It is a sad day indeed when the Mountain Xpress publishes an article that ran last year in the Tribune [“V Is for Violating Modesty and Dignity,” Xpress Commentary, Feb. 13]. I would expect to find this type of meaningless, irrelevant drivel in a right-wing paper, but in the Mountain Xpress? I have to say I’m disappointed.
Robinson makes the claim that The Vagina Monologues “represents sexual objectification—of women, by women.” What type of sexual objectification is she talking about? After reading the article three times, I still couldn’t figure this out. I’m glad she thinks “ending violence against women is a worthy goal.” After years of experiencing sexual violence, I think it’s rather worthy as well. She argues that The Vagina Monologues [is] more a “glorification of female sexuality and a rejection of traditional values.” This leaves me pondering the question of what “traditional values” she’s referring to—domestic violence, rape, legal ownership of women by their husbands? Finally, is Robinson seriously ragging on “alternative lifestyles and [female] promiscuity”? Don’t promote such offensive garbage under the guise of anti-objectification of women.
Maybe Ms. Robinson needs to go back to her Pope Center and fight for whatever “higher education” she’s working on there (such as being a “skeptic on climate change,” according to one of her columns).
— Jennifer L. Smith
Asheville
Editor’s note: From time to time, the Xpress does accept columns provided to other media in the state, but we try to avoid any duplication of local use. The William Pope Center informs us that the commentary in question was a rewritten version of a 2007 column by Jenna Robinson that they (and we) were unaware had been published locally. Thanks for the sharp reader’s eye!
“If one doesn’t respect oneself one can have neither love nor respect for others.”
–Ayn Rand