Campus phenomenon: porn

Four years ago, a men's house
in a University of Michigan dormi-
tory was showing pernographic
films. The mne tricked a few fe-
male students into coming into the
showing room and then locked
them in as a joke.

The men weren't aware that the
women had never seen a porn film
before and the presence of the em-
barassed young women reportedly
added to their enjoyment of the
film.
male students into coming into the [^l{^^^^^^^^lf^rf^ iM^Wfl^ "n,' ....,, ..,•.- .. • .<•• 'Deep
showing room and then locked . . , . •' -'.-.i?& •''- l:''^\;a ' .CT "•'"''i''.' 'V^l!:^ S MliVlBilajfia-,^ .;„„.•..„. .....wr.rith some kind ol plot. We tried to
them in as a joke, .iiiliilHlil^ 0 rAflff'fflTplllldBlttrI make it a tun thing and to expose
womenTa'd'nev^'r seen^or^rum .; „, r, "^.Yj^^^uiIllCTj;;) women so they would know what a
before and the presence of the em- '-^1——ISilililiJil.li } ^i!!""!i!ii;!l JiiHUIII|lll;ll"1 '" ' ' ' -stthey
barassed young women reportedly
added to their enjoyment of the film. 1
Because of that incident the wo- ' jnem-moiJ MS. WARD SAID she can't
men resident directors in the , L©
dorm got together and decided to Qjp parents being shocked by showing
organize a wom'"'"'" """" ••""*'* <9> B '-,-
when just feinal; ^^^ "It they don't see it in a dorm,
a they will go to a campus movie
X-rated movies where they can't see it with the
staff and their friends." she said.
NOW THERE "If they are going to see a pom
men's porn night < film, this is the place to do it -
Day. The same o -•••••'. with the staff and their friends In
which pin- •;:i stiva! be-
fore spi la men's talkaboiii
house 'A , porn festi- -—•". "Thevi. ,.r their
val in ' -nates all comment;,. . „. „. ..., Jub is to
make women aware of their sex-
uality and make their decisions
iz. purnograph, . ^ ut Uie mosPhere^ dorff sources of theircon^butions, 3?^^S^h^hT"^'^!^ i^t^i^. ^uc fchan harm corn xed, close at-n lounge thatns see^ more they don't attend." Sue Ferrick, a 2g^ear-old wadent director in the South Qua< with men. they are hit with a lot of comes Into a co-ed dorm. shr -—— .questions and have to decide their make a lot of adjustments h;ments on their own sexuality, ^e is finding about a lot ..
, . . , i . ''ilm festi They are women all of a sudden herself.
^ senti and have to make decisions. Ms. Ward said her effort is not
"The sexuality thine is a wider confined to women alone. "It is a
, -.;., ..:! :,i. ...n,; she porn issue than just" those" films. The ^Y to educate the men too. We
ih^v",^ been going on in the dorms for a .ey -", long time and are directly linked "Out of 500 women in the dorm H ms are such a little part of the ^V to show them they don't have whole thing and such a fun part." to twi pressured to see a pom film
omce 01 to the availability of materials. only about 35 attended. Some felt Patricia Ward. chairwoman of m orter to be one of the guys. You
ihe show- ' it was gross and left, but there South Quad's sexuality corn- I'a"' 'tre right to find these things
'"ys\>' nine sub- ..^ pygg Q^CUR campus- were no real extreme reactions- mittee, also sees the films in a '^' •
Ject, l! -.man mr ^, and is a natio nal phenome- We felt it was a healthy atmos larger context.
the hoi; L was not ^ „ . ^ ,,,?. .., phere. It wasn't mandatory, we "In the last few years, morality
sure thi 1.1. want ^^ cl of curiosity and it is healthy rtif^'t imp hnii^e money and no has changed and there is a hf"°r
the showing of porn films- ee them with th e dorm staff . . ,, ,,.() ms did not have knowledge of that type of tl .y iialls Ms- Ward said. Playgirl ca; red the
APPARENTLY. no University th^ eact badly." . ,. ., we made one up and sex comes up more In i'.r- .Lirresi-
, o.,..,,.,.. ,,^ ('••nnert he film show- found, all top hits that peop! iwons oIBursely Hall. said he had heard
;.(lae and she has all the time, like -Push. ' of porn showings in his residence
; hut shf under- the Bush,"'Dirty Love.';u;: .nhave •'all. but he has instructed his stall
'in' Loose ' never -s<- ' /; t- *"" ^"d stop it if they know of it
iector. When a nommal fee i- ^, ,„.
charged, it is either to cover tin cost of me film and projector or to . , provide free food- The showings pressed or embarra are generally sex segregated and ^•r^ ^^a no one is under any pressure to at- golng- l ney are not ssed for not made fun of if "A LOT OF the women up heietinued. "When they come here am live in the same house or dorm canmal; ; . • HAVE LIMITED rights In are intimidated by them because slopping that kind of thing," Han-they don't understand what the See Pornography, Page A-4
tend.
"r course there are several
i in the Ann Arbor area
pornography is readily
•>le Students need not trav-
, -- :-. . - -he local X-
11 Fourth i
-,s, an off-i Student

Pornography...

Continued from Pa^e A-3

son said. "If it is shown to a closed
invited group there is really not
much we can do except suggest
thpt it is not the smartest thing to

money. But we would not
condone it.

"We have run sexuality semi-
nars in Bursley. The films were
explict, yes, but done for an educa-
tional purpose and not porn, and
no one was required tc

"Showing porn films in noiiw
probably happens more than
building directors know. If I don't
know about it, I can do nothing. If I
do know, I can suggest that the
group stop,"

John W. Finn, associate housing
director for student re' ';, nei-
ther said he nor housii;,;, ;ij ector,
Robert C. Hughes, had never
heard of porn showings in resi-
dence halls.

"Ber^! tion has nev-
er con , , me University
housing division does not have a
policy about this," Finn said. "We
are trying very hard not to over-
react to fr ^ are making no

rules here. I can me advan-
tages to showing porn m residence
halls and talking about it intelli-
gently instead of covering it up. ,

"I don't know if we could control
it. It will happen anyway and I
would rather it happen in an edu-
cational atmosphere than that it
be experienced as smut."

FINN SAID this does not mean
T "'iversity is endorsing the
no of porn films in the dor-
mitories. "As a parent, my view-
point is one thing," he said, "and
as an administrator it's another.

"This is not an endorsement but
it is not a condemnation of it ei-
ther. There can be some advan-
tages to letting people see pom
and be intelligent and open about
it rather than regard it as dirty
and lock girls up in some room
during a showing."

Finn said it is impossible for the
University to act as a parent over
all students and impossible to tell
a parent everything their son or
daughter will be subject to as a
university student.