A few days ago, I received a rather shocking forward from Feminist Majority. It was an e-mail sent by Leo Buchignani, the editor of the Orange and Blue Observer, to the president of Feminist Majority, Melissa Murphy. The e-mail was the product of a back-and-forth exchange between Buchignani and Murphy, and the final message sent by Buchignani was completely out of line.

I spoke with Murphy to get a background of the events leading up to the final e-mail. Buchignani had originally contacted Feminist Majority about an event that happened yesterday. He informed Murphy that in the spirit of the AK-47 raffle held on the Quad last month, the Observer will be raffling off three semi-automatic handguns to “protest Illinois’ concealed carry laws and demand passage of HB 2607,” which would allow Illinois residents to carry a concealed firearm. According to Murphy, Buchignani added her to the e-mail list of the Observer without her request.

Irritated that she was being contacted about this event, Murphy responded by requesting that she not be sent any additional e-mails. I suppose Buchignani didn’t like “bein’ talked to dis’ way by a wuhman,” because his response to Murphy’s request was borderline crazy. This is a direct quote from his final e-mail to Murphy: “Now Miss Murphy, you really shouldn’t talk like that. I’m very sorry that your daddy didn’t bend you over his knee when you needed it. Hopefully you will one day discover the joys of submission and womanhood. Until then, no self-respecting man will touch you.”

One of the biggest ironies of this entire exchange is that Buchignani probably thought he was doing Feminist Majority a favor by sending them a notice about the upcoming raffle. After all, in a press release sent out Monday by the Orange and Blue Observer, Buchignani is quoted as saying that “for the first time in history, handguns neutralize the male strength advantage over women. I don’t understand why all feminists don’t arm themselves.”

Give me a break, Leo. By sending that final e-mail to Murphy, Buchignani completely nullified any initial good intentions he might have claimed to have. In a column I wrote earlier in the semester, I provided the people at the Observer with an actual definition of the word feminist, but apparently they didn’t get the message. I’ll try one more time – a feminist is “a person whose beliefs and behavior are based on feminism,” and feminism is the “belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.”

Given this definition, I don’t believe a feminist would be interested in arming oneself simply for protection against “big, powerful men.” Buchignani’s argument is based on two incorrect assumptions, one of them being that feminists are all women who are biologically weaker than males, and this leaves them vulnerable to attack. Actually, a feminist can be a man or a woman, and many male students are members of Feminist Majority. In theory (I’ve never heard his views on the subject) Hulk Hogan could be a raging feminist – do you think he needs any assistance from a handgun in fending off a physical attack? According to Buchignani, he would, since “all feminists” should be arming themselves.

The second ignorant assumption Buchignani makes is that a feminist would think he or she needs a handgun to “neutralize” the superior strength of men. This argument goes against the core belief of feminism – that women are equal to men – and therefore it is unlikely that feminists would endorse handgun possession because of an “inherent” inequality in physical strength. But, as we can see in his angry e-mail to Murphy, Buchignani probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend his own ignorance, since he honestly believes that women are supposed to someday discover “the joys of submission and womanhood.” His beliefs about women are fundamentally opposed to what feminism stands for – the absence of submission and the equality of the sexes.

I didn’t expect to see any feminists near Buchignani on the Quad yesterday, unless, of course, they were there to protest his outrageous views. Perhaps the organizers of this raffle will someday come to the conclusion that the real way to end violence against women is to stop raising our boys to think they must grow up to be physically dominant over them. Unfortunately, people like Buchignani lead me to believe that this cycle of ignorance has no end in sight.