After reading “Colleges Marred by Acts of Misogyny” and “Gender Inequality Exists Here,” an article and editorial on misogyny, respectively, in last week’s issue of The Phillipian, I was appalled. These institutions that pride themselves on prestige and higher education boast having intellect from all over the world and are supposedly places for young men and women to have an open mind. By means of higher learning, they should help our world advance into a more modernized and progressive place. It seems that we have regressed into a collegiate world full of misogyny, sexism and narrow-mindedness.
A commentary article in last week’s issue of The Phillipian, “We Need to Worry” by Abigail Burman ’12, was well put. I agree with Burman—we do need to worry about misogyny. But not only do we need to worry about the probable sexual assaults and misogyny cases on our very own campus, but also about the trend of brushing off small incidents of misogyny by saying, “It was a joke, chill.” Making light of heavy issues such as rape and sexual assault does not assuage the issue nor does it help anyone, especially since many of us find no humor in such jokes.
After reading about the misogyny cases occurring in colleges such as Yale, USC and Purdue, I was curious to see what other people out there thought of the these events. In a Huffington Post article entitled “Purdue Paper’s ‘Sex Position of the Week’ Angers Many,” there are couple of comments that I interpreted as, “it was only a joke, and it was a reference to a movie, and does not depict rape at all.”
But to many people, it clearly depicts non-consensual sex, and many were shocked to see women portrayed in such a belittling, mocking and public way, even if it was through a comic strip. Comic illustrations can have deep underlying messages, and some can be just as hurtful to large groups of people as words or photographs. It’s unknown what the illustrator’s intent was, but even if it was merely for the sake of humor, images and illustrations effectively convey messages to people, and in this instance, the message is not positive.
Further excited by curiosity, I read “Delta Kappa Epsilon Chants Spark Controversy” in the Yale Daily News, concerning the Delta Kappa Epilson pledge chants of, “No means yes, and yes means anal.” Looking through the comments posted by readers, I got the idea that many people were against Yale’s Women’s Center for branding the chants as “hate speech” and an “active call for sexual violence.”
I believe it would be foolish for the Women’s Center to stand by idly, fail to react to the offensive chants and let it continue to happen especially since the target of the chants are most likely, but not limited to, women. It is plausible that the Yale students who were shouting these chants did not believe what they were shouting at all, but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t some who do, and repeatedly shouting something can cause others to believe it. But if the chant message is insensitive and condones rape in a college atmosphere, it must be dealt with forcefully.
I’ve never come across cases like these during my time at Andover, but alumni of Andover attend colleges such as Yale or USC, and it would be naïve to say that small events of misogyny do not occur in our culture. Even in my everyday routine, I come across little things that don’t seem like a big deal, but they can be the inklings of a misogynistic community just waiting to erupt.
For example, we are all aware of the “hook-up” culture on campus. I’m in no way condemning sexual relations or “hooking up” on campus, but there are certain sentiments that shouldn’t be part of our culture. For example, if a girl does not hook up with a boy, I often hear the girl described as “prude.”
Also, I’ve come across many instances in different conversations between people and heard comments such as, “She’s such a feminist” or “What a crazy feminist,” especially after Lani Guinier’s speech on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The word “feminist” has grown to have negative connotations, despite our supposedly “accepting” society. Since when is the belief in equality of men and women a bad thing? Perhaps we should catch these small problems in our community before they get magnified and sent off to Yale or Purdue.
Karen Morales is a three-year Upper from East Boston, MA.
