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Status of Women group plan action against porn Pornography is a product created by a multi-million dollar industry. And Just as other products from soap to headache remedies are carefully regulated in our society, so should pornography be brought under strict legislative control, said Bonnie Diamond, founding mem- her of the Ottawa-based Coalition Against Media Pomogra ph y . Diamond spoke Friday evening at a two-day confer’ence on Pornography organized by the K-W Status of Women, The Region of Water- loo will be calling on area residents for input into the development of its waste management master plan through a series of public meet, ings set to start in the new year. “I look on it as law reform and regulation, not censorship," she said. "Pornography is not artistic fare, but purely a product to make money." At a press confer ence last week regional officials outlined the study which has been initiated by the region to 'yroduce waste dis posal guidelines mm- tive for the next 20 years. Our insecurity and lack of protest have allowed the industry to "bloom and flourish", said Diamond. "Up to now, we have allowed pornographers to set community standards. The rest of us have not gotten involved and our silence gave our eonsent." Study consultants MacLaren Engineers of Waterloo explained that the master plan will be completed in three phases. including assessment of existing facilities and systems. Feeding on the insecurities and neuroses of men. members of the pornography industry have created a market for their product said Diamond. On the other hand. they have reassured women that pornography is harmless entertainment, just fantasy. "They would like us to believe they are the leaders of the sexual liberation movement but they are really the leaders of the sexual repression of women movement," she added. To bring home the seriousness of the issue to her audience, Diamond showed a series of film clips, samples from both Pay TV and home video cassettes. Scenes ranged from so-called "bounce and jiggle" to hard-core violence. "It is doubttuithat anything you‘ve seen there is chargeable under our obscenity laws," she told them, her voice shaking with emotion. Diamond stressed that she is against pomo- graphy, not eroticism where mutual satisfaction between equal partners is portrayed. Porno- graphy, she said, offers material that is degrading to women and is presented in a way that sanctions violence against them, she said. Public input key to waste disposal study Bonnie Diamond analysis of the various options potentially suit- able for the region and presentation of the final recommended plan. "Public input is the key to this. We'll be hoping for comments and submissions right from the start and as we take " step-by-step to completion," said Mayor Marjorie Car- roll, chairman of the region's engineering committee. At each step in the preparation process. which is expected to take until December 1984, public meetings and workshops will be organized to inform residents and hear their opinions. According to the study consultants, the master plan has been undertaken because the region is facing "deficiencies" in its current waste manage- merit program. with some facilities nearing capacity requiring ei- ther expansion or clo- sure while others. such as the Woolwich site, could cause environ- mental problems through continued use In addition to ad dressing situations tl specific sites, the co sultants will investi- gate potential energy- from-waste applica- tions and techniques to encourage waste re- duction, reuse and re- cycling. T Not only is there a danger that such a portrayal perpetuates untrue sexual myths about women, but studies have shown that long-term exposure to hard-core pornography actually changes men's attitudes to ‘women, Diamond added. "A study by Zillman and Bryant, two professors of communication who have re- searched the effects of pornography, concluded that massive exposure to pornography in- creased men's callousness towards women, made rape appear trivial and resulted in a loss of compassion for women as rape victims, she said. Furthermore, said Diamond, there is evidence that viewing such violent acts against women could lead to these crimes being acted out in real We live in a society that has declared its commitment to ensuring dignity and equality for women yet, said Diamond, “not for one women do I believe that this commitment is being taken seriously, no matter how many employment programs, affirmative action pro- grams and equal opportunity offices have been established when pornography, the basic in- strument in the degradation of women is allowed to flourish so prosperously and in fact has been made accessible to every home in Canada." life She pointed out that while a great deal has been done to ensure the rights of racial minorities, there is nothing in the laws govern- ing hate literature to prevent the production of material that degrades women. Involvement was the theme of the two-day conference and, said Diamond, that is also the key to success in the battle against porno- graphy. She told members of the audience to begin by talking to friends, family. anyone who will listen. about the seriousness of the problem. She also recommended calling the police if an individual spots something that they think violates the obscenity laws. Diamond urged her audience to write letters to aldermen seeking licensing of businesses that handle pornographic material and tighter