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Online.PolI the gamecock ♦ Wednesday, July h 2004 - Online.Poll.Results 5 ■ Do you agree with the Philippines’ decision ~l 1,1 ~L"TTT" "l \ ~| \ "T" ^ I 1 ^1 Do you think USC should close down two-year to pull its troops out of Iraq? I li . \l\l I " I II \1 I satellite campuses? 29% Yes 59% No www.dailygamecock.com -LJ—A ? T J_ Vy J—1 J_ K—/ 12% We have campuses in space? IN OUR OPINION Terrorism not a political device The unexpected defeat of Spain’s incumbent Populist party after the March 11th Madrid train bombing was the first instance of a government losing power because of its support for the war in Iraq; too, this loss seemed a statement about the power of terrorism. The Philippine government decision on Monday to pull out its troops in exchange for Filipino hostage Angelo dela Cruz resounds with a similar message about terrorism — it works. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is investigating measures needed to delay November’s election in response to “credible reports” terrorists will target America during the elections. Since 9/11, our nation has heard much about the people who hate our freedom and how our people cannot let this hatred interfere with our way of life. Yet the Bush administration doesn’t view a delay of the democratic right to vote as “giving in” to terrorists. It would be foolhardy to think delaying the elections doesn’t give power to the terrorists. Whether one agrees with the war in Iraq, we can all agree terrorism shouldn’t be condoned or accommodated, and barring a major catastrophe, the elections should proceed as scheduled. After all, voting is the American way. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK STAFF Editor in Chief Steven Van Haren News Editor Michael LaForgia Viewpoints Editor Paige Haggard The Mix Editor Megan Treacy Sports Editor Brad Senkiw Photo Editor Melissa Wallace Page Designers Erin Cline, Chaz McCarthy Copy Editors Tracy Bealer, Joel Wallace STUDENT MEDIA Director Scott Lindberg Faculty Advisor Erik Collins Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes AdRep Jesica Johnson Production Manager Patrick Bergen TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the Department of Student Media. CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS GQ IQ is higher than Cosmo's ANNA C. HUNTLEY GAMECOCKOPINIONS@GWM.SC.EDU Because of America’s pimp-over ho culture, where women remain secretaries to male executives, I purchased magazines—microcosms of pop culture whose glossy pages color Americana—to document the differences between men’s magazines and women’s magazines that support the discrepancies in attitude toward men and women. The sample subjects of choice were GQ and Esquire versus Cosmopolitan and Complete Woman. On the cover of GQ, Will Ferrell mimicked the sultry stare models flaunt in Versace ads, parodying the sex-laden covers of women’s magazines. Printed beside the fashionably coiffed poodle Ferrell was clutching was a tagline for a piece about San Francisco’s mayor. Accordingly, the content of GQ’s stories ranged from intelligent humor to political examination. The character depiction of San Francisco’s mayor, who had ignited nationwide controversy by permitting gay marriage within his city was juxtaposed against an interview with an art-house British comedian. Esquire’s articles were similarly well crafted. One article recounted the 1988 rescue of a diver trapped 230 feet underwater, neatly spliced with the story of the sunken German U boat the diver had been investigating. And in true men’s magazine fashion was the requisite political article, a Democrat freshman congressman quickly rising to become Capitol Hill’s creme de la creme. The articles were worthy ot inclusion in The Atlantic Monthly, which was not what I found within the women’s magazines. The “slutty tales of top stars,” “7 foods that go straight to your thighs,” and the “great panty debate," in which guys decided whether boy briefs or thongs were the sexier undergarment, came courtesy of Cosmopolitan. With the writing style of its articles replete with words like “sooo” and “scoop” and “vacay,” and with phrases like “down there shockers” and “so-fab,” Cosmo expected women readers to possess a junior high mentality. This was only Kool-Aid and hors d’oeuvres for Complete Woman’s tasty dishing: “frisky, fun” Paris Hilton, “how to be this summer’s It girl,” and how to “lose 5 lbs. in one week! "And that was just the cover. Inside the magazine, I learned how to “marry money,” and how to best pleasure a guy. It was a veritable how-to manual on becoming a Barbie blow-up doll, albeit a rich one. Nearly 84 years ago, women were granted the 19th Amendment, ending all official distinction between genders, an omen for the apocalypse of American patriarchy. Yet, pop culture has subverted long-awaited equality in the seemingly innocuous form of monthly magazines, which teach that American men should be intelligent risk-takers and well versed in politics, while women should be skinny, somewhat stupid, but just smart enough to manipulate themselves into a good marriage. Huntley is a first-year international studies student.