Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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"Che Gamecock Prostitutes might be main flaws in surveys about sexual partners by Paul ReJcer Associated Press WASHINGTON — Surveys measuring the total number of sex partners among men and among women have for years suggested that men had more partners than women. This result has puzzled social scien tists, since the surveys should show equal numbers of partners because each time a man has a new partner, so does a woman. A new sexual partnership should add one to each side of the equation. A new study may explain the flaw. The surveys failed to measure the sexu al activity of prostitutes, thus reducing the number of sex partners reported on the women’s side of the equation. “The number of partners that (het erosexual) men have had must be equal to the number of partners that (hetero sexual) women have had,” said Devon Brewer of the University of Washington. “Each new partner for a man is also a new partner for a woman. So, in reality, it must be equal by definition.” But the General Social Surveys, con ducted by the University of Chicago, and the National Health and Social Life Sur i vey, funded by private foundations, found that men were claiming up to 74 percent more partners than women. The government uses these data to design public health programs to combat sexual diseases. Brewer said social scientists, scram bling to explain the embarrassing in consistency, suggested two possible so lutions to the discrepancy: survey subjects were lying, or a fundamental flaw exist ed in the way the data were being col lected. “One explanation was that men are boasting or bragging about their number of partners and that women were being modest,” Brewer said. That may be true, he said, but a study he co-authored in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says the biggest cause of the discrepancy is that the surveys ignored the professionals: women who sell sex for profit. “Wfe found these high-activity women, prostitutes, were inadvertently excluded by the design of the surveys,” said Brew er, whose study appears Tuesday in PNAS. Brewer said the national surveys cov ered “households” and not dwellings like jails, motels, shelters and rooming ‘One explanation was that men are boasting or brag ging about their number of partners and that women were being modest.’ Devon Brewer University of Washington houses, where prostitutes are more apt to work. Surveyors usually rang doorbells on evenings, weekends and holidays, when most prostitutes are working and un available for interviews, Brewer said. To test his theory, Brewer’s group used other studies to estimate about 23 prostitutes for every 100,000 people in the United States and an average per-pros titute client list of 694 men. Applying these estimates to the na tional surveys brought final numbers for sexual partners into about equal bal ance, Brewer said. Male prostitutes were not included, he said, because few women buy sex from men. Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the University of Chica go, said Brewer’s study “offers a likely explanation for at least part of the dis crepancy,” but there are other factors. Smith said about 10 percent of the discrepancy may be because the survey did not seek responses from sexually active juveniles. This would create a bias, for example, because males over 18 might report sex with young females, but the survey would not include balancing re ports from underage girls. Also, Smith believes that another 10 percent of the bias may come from gen der-based attitudes toward sexual surveys, with men overreporting, women under reporting. The GSS, first published in 1988, is paid for, in part, by the National Sci ence Foundation. Smith said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention use the data to help design and target public health campaigns to control sexually spread diseases. FBI starts program to teach youth about ethical behavior in cvbersnace by D. Ian Hopper Associated Press WASHINGTON - Thou shalt not vandalize Web pages. Thou shalt not shut down Wfeb sites. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s MP3s. FBI agents are spreading a new gospel to parents and teachers, hoping they’ll better educate youths that van dalism in cyberspace can be economi cally costly and just as criminal as mail box bashing and graffiti spraying. The Justice Department and the In formation Technology Association of America, a trade group, has launched the Cybercitizen Partnership to en courage educators and parents to talk to children in ways that equate computer crimes with old-fashioned wrongdoing. The effort includes a series of sem inars around the country for teachers, plus classroom materials, guides and a Wfeb site to help parents talk to children. ‘'In a democracy in general, we can’t have the police everywhere.” said Michael Vatis, director of the FBI’s Na tional Infrastructure Protection Center, which guards against computer attacks by terrorists, foreign agents and teen •hackers. “One of the most important ways of reducing crime is trying to teach ethics and morality to our kids. That same prin ciple needs to apply to the cyber world, ” he said. Vatis and other FBI agents attended a kickoff seminar; the National Confer ence on Cyber Ethics, last weekend at Marymount University in Arlington, Vi Part of the challenge is many teens still consider computer mischief harm less. A recent survey found that 48 per cent of students in elementary and mid dle school don’t consider hacking illegal. Gail Chmura, a computer science teacher at Oakton High School in Vi enna, Va., makes ethics a constant in her curriculum, teaching kids about topics such as computer law, software piracy and online cheating. She has argued with students who don’t see that stealing from a computer with bad security is as wrong as stealing from an unlocked house. “It’s always interesting that they don’t see a connection between the two,” Chmura said. “They just don’t get it” */ Vatis tells students, “Do you think it would be OK to go spray-paint your neighbor’s house or the grocery store down the street? On a Web site, it’s the same sort of thing. It’s somebody’s storefront or an extension of themselves.” Chmura tries similar messages. For instance, she asks a budding composer how he would feel if his music was stolen and given away online. “They do sometimes realize that when they’re copying someone’s prod uct, it's not just that 5 cent disk, but someone’s work that they’re copying,” she said. “I think they do come to ap preciate the fact that it’s somebody's salary they’re stealing.” Vatis cites a long list of cyber crimes perpetrated by minors, including attacks on defense department computers in 1998 and the February jamming of major Web sites such as Amazon.com and eBay. He tries to drive home the conse quences of hacking, including the re sources it drains from his center, as law enforcement scrambles to find who is responsible at the outset of an at tack. X Authorities “don’t know if it’s a ter rorist or a foreign military,” Vatis said. “It diverts very scarce resources of peo ple who are trying to focus on crime, warfare and terrorism.” And children aren’t the only ones in need of training. College students and parents also are frequently undecided about what crosses an ethical bound ary in cyberspace, where anyone can download pirated musical recordings. “ Wfe had some discussion about the legalities of whether you’re sharing some thing with your friend or burning CDs to sell at your school,” said Deborah Price of Lewisville, N.C., parent of a 14-year-old daughter. “I’m not real cer tain about Napster ethics myself.” Price, whose daughter uses Napster, the music-sharing service considered a threat to the recording industry, thinks computer ethics are an important issue. “ I think it should be part of the dis cussion at the school,’’Price said “It’s only going to get bigger.” Barak extends deadline for Arafat to stop violence in Mideast; intensity of clashes may be declining ■ Prime Minister seeking to avoid prolonged conflict by Dafna Linzer Associated Press JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Min ister Ehud Barak said Tuesday it was too soon to tell if the violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was coming to an end, but he said if it was, Israel would act accordingly. His statement came hours after he announced he was giving his Palestinian counterpart more time to quell raging vi olence that has killed 88 people in the region over 12 days. Violence continued in some spots Tuesday. Hospital officials in Gaza said a 12-year-old Palestinian boy was criti cally wounded by a live bullet to the head in the town of Rafah, and about 200 Pales tinians threw stones and firebombs at Israeli troops near the West Bank town of Ramallah. The soldiers responded with rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas. While the day’s incidents represent ed a falling-off from the most intense of the clashes last week, Barak said after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that it was still too early to say whether the violence was significantly ebbing. “If this is the start of a change, we will act accordingly,” he said. Annan, who is trying to reconcile Palestinian demands for an internation al inquiry with Israel’s reluctance to ac cept one, called it a period of “delicate and acute diplomacy.” The secretary-gen eral also said that, although he had not been able to see a trio of Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas on the Lebanese border, he believed they were alive and well. Barak’s decision to push back a dead line for ending the violence, and his stat ed willingness to attend a U.S.-sponsored peace summit if one is arranged, came af ter two phone calls from President Clin ton, Israel’s army radio reported. The Israeli leader said he made the decision after weighing the possibility of a prolonged armed conflict. A Palestin ian uprising against Israel in 1987 lasted six years and ended with the first, historic peace accord in 1993 with the PLO. “It is right to bear up for a few more days ... and not find ourselves in a few more weeks or months bogged down in a difficult conflict knowing that we may have been able to prevent it,” he told army radio. The sides were discussing a Palestin ian demand that Israel agree to allow an international commission to investigate the events. Most of the dead have been Palestinians, and the Palestinians say Is rael has used excessive firepower. Nabil Shaath, a top aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said a U.N. envoy was delivering a letter to the Israelis listing countries the Palestinians would accept on such a commission. Barak appeared readier to compro mise, telling Israeli n*lio he would ac cept an inquiry “under the authority and responsibility of the United States. ” Pre viously, he had said he would only con sider submitting Israeli findings to the Americans for review. “We will give a chance to those ef forts,” Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said on CBS’ “Early Show” on Tues day. “But the necessary, indispensable condition is that Arafat issue an order to his troops, to his militias, to his armed political movement—a clear order: Stop the violence now.” Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said it was up to Israel to take steps to end the clashes. “We want to stop the Israeli army front continuing to shoot Palestinians. Wfe want to stop (Jewish) settler terrorism against Palestinians, and we also want to see the Israeli government stop killing its own (Arab) citizens, ” he told The As sociated Press. The shooting of the Palestinian boy in Gaza occurred in the southern town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where witnesses said about a dozen young Pales tinian boys pelted Israeli troops with stones, drawing fire in return. The army said it was checking the incident. Much of the violence overnight was centered in Israel itself. In the seaside community of Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, two Israeli Arabs were stabbed, ac cording to Israel TV In nearby Jaffa, three Arab-owned apartments were burned while some Jews, chanting “Death to the Arabs,” descended into the streets to smash car windows and throw stones at police. There were Jewish-Arab clashes from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the Negev Desert in the south. Israel’s army radio said the scenes looked like “civil war,” and described re lations between the country’s Jewish ma jority and Arab minority as the worst in decades. Barak deplored the outbreak of violence between Jewish and Arab citi zens of Israel. Meanwhile, Annan, European Union security chief Javier Solaria and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov pressed ahead with efforts to restore calm. Arafat and Ivanov met in the Gaza Strip, and Arafat said afterward the two “discussed in detail everything to save the peace process, and how to protect it in spite of all the challenges we are fac ing. ’’But he renewed accusations that Is rael has used excessive force against ri oters. Ivanov, who is also in the region to try to negotiate the release of the three Israeli soldiers, said Russia would do all it could to help resolve the crisis. Clinton also spoke with other regional leaders by phone throughout the day Mon day as he weighed the possibility of fly ing to Egypt this week for a gathering. During a visit to Syria, Egyptian For eign Minister Amr Moussa indicated Tues day that there will be no U.S.-spon sored summit in the region this week or next. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al Sharaa said he did not think a summit would be held and Moussa agreed, say ing the next event would be the Arab sum mit scheduled for later in the month. Ex-communist Polish president wins re-election 1 by Andrzej Stylinski Associated Press WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s ex communists exulted Monday in Pres ident Aleksander Kwasniewski’s easy re-election, saying it puts them in a strong position to wrest parliamentary control from the weakened Solidarity bloc in national elections next year. Kwasniewski, an ex-communist, won Sunday’s presidential election with 53.9 percent of the vote, leaving his 11 challengers far behind, according to fi nal results. The closest were Andrzej Ole chowski, an independent economist, who gained 17 percent of the vote, and the embattled Solidarity leader Mari an Krzaklewski, with 15.6 percent. Lech Walesa, the legendary Solidarity founder and former president, received 1.01 percent of the vote. The turnout was 60 percent. ti i : j__li . „ x iiv/ iup jiuw ivouu mw u uiu »* iu Krzaklewski, who managed to unite splintered parties under the Solidarity umbrella three years ago to win par liamentary elections and take control of the government from the former communists. It also confirmed poll re sults that for months have shown the ex-communists back on the upswing and support for Solidarity waning. Kwasniewski said he was “greatly moved” by the vote and delighted that elections were becoming a normal part of life in his country. “We see that democracy works per fectly in Poland and it can serve as an example to others,” he said at the parliament building after the final re sults were announced. Kwasniewski will be sworn in for his second term Dec. 23. Bolstered by Kwasniewski’s vic tory, ex-communists who make up the Democratic Left Alliance said Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek should dismiss the Solidarity-led Cabinet and call ear ly elections, which are not due until next fall. Buzek, who has been working with out a majority in parliament since an other party, the Freedom Union, bolt ed its coalition with Solidarity, retorted that the president’s victory “must not be used to destabilize the situation in the country.” Under Poland’s post-communist constitution, most executive power rests with the prime minister and his supporters in the parliament. But the president can influence foreign and de fense policies and veto legislation. A change in government would not dramatically alter Poland’s foreign or 1 economic policy because all major par ties agree on the general course. But some conservatives argue it would leave too much power in the hands of the ex communists. In conceding defeat, Kizaklewski said the