I am writing to express my disgust with Johanna Costa's column in Feb. 20's Daily Tar Heel. After a polite and respectful campaign, Ms. Costa's ad hominen attack on Jen Daum was an unpleasant surprise. Ms. Daum is described as "skipping" and "giggling" her way to student body president -- apparently the male candidates simply walked and laughed as they campaigned -- and winning due to her physical appearance -- apparently only male students voted in the election. The column is insulting both to Ms. Daum and the student body who gave her a majority of votes in both elections.
If Ms. Costa truly cares about the issues in the election, she could write a column that focused on those issues, not one with malicious commentary about Ms. Daum's looks and demeanor (something none of the male candidates were subjected to, despite the fact that all the candidates had professional-quality posed photos and video on their Web sites and that all the candidates were energetic personalities).
Ms. Costa assures her readers that she is a feminist. I don't think that's an appropriate description. Being a feminist is not about assigning gender to certain behaviors (i.e. the "flaky female" crying) and using that stereotype to criticize. Being a feminist is not about making snide remarks about other women for being considered attractive. Being a feminist is not about thinking the women of this campus are so uninformed and mindless that they only voted for Ms. Daum because she pointed out to us that she is a woman, too.
Perhaps Ms. Costa should read the front page article in Wednesday's paper on why women have had a hard time getting elected on this campus. Gender-biased expectations of behavior and appearance plague women in positions of power, and Ms. Costa's column only reiterates those sexist ideas, in a particularly nasty tone. I think she owes an apology to Ms. Daum and to every student who voted for her.
Lisa Bates
Graduate Student
City and Regional Planning
