A group of students protested Dartmouth's rendition of MTV's dating game "Singled Out" on Friday night because they felt it was racist, sexist and heterosexist.
The event, sponsored by the 1997 Class Council and held in front of a near-capacity crowd in Brace Commons, featured single male and female contestants who were out to win a date.
In the dating game, contestants ask a group of people about their likes, dislikes and personal features in order to shrink the pool of potential dates. In the end, the "singled out" person wins a date with the contestant.
Tiffany West '97, a member of the campus group Sisterhood, protested with five other students who sat together during the show wearing black shirts.
West said the game was racist "because some of the categories like hair and eye color could very easily get rid of a group of people."
West said she also felt the show was sexist because it asked women questions about underwear and sleep style, but not men. BreeAnne Clowdus '97, who also protested the event, said she felt it was heterosexist.
Clowdus and other students from the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance's political queers branch wore shirts that read "Dykes of Dartmouth -- Let the old traditions fail" and tried to win dates with the female contestants.
"The program was completely structured for heterosexuals," Clowdus said. "And it was the 1997 Class Council that was funding this program for heterosexuals."
Clowdus said she explained to the organizers of the show that "we were lesbians and would like to participate."
One of the organizers then started a category which dealt with sexual preference. This category included heterosexuals, bisexuals, and homosexuals.
"The people that put the show together were wonderful. They could not have been nicer," Clowdus said.
Both Clowdus and West agreed that they got the audience's attention.
"Hopefully we helped closeted queer men and women in the audience feel a little less alone on this campus," Clowdus said.
Class of 1997 Vice President Matt Shafer said he disagreed that the game was sexist, however, he said he could understand protestor's objections to the game being racist.
"But this show involves people choosing what characteristics they themselves want. It's discriminatory by nature," he explained.
"We had just about every race working on the planning and participation in the show," he added.
Shafer said he could not deny that the show was originally heterosexist.
"But we did add sexual orientation as one of the categories," he said. "I think we responded to the protestors well. They made a fair criticism and we adjusted to them."
"We went out of our way to make sure we were not objectifying one group over the others," Shafer said.
Amit Malhotra '98, who participated in the show, said he thought there was "nothing worth protesting."
"There was a cross-section of the whole Dartmouth population there to take part in a fun little dating game," Malhotra said.
Khalid Osbourne-Roberts '98 said the protesters should not have sat quietly.
"They should have been more vocal about what they were protesting. They should educate the students so they understand why they were protesting," Osbourne-Roberts said.
Class of 1997 President Pam Saunders could not be reached for comment last night.
