300 Years & Counting 1H KILLS - On The Issues Magazine

FEEDBACKPlease direct all comments to:Editors, ON THE ISSUES, 97-77 QueensBoulevard, Forest Hills, NY 11374.DENOUNCING COLUMBUSThe upcoming 1992 celebrations aroundthe "discovery" of the Americas must beactively denounced. As women nationwideparticipate in the protests, I proposewe consider linking the painfulhistory of the film documentary "TheBurning Times" with the horrific violencethat was taking place an oceanaway.The connections exist. At the very sametime Columbus et al were raping, pillaging,and massacring Native Americans,European women — many alsopractitioners of earth-based spirituality— were themselves being annihilated.It has been estimated that fromthe 14th through the 17th century upwardsto nine million people (85 percentof whom were women) were persecutedas witches, tortured, and exterminated.Who knows what collective outrageEuropean women would have summonedup against the atrocities in the"New World" had they not been strugglingto withstand their own holocaust?In solidarity with indigenous peoples,Latinas/Latinos, and African-Americans,women of European descent haveequal reason to abhor the continuedglorification of 500 years of white patriarchalconquest.Cathleen McGuireEcofeminist Visions Emerging (EVE)New York, NYCHEERS FOR ANIMAL RIGHTSOn The Issues is my favorite progressivepublication. I'm glad you includeanti-speciesism in your agenda. I wasnever politically active in any causeuntil I became an ethical vegetarian.Now I'm involved in helping homelesspeople, reproductive rights and animalliberation. If people's consciousness canbe raised enough to be concerned withanimals, they will also be concernedwith human welfare.A ReaderOklahoma City, OKARE THELMA AND LOUISEFEMINISTS?In my opinion, Merle Hoffman, you justdon't get it. How can you deify "Thelmaand Louise," a trashy permissive, antifeminist,antisocial movie, and claim it58as a superhuman statement about howlife should be?This movie does not make any statement,and surely it doesn't express myphilosophy. Two bored women start outon an adventure and meet up with themost unlikely set of circumstances. Thenear-rape and the shooting are somewhatpossible and believable; but whatfollows causes me to churn inside. Howcan these two adult women be so stupidas to compound their errors? How is itpossible that the police didn't find themsooner? How did they both become suchexcellent shots when supposedly theyhad never used a gun before?How can you condone their actions? Iam well aware that it takes some radicalbehavior on the part of a few to reallychange societal norms. But these twoidiots wouldn't even know how to definethe term "societal norms." Maybe youare telling us that they are doing allthese wonderful things unconsciously.Hogwash! You've built a case on a foundationof shifting sand. And your leapsto all the ills of the feminist causes areirrational and bedeviled with non sequiturs.Your crime statistics, althoughprobably accurate, are incomplete,meaningless, and inappropriatelyplaced. For instance you state that 25percent of crimes against women arecommitted by men or family members.What are the statistics aboutcrimes against men? Are they committedby women or family members25 percent of the time? And how doesthis relate to the "Thelma and Louise"escapade?"Thelma and Louise" is a disgraceand does not in any way representthe plight of women and the war weare fighting.Sue FrishbergWest Hollywood, CAIn your excellent discussion of "Thelmaand Louise" you mention the work ofNikki Craft and "Pushing Buttons."While I appreciate the idea of an "experiment,"I can't imagine how puttingeven more violent messages into theculture is going to change anything.Threatening men in general only perpetuatesthe destructive system we alreadyhave. Adopting a warlike mentalityof us-against-them forces everyoneto take sides. Surely we have learnedmore than this.CairrilBloomington, INThank you very much indeed for thecopy of On the Issues. I've circulated itaround FPA. I found it very interestingand especially your editorial on "Thelmaand Louise." It is playing here in Australiaand women are loving it.Margaret McDonaldChief Executive OfficerThe Family Planning Association ofNSW LtdPLAYING HARD TO GETI picked up the Winter 1991 On theIssues when I was in San Francisco lastNovember, and have found it stimulatingand useful. I like your blend ofnational and international issues, andthe effort you make to trace out connectionsand assumptions in your pieces.We need more places where good feministwriting, grounded in analysis ofwhat is going on around us, can befound. However, the magazine is notreadily available in Springfield, Illinoisso I am writing directly to you to find outif it is possible to subscribe.Barbara J. HaylerAssociate ProfessorSangamon State UniversitySpringfield, ILNote: Subscription information isnow under the masthead.IRRADIATION IS A WOMEN'S ISSUERe:The letter from Liz Washburn:Of course food irradiation is a women'sissue (Fall 1991). If we don't know whatthe good old boy system is doing how,can we fight it?I think On the Issues is the best. Theonly publication I read cover to cover.It is time for another uprising wherewe say "enough!"Norma JoyceEugene, ORWILD MAN NEEDS HELPPlease send me a back issue of Summer'91 containing the Fred Pelka article onthat Bly creature. I would appreciateyour fast response as my husband isseeing a "deep masculinity" (quack)therapist, and watches "A Gathering ofMen" tape every night. He even listensto Sean Keen while goingto sleep. HELP!Thanks.Michele DressierCleveland, OHBRINGING HIDDEN CHILDRENTO LIGHTI read with pleasure Beverly Lowy'sON THE ISSUES SUMMER 1992