con trol of its sale. A similar effort by a group in Ottawa has resulted in regulations governing where such material can be placed in a store and prohibiting its sale to minors. Store owners should be individually ap- proached and asked to remove pornographic material from their shelves. "Boycott them until they do." said Diamond. She recommended writing letters to local MPs and MPPs urging stronger obsenity laws. protection for women and children in the broadcast act and tighter control of the licensing of Pay TV stations. Diamond, director of the Equal Opportunity Office for Women in Ottawa. has been actively involved in organizations dealing with violence against women for the past 15 years. She is currently president of Ottawa Women Fight Pornography. As a founding member of CAMP, Diamond was instrumental in organizing Par- liament Hill protests against pornography on Pay TV. The two-day conference was organized by the K-W Status of Women to educate members of the community about the problem and to plot a course of action. A major goal is the establish- ment of a community-based lobby group. Total cost of the master plan will be $208,000 with the Min iStry of the Environ- ment sharing one-halt the cost. Concurrent with the study. the re- gion will be spending approximately 8400.000 on work associated with its waste manage- ment program. Following the press conference members of the regimt's engineer- ing, waste manage ment advisory and eco- logical and environ mental advisory com- mittees, as well as master plan eonsul- tants and represents tives of the Ministry of the Environment took part in a tour-hour bus tour of 1artdflll sites in the region of Waterloo. UW and WLU mark Waterloo's two uni- versities plus 68 other degree-granting insti- tutions across Canada will be celebrating Na- tional Universities Week Sunday, October 2 until Saturday, UC,.- tuber 8. The theme for the week is "We've got the future in minds." This year those minds total some 700,000 full-time and part-time students with the University of Wa- terloo and Wilfrid Laurier University ac- counting for close to 30,000 of that total. Locally, the week will be launched with a giant street dance in Waterloo Square 00 tober 1, sponsored by the students of both universities with the support of community organizations. This Up town Waterloo event is expected to attract some 5,000 people from the community and its universities. [ At UW. the celebrar tion gets underway Sunday. Oct. 2 with the official opening of Co- lumbia leefield. the university's 81.5 mil- lion. student-funded arena on Columbia Street. Opening CPre- monies start at 2 pm. and will be followed by free public skating until 5 p.m. That same day at 3 pm. St. Paul's College, the United Church. sponsored college on the UW campus will officially open its new wing, which includes a chapel, classroom. universities week With both the number of participants and pledges skyrocketing from last year's totals. Saturday's 10-km Right-to-Lite Walkathon could only be termed a success. A total of 269 people, 100 more than 1982, took part in the walk from St. Agnes Church on Bluevale Drive, Waterloo to St. Paul‘s Lutheran Church on Queen Street, Kitchener and back. More than $13,000 was pledged in the walk, an increase of $3,600 from last year. Chronicle photo WALK FOR LIFE lounge and offices. Tours of the college will be available throughout the after- noon, starting at l Monday, Oct. 3. UW will present a free noon-hour lecture en- titled Bush Garden or Paradise? - Images of Waterloo County in Art, History and Liter- ature, at the Kitchener Public Library. On Wednesday, Oct. 5, the Faculty of Science is holding an open house for high school students and the faculty of Environmen- tal Studies is holding an information day for high school students. Thursday, Oct. 6, the University of Waterloo will officially launch its Institute for Biotech- nology Research by holding "Biotechno- logy Day, a day-long program of lectures talks and tours on bio- technology for an invit. ed audience of indus- try, government and university biotech spe- cialists. Then Thursday eve- ning at 7 p.m., there will be a demonstration of microcomputers which have been devel- pertinent to the recent closing and re-opening of the Hotel Waterloo. it should be stated that any reference to bankruptcy in those articles refers to the company which operated the Waterloo House establishment itself and not to its former operators, Kerry Long and Stan Huston. in their personal capacity As a point of clarification concerning previous articles published in the Waterloo Chronicle Clarification oped for the visually and vocally handi- capped in room 5158 of the mathematics and computer building. This presentation has been prepared for the community by Dr. Peter Ponzo and Ar- thur Hills of UW's Faty ulty of Mathematics. At the same time in St. Jerome's College, the Catholic-based college at uw. there will be a career information night for people consid- ering a liberal arts de- Wilfrid Laurier Uni- versity kicks off its National Universities Week celebrations with an open house October 2 featuring displays. hands-on exhibits and a meeting over coffee for parents with Dr. John Weir and other WLU top administrators. On Friday. Oct. 7, the Faculty of Environ- mental Studies will host a professional de- velopment day for Wa- terloo Region geogra- phy teachers. And on October 6 there will be an open house for senior high school students who can attend lectures and some musical events: