There has been a disturbing trend recently involving Dartmouth men harassing Dartmouth women. In the past couple of weeks, one male decided it would be neat to call many females in the Gold Coast and Hitchcock dormitory clusters at insane hours of the morning and whisper to them. There have also been reports of a voyeur at the river apartments. My question to these men is this: what the hell are you doing?
There has been enough male/female strife on this campus lately, with the feminist arguments in The Dartmouth last week and the "Womyn are everywhere" sticker incident a few weeks back. We don't need a couple of morons giving the rest of the guys on this campus a bad reputation. It is hard enough being blamed for all of the world's problems because I am a white male without having two people of my gender causing more problems than they are worth.
Do these people have nothing better to do? Let's see. You're up studying for an exam, and it's getting pretty late, say 4:00 a.m. You are tired of reading and you want someone to talk to. All your friends are asleep, and EBA's is closed. What do you do? Why not go through a phone directory, wake up females and then whisper to them and hang up. Get a life!
Or maybe you saw an attractive woman while playing volleyball near the river apartments. How can you see her again? Why don't you find out where she lives and stare in the window? Hey, maybe you could get her number from that other idiot.
There are a couple of obvious solutions to these problems, but they are simply not feasible. Some might say no to answer the phone when it rings at 4:30 in the morning. I don't know about anyone else, but when the phone rings at that odd an hour, my first thought is "what happened, who died?" and I pick it up. I'd be pretty upset if I picked it up and heard some jackass whispering.
Others might say to close the curtains so nobody looks in. That's really great when it's a hot August night and you depend on the slightest breeze to survive, not to mention the fact that everyone on this campus should be able to open a window without wondering if some pervert is out in the bushes.
The actions these two people have taken are embarrassing to everyone on this campus. But the key in this situation is not to turn it into another battle of the sexes. Thus far, little has been gained by turning males against females. The "Womyn are everywhere" stickers didn't do much, although some claim that radical action of that type is the only way to achieve results. The feminist discussion last week was an intelligent exchange of ideas until people decided to turn it into a personal battle, and refused to even consider the opposing point of view before dismissing it as stupid. Incidents like the prank calls and the alleged voyeur are safety concerns, and can only be solved if everyone unites and searches for a solution rather than searching for someone to blame.
