Ihave been thinking a lot about this issue of Playboy coming to campus lately. I thought about how much fun it would be to cover myself in papers and exams to prove a point, and I thought about how flattered I would be if someone thought that I had a nice enough body that men would want to drool over it. I have heard the issue debated in my sorority, among my friends, among strangers, and in The Dartmouth.
My first reaction was to be appalled that Playboy was coming here to do a photo shoot. I was angry that they would even think that Dartmouth women would have such low esteems that they would feel it necessary to strip down for a camera and the world. And I was offended that Dartmouth women would have such high esteems as to think that the world wanted to see their naked bodies strewn all over men's magazines.
When a good friend of mine told me that she was thinking of posing for the magazine I was shocked, and I began to rethink my opinion. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that I was wrong, and that it was indeed her body to do with as she pleased. I don't know her reasons for choosing to be photographed nude; I didn't ask, though I'm sure that she has good reasons.
It wasn't until today that I really started thinking about why this issue still bothers me so much. It is not that my friends or other Dartmouth women are exposing their bodies and being "objectified;" it is that in doing so, they are representing all Dartmouth women. As a student body, and as women on this campus, I believe that we have different interests, thoughts, ideals and values. This can be seen by the violent outcries on either side of this debate.
Unfortunately, Playboy Magazine will not show that diversity, however. They will show the women who were willing to bare all, who believed that there was nothing inherently wrong with nude photography and all it represents. They are the women who do not see this as objectification, or at least women who do not care. I agree that they are all entitled to that opinion. But I don't agree with that opinion, and unfortunately, they will be representing me and all other Dartmouth women to the rest of this country as the only opinion at Dartmouth, whether they intend to or not.
I do not feel the need to tell my friend or anyone else who is thinking of posing for this shoot what they are representing themselves as. I do not feel the need to tell them that they are degrading themselves as intelligent women. I think that they have already thought that through for themselves.
I do, however, feel the need to let them know that I am not happy that they are representing me and my values as such. They do not have the right to do that; no one has the right to represent me without asking my opinion. That is something that these women should think about before they do something that affects us all.
