More analysis on frat. behavior at Yale from Feministing.com and masculinity studies specialist Michael Kimmel:
Privileged boys, impoverished ethics
Quoting Michael Kimmel from the link above, "We can see the men of DKE at Yale not as a bunch of angry predators, asserting their dominance, but as a more pathetic bunch of guys who see themselves as powerless losers, trying to re-establish a sexual landscape which they feel has been thrown terribly off its axis. This is especially ironic, of course, because these straight, white, upper-class Yalie DKEs are among the most privileged 20-year-olds on the planet. And yet now they feel one-down, defensive, reduced to impotent screaming–and all because of women’s equality."
It does not surprise me that boys that are rushing for a fraternity are doing things that are degrading to women. Their chants are probably one of the smaller things that go on at Yale that women view as disrespectful. Also, like the article says, being as privileged as they are it doesn’t seem to have any effect on how they treat and talk about women. I didn’t read their apology letter because if I for one second felt that it was sincere then I question why they started the chant in the first place. Also, I doubt the letter was an idea of one of the boys in the frat, I’m sure it was either the school threatening them or their parents who were embarrassed of them that forced them to write the letter. Lastly, I don’t think that this should have been publicized, yes its disrespectful and disturbing, but even on our campus at Western during the first week of school there are signs on front porches of houses on Adams St that say “Freshman Daughter Drop Off.” College boys are college boys whether they are at Yale or at Western.
ReplyDeleteMichelle LaRose