Practicing ideals without double standards
Letter to the Editor
"What does it really mean to be human? What does it mean to practice democratic ideals?" These were just a couple questions that Dr. Cornel West asked his audience in DeBartolo Hall a few weeks ago.
In light of recent circumstances on campus, I think these are two questions that we as students and members of a larger human community need to ask ourselves.
On Friday I sat in the hallway of LeMans Hall and watched as many students signed and while some passed by and refused to sign a petition in support of free speech. Ask yourselves the two questions posed by Dr. West and then explain to me why people flatly refused to sign such a petition.
Granted this "sit-in" and petition were arranged in reaction to the prohibition of "The Vagina Monologues" on campus, but free speech is free speech and if we don't support that, what does that say about our definition of humanity or democracy?
The most disturbing part of the sit-in was watching the Saint Mary's student body vice-president elect pass by and hostilely refuse to sign this petition. The student body president elect also refrained from signing. That makes me worry about the future of Saint Mary's College.
A member of the Parent's Council, who allegedly played a role in censoring the monologues, also passed through. One man, the father of a Saint Mary's student, stopped and read the petition. He looked interested and seemed excited to see students taking action. He asked which theatrical presentation had been censored, and when he heard the word "vagina" he rudely shoved the petition back into the student's hand and walked away, arm in arm with his wife, who said nothing.
Anyone who has been in a minority group knows the importance of naming and defining oneself. If we don't define ourselves, someone else will. Instead of allowing the presentation of "The Vagina Monologues" and talking about our sexuality, women's sexuality, we are silenced and therefore remain passive.
Instead of holding this event to embrace the many beautiful aspects of women's sexuality, we let the Keenan Review take place on this very campus and in a way define our sexuality for us. In essence we let a group of post-adolescent males define our sexuality with age-old negative stereotypes. I went to the Keenan Review my freshman year and I laughed nervously at the jokes that stereotypically defined Saint Mary's women as sexual objects, Notre Dame women as ugly and therefore not important and Zahm Hall men as gay and therefore abnormal.
So in one event the men — or maybe I should say boys — of Keenan Hall define two sets of women and gay people according to their idea of sexuality as centered on the white male heterosexual. I remember the joke about BP and all the girls being fat. I also remember one of my dearest friends who lived in that dorm dealing with eating disorders. Someone please explain to me how perpetuating harmful stereotypes is contributing to the well being of humanity or democracy.
I know the response to my ideas presented here. People will tell me to lighten up because these are all just jokes. Well, in my opinion, these jokes are harmful.
However, being a proponent of free speech, I would never say the boys of Keenan Hall should not be allowed to perform their show but in my opinion it should not take place on the Saint Mary's College campus.
Sadly, I read in the paper today the article in which the Saint Mary's Board of Governance gave the following reasons to keep the Keenan Revue on campus: the Revue brings Notre Dame students to our campus; we should try to promote good campus relations; not allowing the Revue at Saint Mary's would make us look "bitchy;" and we should keep it in the "spirit of goodwill."
I will not promote something in the "spirit of goodwill" which promotes stereotypes of me or any other Saint Mary's woman as stupid or slutty, which is exactly what the revue does. I am really disappointed in the students of Saint Mary's. Open your eyes and see what's really going on.
At the beginning of this academic school year I was in my boyfriend's dorm room. We heard banging on the wall and when we opened the door, the freshmen in his section had written on it the words, "Yeah, get some from the SMC chic." School had only been in session for less than a month and these poor little freshmen's minds had already been corrupted with these harmful stereotypes which are then reinforced a semester later in the Keenan Review. I was highly offended that a few freshmen thought they had the right and audacity to talk about my sexuality in that way, without so much as ever having met me. I am a senior at Saint Mary's and I am really tired of dealing with incidents such as these. These stereotypes are used quite often to divide the women of Saint Mary's and Notre Dame.
Perhaps it is time for the women of both campuses to unite and reject these male imposed labels. As for all the women and men of these two campuses who will disagree will me, maybe you have bought into "the system." It's a shame that we internalize such repressive "traditions" to the degree that it is acceptable for men to talk about and make fun of women's sexuality, but it is considered "shocking" (to quote a Saint Mary's student) for women to talk about our own.
On Friday at the sit-in I sat next to a Notre Dame woman who decided to take the bus over by herself to unite with Saint Mary's students and stand up for free speech and the validity of "The Vagina Monologues." Across from me sat another Notre Dame woman who is a first year law student and also wished to exercise her concern over the repression of freedom of speech. Three cheers for them.
The women of Saint Mary's and Notre Dame who attended the sit-in took the first step together. Let's all come together and ask questions about humanity and democracy so that we can make these campuses, this country and this world a better place, not a divided one where repressive stereotypes shape our view of the world, without us even being aware of it.
To me it seems clear that these issues are related and should be discussed in context of one another. I am just posing some questions because I think it is important to look at these events like the censorship of "The Vagina Monologues" and the thoughtless support for the Keenan Review in order to examine how they affect people in these communities.
I found Dr. West's ideas to be quite enlightening and I think we could all benefit from asking ourselves the two basic questions he proposed. "What does it really mean to be human?" "What does it mean to practice democratic ideals seriously?"
Focusing on answering these two questions, maybe we can put recent circumstances into a broader perspective and understand the deeper issues involved.
Carolyn Kelley
senior
off-campus
February 13, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, February 14, 2001
