The Movement
Wednesday was Penn State's annual "Take Back the Night" march, in which hundreds of women gather and walk around the campus as a protest to the fear of sexual assault that they have to endure. Ironically, the march began at 6 p.m., which is still daylight. But that's besides the point.
In advertising for this march, the TBTN crew did a common thing and tied balloons to posts on the Pattee Mall. Accompanying these ballons were intermittent flyers taped to lamp posts. The headline on the flyers read, "MEN ARE PREDATORS. PROVE ME WRONG."
I'm not going to argue the nature of men's sexual energy, but I can say for sure--and I know feminists everywhere who strive for equality between the sexes would be forced to agree with me--that women have just as much sexual energy as men do. Scientists and doctors would back me up on this. While they obviously deal with their sexuality in different ways, women are just as sexually rabid as men. That's not to say that all women are predators, but some definitely are. And while some men may be predators, to say "Men are predators" is blatantly sexist.
When Jackie Robinson broke the color line in baseball in 1947, he did the unexpected. What he did took courage that no other baseball player has ever shown. A large part of the credit that goes to Robinson, however, should go to the Brooklyn Dodgers' owner, Branch Rickey. Without Rickey's willingness to break a standard cultural norm in a positive way, Robinson would have never seen the major leagues, and neither would any of the other Negro League players. Rickey integrated the sport of baseball on his own terms, as a man involved with baseball for most of his life. That's something that is rarely seen today--self-policing.
Under the Lyndon B. Johnson presidency, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. This, along with other legislation, gave blacks the full right to vote once and for all. Further advances in the civil rights movement would soon call for de-segregation, not just of schools, but of every public venture. Without LBJ's determination and leadership, this might not have happened for who knows how much longer.
Surprisingly, when LBJ proposed all this legislation for the civil rights movement, Jackie Robinson was a fierce opponent. Why would the first man to break the color line in America's biggest sport be against legislation to force further advancement? Well, look back at what happened when Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He experienced jeering, death threats, and everything else imaginable. America was founded on racist beliefs, and they somehow lived through almost 200 years of our history. Robinson, a man in the spotlight, received the brunt of this racism.
But also, remember what happened with baseball: Branch Rickey brought in a black player on his own terms. He decided that Robinson was far too talented for him not to take advantage. He wasn't forced by the MLB or the United States government to sign a black player to his team, and neither were any of the other teams in baseball. In fact, the Philadelphia Phillies didn't have a black player until 1971, a whole 24 years after Robinson joined the league. The Boston Red Sox went even longer without a black player.
Look at baseball now. Look at America now. Baseball tends to be some sort of microcosm of society, since, after all, it is America's pastime. Baseball is a melting pot of every race, perhaps best shown by the recent World Baseball Classic. Teams like Cuba and South Korea shocked everyone and made it farther than most people expected. The United States performed below expectations and missed the finals. While surely at least 90% of players in 1947 were American-born, now the percentage is down to 25%. Now, look at American society. Like baseball, there has been a recent boom in the Latino population. In 1947, the country was very racially charged, much like baseball.
However, the similarities end there when it comes to race. This could be due to the way baseball and the U.S. went about de-segregation. Baseball policed itself, and now there is little to no racism in the sport. Language barriers are almost non-existent because players and team staff members either already know foreign languages or the team supplies a translator. America, on the other hand, is in the midst of a public debate on immigration laws, with opinions ranging from "Let them stay and use our resources" to "Kill the motherfuckers." There is zero consensus when it comes to race issues in American society. None.
When LBJ forced de-segregation, he may have meant well, but the negative effects still linger today. There is still resentment among different races. Rather than let America police itself, he forced the citizens to cope with a situation they may have not been ready for. I'm not saying that he made the wrong decision, since maybe blacks would have endured overt racism in the public sphere for any number of years afterward, but his decision does affect race relations today very greatly.
Whenever there is a movement to give more civil rights to a minority, there are generally two camps that break out. The first is the militant, aggressive camp. The second is the peaceful, harmonious camp. Sometimes the first camp brings about quicker and more drastic action, but generally when the second camp wins out, the results are for the better in the long-term. Though LBJ's action wasn't militant, it was very aggressive. Robinson's willingness to let things work themselves out showed patience and wisdom.
What the TBTN people don't understand is that they're not making any friends by putting out rash, aggressive message designed to get people's attention. While they're certainly getting attention, it's going to be negative attention if they turn this into reverse sexism. I'm all for equality of the sexes, but making the "All men are pigs" argument is certainly not the way to go about things. On top of the posters, there is a certain smugness about the feminists at Penn State. You'd think feminists would be open-minded, but no, anyone who doesn't want to support them is automatically a sexist asshole. Ignorance is never the right way to go about things, and the TBTN's unwillingness to compromise or accept others' viewpoints on the subject will never help them make advances. Instead, if their strategies force change, the change will be a superficial one causing further rifts between men and women.
In advertising for this march, the TBTN crew did a common thing and tied balloons to posts on the Pattee Mall. Accompanying these ballons were intermittent flyers taped to lamp posts. The headline on the flyers read, "MEN ARE PREDATORS. PROVE ME WRONG."
