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Chill out - it's just entertainment


Lust is lust and the Pacer shouldn't have covered the men of Chippendales coming to Martin was the basic statement of one Mr. Jason Adkins.

After reading the letter to the editor, I found a few flaws in the submission. Something I have learned after being on staff for two years now is you should always check your sources before writing anything to back up your argument.

The letter questioned what would be next to appear in the Pacer – a sorority's guys in boxers night? If you have kept up with the Pacer, you would be aware that we have printed four different stories on SAE's Ladies of Minerva's Hot Boxer Contest held each year. The stories of the contest do indeed describe the boxers worn by the winners.

What is the difference? Yes, the contest does donate the proceeds to the Children's Miracle Network. An interesting fact that not very many people realize is that Chippendales also does charity work. Often, the proceeds from a few shows (revenues coming to about $1,000 per show) are donated to charities according to Dan Banion, team captain of the Chippendales tour group.

Mr. Adkins, I ask you one question: Why criticize the review on Chippendales? It was printed because it did deal with UTM. The majority of the females present were indeed from here.

According to the owner of the show, one the reasons why Martin was chosen was because it was a college town. The Pacer is "for the students, by the students." The majority of students on campus are female. I believe that there is a two-to-one female to male ratio on campus. So the majority of our readers are indeed female.

You did bring up an interesting point though. But think about what you say before you write. In Lip Syncs, females dress as males and males as females. Does this mean that UTM does indeed promote transsexual tendencies in its students? Why include a swim suit portion in both the Miss and Mr. UTM pageants?

Doesn't this set the women's movement back a few years by being judged on their bodies rather than not on who they are?

I'm not saying whether or not it is wrong, but that both of these situations have one thing in common... both are done for entertainment.

The student body enjoys the lip syncs and pageants for entertainment purposes. No, these events won't change the world, but it is the socialization that they enjoy.

There is a difference between the female dancers you mention from Henry County and the male dancers of Chippendales. The men do not go fully nude, where as female dancers do go nude.

Anyone can walk around campus or the fitness trail when the weather is warm and see males with their shirts off. You can even go to the UTM pool and see males barely clothed. Does this make it wrong? Should UTM enforce a dress code where only a certain amount of skin can be shown?

No one was forced to attend the Chippendales show or read the review. The pictures in the review are G-rated – you can actually find more revealing pictures in ZTA's Mr. UTM calendar.

Features is a section dedicated to Arts and Entertainment. That is what it all is – entertainment. Chippendales, males dressing as females in lip syncs, the entire Mr. and Miss UTM pageants and various other functions that occur on campus.

Before criticizing something, place yourself in the opposite person's shoes. According to the owner, one of the reasons why Chippendales is successful is because women rarely have anything to do for socialization.

There is rarely an occasion for women to get together and socialize with one another. Men in Martin have their sports, bars and various other events. What is there for women to do?

This was a special event for women that comes around ever so often. Women can't be themselves when they are together and men are around according to the owner. They won't have fun and be themselves.

It all comes back to my basic point. It's all in entertainment, nothing more, nothing less.