vote was a warning that Soli darity must regroup for parliamentary elections. The media and even his po litical allies went a step further, sug gesting that it is time for Solidarity to nudge Krzaklewski aside and quash po litical infighting that has made voters weary and cynical. “The election result is a clear ex pression of non-confidence in Solidar ity leadership,” Jerzy Wierchowicz, a Freedom Union leader, said in a tele phone interview. Though the refomis have pleased investors and helped boost living standards, restructuring of factories and mines has pushed unemployment to 14 ' percent. And even Solidarity officials admit they have done a poor job ex plaining reforms in state health care and pension systems to Poles who distrust government and worry about their future under capitalism. Mideast from page 5 skirts of the West Bank town of Ra mallah. Israel has defended its tactics, in cluding deploying battle tanks at the edge of Palestinian cities and firing from helicopter gunships, as being necessary to protect Israeli soldiers. Israeli offi cials point out that lightly manned Is raeli military outposts have come un der attack from enormous mobs, and that Palestinian gunmen sometimes use rock-throwing rioters as cover. Among Palestinians, however, emo tions are running high over the bloodshed. Hamid, the young student, said many of her friends had been killed or injured in the clashes. “ We all think America should help us, not let Israel do these things to us,” she said. Palestinian resentment over the American role is beginning to make it self felt on the ground. At a demon stration in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the U.S. flag was bunted. In the past week, some American journalists covering street battles have encountered hostile questioning from Palestinians about their nationality, or been roughed up by protesters. Palestinian newspapers have run frequent editorials criticizing the U.S. stance, and Palestinian media have given prominent coverage to anti-Amer ican protests elsewhere in the Arab world in recent days. Syrians and Jor danians have marched on the U.S. em bassies in their capitals, and a Saudi cler ic at one of Riyadh’s largest mosques called for jihad, or holy war, against Is rael and its supporters, spelling out American embassies, companies and individuals as legitimate targets. In the past, Palestinians have often accused the United States of favoring Israel in peace negotiations, but against a backdrop of such carnage, the bit terness is mnnincr deen Last week, Palestinians watched with dismay as the United States first sought to soften and then abstained from voting on a U.N. Security Coun cil resolution condemning excessive use of force in the clashes. After U.S.-brokered talks in Paris failed to bring a halt to the fighting, Palestini ans accused the United States of siding with Israel in its rejection of Palestin ian demands for an international in quiry into the violence. Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat suggested U.S. pressure on Is rael to accept an international inquiry could have helped to produce a cease fire days ago. “If the Americans had agreed in Paris on the subject of an - international inquiry, then things would have been different,” he said. Israel, for its part, is eager to see U.S. mediation continue, and quickly moved to smooth over tensions stem ming from the U.S. decision not to ve to the Security Council resolution. “We are interested in a strong U.S. role, and I don’t think there is any al ternative to a strong U.S. role,” said Avi Pazner, a veteran diplomat who is now an acting government spokesman. “That doesn’t mean we agree on every single issue.... Wfe would have liked to see the United States ve to the anti-Israeli resolution in the Se curity Council, but these are normal issues between friends.” The current wave of violence erupt ed less than two months after the un successful Camp David summit, as some Palestinian officials were still nursing grievances over what they felt was un fair blame cast on them by the Whitt [ House for those talks’ failure. “The American position was bi ased toward Israel even before the Camp David summit, but at Camp David and after it, their bias was very clear,” said Ahmed Qureia, the Palestinian par liament speaker. “They are totally adopting the Israeli position without _•_*♦ UTCII lUilUVlUg. Despite the tensions, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat himself is taking pains to avoid alienating the Ameri cans. He did not reply to criticism over the weekend from U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who sug gested the Palestinian leader could bring, a halt to the violence if he so chose. On Sunday, President Clinton and Arafat spoke by phone twice within a mat ter of hours. The United States is weighing the possibility of convening a summit this week in the region in hopes of get ting the peace process back on track, and Albright said Friday that the Unit ed States had been deeply involved in the Mideast peace process because it has the trust of both parties. But Palestinians are making it clear they hope for a more sympathetic hear ing of their position in coming days and months. “We still hope that the United States will continue to play a big role,” said Nabil Amr, a top Arafat adviser. “But we are looking for intrepid step1 » .... We call on the United States for more effort to stop the dangerous sit uation tlr Palestinian people free.”