I'm not going to argue the nature of men's sexual energy, but I can say for sure--and I know feminists everywhere who strive for equality between the sexes would be forced to agree with me--that women have just as much sexual energy as men do. Scientists and doctors would back me up on this. While they obviously deal with their sexuality in different ways, women are just as sexually rabid as men. That's not to say that all women are predators, but some definitely are. And while some men may be predators, to say "Men are predators" is blatantly sexist.
***
When Jackie Robinson broke the color line in baseball in 1947, he did the unexpected. What he did took courage that no other baseball player has ever shown. A large part of the credit that goes to Robinson, however, should go to the Brooklyn Dodgers' owner, Branch Rickey. Without Rickey's willingness to break a standard cultural norm in a positive way, Robinson would have never seen the major leagues, and neither would any of the other Negro League players. Rickey integrated the sport of baseball on his own terms, as a man involved with baseball for most of his life. That's something that is rarely seen today--self-policing.
Under the Lyndon B. Johnson presidency, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. This, along with other legislation, gave blacks the full right to vote once and for all. Further advances in the civil rights movement would soon call for de-segregation, not just of schools, but of every public venture. Without LBJ's determination and leadership, this might not have happened for who knows how much longer.
Surprisingly, when LBJ proposed all this legislation for the civil rights movement, Jackie Robinson was a fierce opponent. Why would the first man to break the color line in America's biggest sport be against legislation to force further advancement? Well, look back at what happened when Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He experienced jeering, death threats, and everything else imaginable. America was founded on racist beliefs, and they somehow lived through almost 200 years of our history. Robinson, a man in the spotlight, received the brunt of this racism.
But also, remember what happened with baseball: Branch Rickey brought in a black player on his own terms. He decided that Robinson was far too talented for him not to take advantage. He wasn't forced by the MLB or the United States government to sign a black player to his team, and neither were any of the other teams in baseball. In fact, the Philadelphia Phillies didn't have a black player until 1971, a whole 24 years after Robinson joined the league. The Boston Red Sox went even longer without a black player.
Look at baseball now. Look at America now. Baseball tends to be some sort of microcosm of society, since, after all, it is America's pastime. Baseball is a melting pot of every race, perhaps best shown by the recent World Baseball Classic. Teams like Cuba and South Korea shocked everyone and made it farther than most people expected. The United States performed below expectations and missed the finals. While surely at least 90% of players in 1947 were American-born, now the percentage is down to 25%. Now, look at American society. Like baseball, there has been a recent boom in the Latino population. In 1947, the country was very racially charged, much like baseball.
However, the similarities end there when it comes to race. This could be due to the way baseball and the U.S. went about de-segregation. Baseball policed itself, and now there is little to no racism in the sport. Language barriers are almost non-existent because players and team staff members either already know foreign languages or the team supplies a translator. America, on the other hand, is in the midst of a public debate on immigration laws, with opinions ranging from "Let them stay and use our resources" to "Kill the motherfuckers." There is zero consensus when it comes to race issues in American society. None.
When LBJ forced de-segregation, he may have meant well, but the negative effects still linger today. There is still resentment among different races. Rather than let America police itself, he forced the citizens to cope with a situation they may have not been ready for. I'm not saying that he made the wrong decision, since maybe blacks would have endured overt racism in the public sphere for any number of years afterward, but his decision does affect race relations today very greatly.
***
Whenever there is a movement to give more civil rights to a minority, there are generally two camps that break out. The first is the militant, aggressive camp. The second is the peaceful, harmonious camp. Sometimes the first camp brings about quicker and more drastic action, but generally when the second camp wins out, the results are for the better in the long-term. Though LBJ's action wasn't militant, it was very aggressive. Robinson's willingness to let things work themselves out showed patience and wisdom.
What the TBTN people don't understand is that they're not making any friends by putting out rash, aggressive message designed to get people's attention. While they're certainly getting attention, it's going to be negative attention if they turn this into reverse sexism. I'm all for equality of the sexes, but making the "All men are pigs" argument is certainly not the way to go about things. On top of the posters, there is a certain smugness about the feminists at Penn State. You'd think feminists would be open-minded, but no, anyone who doesn't want to support them is automatically a sexist asshole. Ignorance is never the right way to go about things, and the TBTN's unwillingness to compromise or accept others' viewpoints on the subject will never help them make advances. Instead, if their strategies force change, the change will be a superficial one causing further rifts between men and women.
posted by Kevin A. Doran at 3:32 PM
1 Comments:
hi it's your sister. i think it's fine and dandy if the women of psu want to march against sexual preditors, but most sexual assault and rape crimes occur involving people the victims know. it's a statisical fact. it's far less likely for a random guy in a dark alley to rape a woman then it is for the guy in the dorm down the hall that you kinda know/kinda trust to rape or assult a woman. i don't know, i just think the marching represents the people women don't know rather than the people they do know. it would probably be offensive if someone you thought was your friend went up to and said "don't try to rape me," but in a way it's more practical. i think if they wanted to make a more realistic point, they could put clearer, less feminism-esque signs in all the male dorms.
anyway, that's my two cents on the issue. i don't really want to get into the whole racism and segregation thing; there's way too much to cover.
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