As soon as I feel that I have a hold on gender relations at this school, something blatantly goes against everything I've learned.
Recently, The Dartmouth featured an article about Girls Gone Wild employees approaching Dartmouth students, asking them to participate in an interview ("Alleged adult film reps. solicit female on Green," April 22).
If you're uninformed, or don't watch television past midnight, "Girls Gone Wild" features young co-eds removing their shirts -- in essence, going "wild." The success of such a video rests entirely upon men enjoying women who are acting out of the social constructs, we may assume, that men have historically created for them. Needless to say, the demographic of interested purchasers is usually not of Dartmouth caliber.
And, nobly, the Panhellenic Council took prudent steps to ensure the integrity of women on this campus, and to prevent them from being objectified by lewd businesses. This is all well and good, and demonstrates that Dartmouth women show solidarity in their efforts to prevent this base kind of solicitation.
But let's look at our big concert for the year. As a headline in The Dartmouth announced last week, "Spring term concert to feature Three 6 Mafia" (April 22).
While we were discussing the selection, a friend mentioned "Slob on My Knob," a Three 6 Mafia song. Clearly, the members of the group are the eloquent bards of our generation: "Slob on my knob/ Like corn on the cob/ Check in with me, and do your job/ Lay on the bed, and give me head."
Besides ruining the ostentatious way in which I eat buttered corn, these lyrics speak for themselves.
Soon, at Alumni Hall, we will all hold our breath for the poetry of our time to grace our ears: "Third find a bag, to hide the ho face/ Real name rover/ I said bend over."
Imagine Robert Frost's thunderous applause.
If the absurdity of this situation escapes you, let me elaborate. Dartmouth is a place that is still acclimating to the resonating issues stemming from the introduction of co-education.
Last year, Beta Alpha Omega's arrival on campus caused an uproar, ending in a march on Parkhurst. Recently, students participating in "Take Back the Night" marched down Webster Avenue. The event echoed common assumptions that tie fraternities to a culture that engenders sexual assault.
This is a campus rife with gender tension. We need "alternative" programming just to combat the infestation of "gendered social spaces." And there's nothing wrong with reflecting on our shortcomings, and addressing existing problems within the scope of Dartmouth gender relations.
So why -- in one of the most inappropriate choices possible -- is Three 6 Mafia coming to Dartmouth?
If you're unconvinced, check out the refrain to "Slob on My Nob," which directly instructs girls, in the imperative, to perform fellatio, and consider whether the lyrics seem antithetical to the resolution of gender issues at Dartmouth.
I can't wait to see my peers sing along in Alumni Hall.
So, we invited a group that constructs misogynistic lyrics, and I don't believe it's fair to even suggest that they are ironic or satirical. The band's intent is not in question (the song clearly doesn't offer the same attuned pastiche of folk activists), but the immediate, objective, meaning of the words is. This isn't lampooning, and we all know it.
Ultimately, this song creeps towards the rapine, with lyrics that demean women, degrade intercourse itself, promote an unhealthy female self-image, encourage promiscuity and, with the word "slob," animalize women engaging in sexual acts. Pretty standard.
Some argue that in the past, bands sung about sex too, but I refuse to entertain an argument of fair comparison. There is something to be said for blatant misogyny, and something to be said for sly implication. Joey Levine's 1968 "Yummy Yummy Yummy" may refer to oral sex, but at least he wasn't telling girls to slob on his knob. Poison's "She's My Cherry Pie" leaves little to the imagination, but they could have just loved desserts. It's not beyond all reasonable doubt. You can still repeat the words to a girl without going to the Committee on Standards.
Three 6 Mafia would undoubtedly be found guilty of sexual harassment.
