Conference quark::mennotes-v1

775.0. "New Sexism unplugs Men" by TENAYA::RAH (the invisible man) Fri Mar 27 1992 13:53

Article 1612 of alt.politics.correct:
Newsgroups: alt.politics.correct
Path: pa.dec.com!decwrl!netcomsv!mork!sheaffer
From: [email protected] (Robert Sheaffer)
Subject: "New Sexism" Unplugs Men  

        
                    "'New Sexism' unplugs men" by Jim Trotter
        
                 (San Jose Mercury News, March 25, 1992, p. 1B)
        
             It  isn't often that I begin with a disclaimer. But  in  the 
        case  of radio free Cupertino - KKUP-FM, 91.5 on  your  listening 
        dial - and the recently terminated "Steel Clay" show, please note 
        that  the  opinions expressed below do not  necessarily  coincide 
        with my own.
             Until they were fired, or suspended, as the station puts it, 
        computer consultant Ed Coughlin and Dr. Alfred Ehlenberger, a Los 
        Gatos psychiatrist, hosted "Steel Clay" for two hours every other 
        week   on  KKUP,  listener-supported  community   access   radio, 
        something like "Wayne's World" without the picture.
             "Steel  Clay" was a men's issues show, one of the few in the 
        country,   according  to  Coughlin  and  Ehlenberger.  The   show 
        contended that men have feelings and problems, too.
             Listeners  , however, were apparently unappreciative  -  but 
        whether of the whole idea, or just "Steel Clay's" representation, 
        I am uncertain.
             Said Ehlenberger, "Our show took up issues from the male ad-
        vocacy  position, which is politically incorrect  and  unpopular. 
        The host who preceded our show regularly read a statement  urging 
        his audience to turn us off.
             "The heart of our message is that there is a new sexism.  If 
        men  and women are supposed to be equal , why are men  considered 
        rotten  and  women  good?  Men  are  held  responsible  for  war, 
        pollution  and  everything  that  goes  wrong,  while  women  are 
        considered contributing to the world and life in general. That is 
        sexism."
             Did I mention my disclaimer?
             The problems with "Steel Clay"  started when the person  who 
        brought  the  show  on  the air,  Kathryn  LeMar,  was  asked  to 
        voluntarily step aside as program director, while keeping her own 
        weekly three-hour show.
                  "A brilliant woman committed to free speech allowed  us 
        on  the  air," Ehlenberger said, "We were fired by a hack  and  a 
        know-nothing." 
                  Said  KKUP  General Manager Al Calame,  "They  probably 
        stopped  short  of out-and-out misogyny, but they used a  lot  of 
        code  words  and  phrases that tended in  that  direction,  These 
        people had their say, over and over and over again."
                  Coughlin,  who was viewed by KKUP as the official  host 
        of "Steel Clay," said the station had breached its own bylaws.
                  "Steel  Clay"  has been replaced with a  program  about 
        starting your own business. "That's standard," Ehlenberger  said. 
        "Men are not supposed to think about themselves. Just get back to 
        work and pay the bills."
             However,just  as it seemed the men of "Steel Clay" had  lost 
        access  to KKUP, all 200 watts of it, LeMar gave them an hour  of 
        her  own show, 6:30 Monday morning. This was a  guerrilla  action 
        inside radical radio.
             "Before,  nobody was ever kicked off KKUP," LeMar  said,  "I 
        like the diversity. I'd like to celebrate it. Yes, this sets up a 
        possible confrontation."
             To  protest "Steel Clay " being aced (sic), LeMar  said  she 
        had  withdrawn  the  "voluntariness" of her  own  resignation  as 
        program director. She joined in the men's contention that radical 
        feminists had unplugged the kiln on "Steel Clay." 
             "Women  have complained for years that men won't  open  up,"          
        said  Coughlin,   "but when we are willing to get out  there  and 
        talk,  they  want to put a gag on us. But now we're  calling  our 
        show  `Steel  Mushroom,' because we're popping  up  in  different 
        places."
             What  does  it all mean? I can guess. In the battle  of  the 
        sexes, another ricochet is heard, a high whine, and then only the 
        wind.
                        --------------------------------
                    Write Jim Trotter at 750 Ridder Park
                    Drive, San Jose [CA] 95190, or call (408)
                    920-5024.
        




-- 
  
        Robert Sheaffer - Scepticus Maximus - [email protected]
  
 Past Chairman, The Bay Area Skeptics - for whom I speak only when authorized!

     "In the 1970's the world will undergo famines - hundreds of millions
     of people are going to starve to death in spite of any crash programs 
     embarked upon now ... in 1985, when it is calculated [under the most
     optimistic scenario] that the major die-back will be over, ..."
       
                       Dr. Paul Ehrlich, "The Population Bomb," 1968

    I don't believe that story for one second.
    
    Everyone knows that the white male patriarchy rules the free world,
    so how could a radio show about men get yanked?
    
    Sheesh, stop typing in those phony stories, willya?

1- I saw the column in the paper a few days ago.  KKUP is a very
strange station in the first place; you never know what you're gonna
hear.  I can't get them regularly, their signal strength is mainly in
the Cupertino-San Jose area, doesn't quite reach Mtn View.

2- Robert, did you ever hear the station?  Did you ever hear this show?

In general, sounds like these two hosts speak for men about as much as
Phyllis Schafly speaks for women; in other words, some, but probably not
many.  As described, they certainly never spoke for me.

Michael, some independance still exists even in a patriarchal world.
Sorry if the concept is too tough for you.

DougO

.2>Michael, some independance still exists even in a patriarchal world.
    
    Oh, of course, that explains it.

I guess the concept *is* too tough for you.

DougO

    A "touchie-feelie" radio talk program for men?  Get outa here.  Give
    men the programming they want to hear - "Sunday Morning Moose Skinning"
    or "The Phone-in Beer Drinking Radio Talk Show" or the "Sports
    Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Appreciation Hour."  Men have no issues. 
    Men do not need to heighten their sensivity to anything nor do they
    need to seek alternative forms of expression other than anger and
    violence and I'll personally lay waste to anyone who claims otherwise.
    
    Self expression for a man is a belch and a fart.  And that just doesn't
    go over big on the radio. 

    He was being facetious George.  I think.  - Vick

    re .5, I know.  That's how it seems to me, too.  :-)
    
    Lorna
    

    I better get used to putting " :-) " in my notes.

    
    .5
    
    well we don't molest moose hereabouts, synsytyve myn that we are.
    
    

    I hear that in California they will talk the moose into giving up his
    hide using gentle persuasion and a 12 step program.  Any truth to this
    rumour, Robert?

    Actually, we do a past life regression in which the moose discovers
    his former lives as a software engineer, and Queen of England.
    
    Then we do some work with crystals and auras, and take him to a
    clothing-optional resort where he sheds his own skin. Very easy,
    really.
    
    

    
    if i didn't know better, i'd think you were making light of
    this serious topic..

    Moose skinning and California are serious topics?

    To us, they are.
    
    There is a large statue of Bullwinkle on Sunset Boulevard. He is,
    however, wearing his 'skin'.
    
    This is directly in front of the Dudley DoRight Emporium.
    
    

    
    is that the statue at jay ward prod down the street from 
    whiskey's? 
    
    i haven't been down there in a couple of decades...

    Dudley Doright is a Canadian hero.  Another "local boy made good in the
    big city."  Just like Wayne Gretzky.
    

    Been a while since we talked about radio shows in this topic.