or anything,'' interjected Jacob.
It was Taeko's turn to roll her eyes.
In Taeko's point of view, the Jacob Gustafson Law of Equality (``If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen'') would be almost impossible - only gymnasts and the athletic elite could be eligible for equality. In Jacob's opinion, the Taeko McFadden Law of Equality (``Equality for one and all'') would lead us from Point A to Point A. And Square One does not look too appealing.
Their opinions may be somewhere between the liberal perspective (``More power to women! Two snaps and a machine gun rattle.'') and the conservative outlook (``Women. Home. End of Story.'').
But, see, I only introduced you to a pair of opinionated minds. So, of course, you may or may not agree with either of them. And if you don't, feel free to call the Infoline, 640-5555, ext. 6778, and leave an opinion. MEMO: Grace Hsiu is a junior at Cox High School. Her column appears
biweekly in Teenology.