In recent news, the Harvard men’s soccer team has been banned from playing for the rest of the 2016 season due to a “scouting report” that was created by the team. This book was filled with “rankings” of the female soccer team’s attractiveness, as well as explicitly lewd descriptions of each player. After this story came out, I have heard arguments defending the men’s actions, saying that it is their “first amendment right” to say whatever they want, as well how people are being hypersensitive to “boys being boys.” In other words, we shouldn’t be making a big deal about this.
However, we should be making a big deal about this issue.
First off, if we’re going to address the first amendment argument, then yes, these men were legally allowed to say and write whatever they pleased. This does not exempt them from the legal and/or social consequences of what they chose to express. And while their athletic season has been promptly terminated, their actions are part of a much bigger social issue that passively allows objectification of women and actively perpetuates rape culture. This isn’t simply an issue of whether or not they broke the rules; it becomes an issue that finds itself on the spectrum of a much larger societal problem.
If you believe that people are being too sensitive and shouldn’t be offended by this book, then you accept that it’s okay for these men to view the women’s team as nothing more than objects for their own pleasure. I have heard the argument that they were simply calling the women “hot” and that this happens in everyday situations. Does talking about what sex position they’d prefer to engage in with the women sound like they’re calling them hot? Does explicitly describing the women in graphic sexual detail sound like they’re calling them hot? There is a very distinct difference between calling a person attractive and what the Harvard men's team chose to write. A person can be called “hot” without being completely simplified to a sexual object. It’s possible to be considered “hot” while also having other valuable attributes, like intelligence, humor, wit, creativity, etc. Were characteristics like these considered in the scouting manual? No. This was a document of degradation, written by men whom the women's team considered their close friends.
Saying that “boys will be boys” dismisses any actions by men that can perpetuate the already existing rape culture on college campuses. It allows men to continue to sexualize women and value them based on physical appearance and attractiveness, as opposed to respecting women as fellow human beings. This is not a book filled with compliments toward the women’s team and this is not how men should be viewing and treating others. These men absolutely merited punishment because we as a society cannot continue to accept this kind of behavior; this is what leads to normalization of sexual violence and rape. The longer we let this kind of talk go on, the further we will be from achieving equality and mutual respect towards everyone.
