The Trident

Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: Arts & Opinion

I am an English major. I feel the need to state this up front because I deal with the thoughtful and reflective articulation of emotions. Thus, it is a great aberration for me to utter "repugnant," "deplorable," and "unconscionable" with red face and wildly gesticulating limbs. But that was my reaction to information I received regarding responses to KEWL's "Love Your Body Week" in conjunction with SPEAK's Take Back the Night rally designed to give voices, strength, and solidarity to those of us who have been judged and abused by a culture that applauds the merits of men while degrading the value of women.

I expected resistance but hoped for tolerance when I first heard about the campaign's objectives. Imagine my confusion when I overheard the following from my seemingly well-educated first-year male peers:

"Dude, what are those cards?"
"They're so fat chicks with low self-esteem can feel better about themselves."

The responses to the cards and the posters on display throughout campus have ranged from concerns over the welfare of the Common's walls to pornographic displays to the image and reputation of W&L in general. To these ends, I question the following: How does the cost of repairing the shattered confidence of a woman raped by a trusted friend compare to the cost of a coat of paint? How can one oppose vehemently the "pornographic" display of women's bodies cut from the pages of Cosmo and defend the sale of Maxim in the University Bookstore? And how does one remain mindful of the future with a provincial attitude that endorses sweeping issues under the rug to retain strong public relations rather than support students actively engaged in making the campus a better and safer place to live? And to those of you concerned about the supposed material inappropriate for children, I would like to remind you, as my good friend so eloquently phrased it, that the Commons is "not an f-ing civic center." If we cannot think freely in a building designed to bring our community-not the greater Lexington community-together, will there ever be a safe place for the necessary albeit controversial discourse of students hoping to enter the real word as free-thinking adults?

Continued...

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