The Whitworthian

Issue date: 11/20/07 Last Updated: 11/24/07

Media Credit: Megan Baker Sadly, Whitworth Male No. 001376 only scored a 5.6 out of 10 in the "Overall Marriage Potential" category. [Click to enlarge]

For a school that so explicitly prohibits sex and drinking, Whitworth students exhibit an odd attraction to displaying bare flesh and purchasing dates for cash.

Our only condition? The flesh, whether it's on display or for sale, must belong to a male.

Some evidence of this disparity?

I present to you Exhibits A and B. Viewer discretion is advised.

Exhibit A: The Carlson Men Calendar

Distributed campus wide every spring, this flesh-centric Arend Hall tradition is sort of like an all-male version of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, only with less clothing and more goofing off.

Exhibit B: The Bachelor Auction

Whitworth women try to outbid one another, and the women walk away with a guaranteed date. Basically, this is about buying men.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit to you that these exhibits highlight our community's tendency to objectify men while sanctifying women.

Whitworth works hard to stress gender equality, at least on the surface, but in this area we seem to have thrown equality to the wind.

And I, for one, am bothered by this double standard.

Just think about it.

Given that eyebrows were raised by the costumes in "Antigone," just imagine the result if a Ballard Belles Calendar were sold, or a female Homecoming rep appeared in an outfit half as scanty as the yellow Mac Hall loincloth.

Letters to the Editor would be penned, parents would go ballistic, and Trustees would wade in with a half-dozen new amendments to the Student Handbook.

My point here is not that women should be encouraged to wear less.

Despite the joy this might bring frat boys everywhere, it would only be a step backward.

Rather, I am voicing my disappointment in the hypocrisy of a culture that sanctifies a woman's body and zealously protects women from objectification while laughingly flaunting men and their bodies.

This trend does not begin or end with bare flesh, either. The Bachelor Auction is a prime example of an activity that is deemed "amusing" simply because men are the ones being sold, rather than women.

I do recognize that much of the Bachelor Auction's humor is drawn from the irony of a historic role reversal - after all, it wasn't so long ago that we men could purchase Mail Order Brides (section M in the Sears catalog). I also recognize that the average buyer of the Carlson Men Calendar is making the purchase in order to be amused, not aroused (something that might not be true if the calendar featured the Ballard Belles).

These distinctions, however, do nothing to minimize the fact that we employ a double standard in our analysis of male and female sexuality.

Worse than the double standard may be the reality it covers up.

Whitworth women still feel pressure to change their appearance in order to attract the guys.

They are still the subjects of crude shower-room banter.

And they still receive leers from their male classmates.

Don't believe me? Just ask a woman.

Could it be that even here at Whitworth, with our emphasis on modest female clothing and male chivalry, women continue to be objectified, particularly when it comes to sexuality? I think, if we're honest, the answer may not be a comfortable one.

If equality between the sexes matters to us, then the equality must go both ways.

Objectifying women is wrong, but to respond by goofily objectifying men is no response at all. It is a hypocrisy and a cop-out, a regrettable double-standard and a shameful sidestep.

It's time for us to discard the scantily-clad men and the date auctions in favor of an honest discussion about sexuality and a move toward genuine equality.

Trevor Hansen is an opinions columnist and a junior majoring in sociology. Contact him at trevor.hansen@whitworthian.com.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools

The Whitworthian encourages readers to comment on any content on the whitworthian.com. Article comments can be posted by anyone. The opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinion of The Whitworthian, its editors or its staff. The Whitworthian strives to monitor and delete comments with profanity, advertisements, obscenity, plagiarism, personal attacks, threats of violence or that violate the law or common decency. However, since The Whitworthian does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not find offensive or inaccurate comments on occasion.

For this reason, The Whitworthian asks readers to be responsible and respectful in any comments posted. The responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not the whitworthian.com. Readers are also encouraged to report questionable comments by e-mailing editor@whitworthian.com.