Spring Break
Look on the bright side, Women's Center
Bryan Murphy
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Commentary
It may be time to abolish the Women's Center, or downgrade its leading role in UConn's cultural hierarchy. Because if anything, this university - and every college in the nation - needs a Men's Center, as America faces a disaster of masculinity rather than of femininity.
What's good for women is good for everyone, of course, and there's no reason not to confront a social challenge. But the recent "Take Back the Night" march, while a commendable idea, exemplifies much of what's wrong with American feminism. The women of the developing world may need to take to the streets in anger, but America's problems require less talk of "oppression" and "herstory," and more Zen-like cool.
Take that march, for example. Attacking sexual assault head-on is satisfying, but simplistic - because sexual assault isn't a problem. It's a symptom of a society that judges the worth of women in a large degree based on their sexual desirability, while praising men mostly for their breadwinning prowess and romantic conquests. Attempting to take back the night without attempting to take back the values is like protesting emphysema, but not cigarette usage. Why not protest on-campus "Ladies' Nights" that implicitly value drunken female sexual availability, or protest the incessant "[profession] and hos" parties - things that campus-localized initiatives might be able to greatly influence? Or, indeed, why not move beyond talk of "oppression" and the "gender wage gap" completely - language that, clearly, reinforces the conception that men are mere bread-winners and exercisers of force.
But while I can hope, I don't expect on-campus activists to update their methods. America's gender dialogue has been doing the time warp again since the '70s, and no one seems to want to acknowledge the sexualized elephant in the room: the crisis of man.
The battle cry of America's feminists seems to be the glass ceiling and the gender wage gap, the infamous 78 cents a woman earns to each man's dollar. But women make different decisions than men about their career goals, career trajectories and relative values, and short of demanding that women mimic men, it's not clear what can be done to fully close any gap. As an example, a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that the ongoing recession may harden the glass ceiling in the financial industry as increasing numbers of women decide the high-pressure, risky lifestyle isn't for them. I fail, however, to see a glass-ceiling-shattering alternative short of telling women to value their jobs over their families and their own satisfaction, all for the sake of equality.
What's good for women is good for everyone, of course, and there's no reason not to confront a social challenge. But the recent "Take Back the Night" march, while a commendable idea, exemplifies much of what's wrong with American feminism. The women of the developing world may need to take to the streets in anger, but America's problems require less talk of "oppression" and "herstory," and more Zen-like cool.
Take that march, for example. Attacking sexual assault head-on is satisfying, but simplistic - because sexual assault isn't a problem. It's a symptom of a society that judges the worth of women in a large degree based on their sexual desirability, while praising men mostly for their breadwinning prowess and romantic conquests. Attempting to take back the night without attempting to take back the values is like protesting emphysema, but not cigarette usage. Why not protest on-campus "Ladies' Nights" that implicitly value drunken female sexual availability, or protest the incessant "[profession] and hos" parties - things that campus-localized initiatives might be able to greatly influence? Or, indeed, why not move beyond talk of "oppression" and the "gender wage gap" completely - language that, clearly, reinforces the conception that men are mere bread-winners and exercisers of force.
But while I can hope, I don't expect on-campus activists to update their methods. America's gender dialogue has been doing the time warp again since the '70s, and no one seems to want to acknowledge the sexualized elephant in the room: the crisis of man.
The battle cry of America's feminists seems to be the glass ceiling and the gender wage gap, the infamous 78 cents a woman earns to each man's dollar. But women make different decisions than men about their career goals, career trajectories and relative values, and short of demanding that women mimic men, it's not clear what can be done to fully close any gap. As an example, a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that the ongoing recession may harden the glass ceiling in the financial industry as increasing numbers of women decide the high-pressure, risky lifestyle isn't for them. I fail, however, to see a glass-ceiling-shattering alternative short of telling women to value their jobs over their families and their own satisfaction, all for the sake of equality.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 26
Male Student
posted 4/30/09 @ 10:30 AM EST
This is literally the dumbest thing I've read in the Daily Campus all year. Thanks for saving the best for last.
Ignoramus
posted 4/30/09 @ 11:14 AM EST
Please turn in your man card before the end of the day; this includes all reproductive rights pursuant with the aforementioned card.
Where, Bryan, did you go so wrong with this article? We're all stupider for having read it. (Continued…)
Samati Niyomchai
posted 4/30/09 @ 1:26 PM EST
Bryan, you weren't at Take Back the Night obviously. I spoke out against the abuse my mother and I endured from my step-father. Oh guess what: I'm a guy! So you know what, I thank the Women's Center and all the women who took back the night. (Continued…)
Jesse Lynn Kohut
posted 4/30/09 @ 3:30 PM EST
Same tired diatribe all over again. Once every year or so, some idiot foists his nonsense about wanting a Men's Center on us. At least come up with original inane idiocy. (Continued…)
Not Your B----!
posted 4/30/09 @ 4:35 PM EST
I find this article to be very typical of your writing style. Taking a point of view that it antiquated and trying to throw it out there as new and exciting seems to be your thing. (Continued…)
Bee Tee Dubbs
posted 4/30/09 @ 4:56 PM EST
Your article wasn't crafted very carefully. I agree with some of what you're saying, but disagree on other points.
First of all –"because sexual assault isn't a problem. (Continued…)
Madelyn Ardito
posted 4/30/09 @ 5:46 PM EST
I was going to write a letter to the editor, but I couldn't sum up my
response in 400 words.
In response to a recent article by renowned sociologist Bryan Murphy, it
is time to clear a few things up. (Continued…)
JMM
posted 4/30/09 @ 6:07 PM EST
This was one of the most dispicable articles I have ever read. I am actually embarassed for the writer and the entire Daily Campus organization for such poor choices in chosing articles for this paper. (Continued…)
Nicholas Arntsen
posted 4/30/09 @ 6:17 PM EST
Bryan,
I think your article not only illustrates how clearly sexist and culturally insensitive you are, but also how ignorant and uneducated you are on gender issues. (Continued…)
Conservative
posted 4/30/09 @ 6:34 PM EST
Way to be awesome Bryan Murphy!
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