Sexual editor ‘far from educational’

I am writing in response to the Sexual Editor’s piece on “”sex change”” operations (“”Sexual Editor”” 2/5). As a physician who works with transgender and gender diverse people, I found the response far from educational. Southern Arizona is home to many transgender women and men, some of whom choose to have gender reassignment surgery. The flippant, ridiculing tone and inaccuracies minimize the importance of these procedures, and also the lives of people who choose surgery as part of their transition process. As a reporter on sexual health issues, I encourage you to challenge your own assumptions about gender identity, gender expression and gender roles. The university community deserves better.

Jennifer Vanderleest, MD, MSPH
Department of Family and
Community Medicine
Institute for LGBT Studies

Out-of-place advertisements

If it wasn’t for Pacific Beach’s Moondoggies, with their daily 4-7 p.m. happy hour and $2 U-Call-Its, where would I be? Oh, I know, in Tucson. Keep your ads local, Wildcat.

Tom LaGatta
graduate student, mathematics

Attacked by racism at the Rec Center

My name is Aja Y. Martinez. I am Mexican-American, a current English 102 instructor and graduate student in rhetoric, composition and the teaching of English. I am writing to address to the broader campus community an incident that occurred today at the Student Recreation Center. This morning I was sitting in a waiting area where people usually sit when all of the elliptical cardio machines are in use. At the time I was the only person waiting, yet about 10 minutes after I arrived, another young woman showed up (I’ll call her Jane for clarity’s sake and because I do not know her name). Jane proceeded to sit in the same waiting area for a moment, but eventually decided to go, systematically, to every person on the occupied machines (there are five of these machines in this area) and ask when their workouts would be completed. Another young lady occupying an elliptical machine responded that she would be finishing in a couple minutes, after which Jane came back to the sitting area to continue her wait. As others who use the machines in this particular area may know, the unwritten rule is that the cardio machines are used on a first-come, first-serve basis, so usually those waiting have priority on the next available machine based on the order they arrived to wait. So, when the young woman occupying the machine finished her workout I got up to go use the now unoccupied machine, as did Jane, who in fact cut me off and made way to get on the machine before I could reach it. I decided at this point to speak up and said “”Excuse me, I was waiting to use one of these machines before you arrived,”” to which she answered “”Well I didn’t know what you were doing and you don’t have to be so rude about it.”” I answered “”It’s not a matter of being rude, it’s a matter of waiting your turn and it’s the same courtesy I would have extended to you if you were here first.”” She then said “”Whatever you fat black bitch!”” I stood rooted to the spot in shock and dismay.

You see, I teach a designated section of freshman composition specially designed to address issues of racism and inequality in society. Exploring these issues, especially as they pertain to higher education, is very much what my own research, writing and classroom practice is concerned with, so it was very painful to experience such blatant disrespect on campus from a UA student. I am incredibly unnerved by this incident, however, I do not know what to do other than write this letter in the hopes that I will raise awareness of this sad happening among the broader campus community. I feel so wounded and am saddened that such a blatant display of racism could and did occur on our campus in this day and age.

Aja Y. Martinez
Ph.D. candidate, Department of English