To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in response to Dave Johnson's 11/19 piece on the ban of Four Loko in New York State. While I generally found the article to be interesting and informative, my jaw nearly hit the floor when I read the quote from doctorate student Matthias Schmid. In reference to the tribulations caused by Four Loko, Schmid is quoted as saying: "We had a huge increase of drunk underage people, and a lot of women were affected likely due to the sweeter taste masking the alcohol." …What? I had no idea that my possession of two X chromosomes made me unable to taste the presence of alcohol when it's mixed into a sugary beverage. How very imperceptive of me.
While it's true that Four Loko came under fire because its sweet flavors make it easy to drink without tasting the alcohol, not a single publication has claimed that this aspect of the drink poses a particular risk to women. Actually, most of the outrage was over the fact that the combination of caffeine with fruity flavors masking a high alcohol content poses a danger to inexperienced drinkers, such as young college students who don't always know how to imbibe safely. The drink was further accused of producing "fun" flavors and colorful packaging as a way of marketing to children. But none of these arguments made any mention of women engaging in alcohol abuse via Four Loko at a higher ratio than men. To suggest that female college students are less able than their male counterparts to taste alcohol in sweet beverages- and therefore practice safe drinking- is uneducated and frankly rather sexist. I personally make a point to be aware of the alcohol content in anything I drink, as do many of my female friends. One is not predisposed to drink irresponsibly due to one's gender; that is a decision made on the part of the individual.
I understand that quotes from students in The Spectrum don't necessarily represent the opinions of the paper's staff, but by printing such ludicrous statements you effectively play a role in spreading ignorance and sexism. Everyone is obviously entitled to his or her own opinion, but offensive remarks with no substantiated evidence to back them up have no place in a publication which is supposed to represent the student body of this university. It is my sincere hope that the next time a student makes an ill-mannered remark in an interview, you will consider how it will reflect upon the 29,000 other UB students before making the choice to print it.
Sincerely,
Allison Funk
Letters to the Editor are not edited by the staff at The Spectrum. They are run as-is.
