Earlier this week, students at West Chester University took to Twitter to share their outrage over a gag gift sold in the campus bookstore. The $8 female "Inflate-a-Date" doll was removed after students and professors alike complained of it being sexist and promoting rape culture.
The six-inch doll, clothed only in black underwear, is marketed as the “perfect female specimen.” She is described as “self-inflated,” “non-talking,” headache-free, and “disposable or reusable.” To instantly inflate the doll, users are instructed to punch and shake the package.
The doll was first brought to the attention of Lisa Ruchti, director of Women’s and Gender Studies at West Chester, when a student brought it to class as an example of sexism. The offended student quickly spread awareness of the doll.
University spokeswoman, Loretta MacAlpine, defended the doll, explaining that it was a leftover, if tasteless, gag gift and not a sex toy. The university insists the doll was taken out of context; originally, both male and female versions were sold as novelties, but the male ones sold out. Regardless, West Chester offered a public apology on social media, and the dolls were pulled from the bookstore. University president Greg R. Weisenstein further apologized to the campus community via email, stating the dolls “encourage[ed] behaviors antithetical to WCU’s mission and values.” Weisenstein then urged everyone to learn from the experience, titling the subject line “A Teaching Moment.”
Students, however, are not appeased, and some still plan to protest. Graduate student Irissa Baxter called the apologies inadequate. “You’re literally punching a representation of a woman to get it to work. The perfect female specimen…wouldn’t talk and you could punch her. That’s the idea this is sending. Students want to be heard and respected, and have their concerns be treated with due respect."
Current studentLauren Conwell shared the feeling, arguing that the doll made some students feel unsafe: “It literally says you can punch it and manhandle it, and then says it’s the perfect female. If that’s the perfect female companion, then what does that mean for us?”
The doll is just the most recent product of a society that objectifies women and trivializes the very real violence against them. Jill McDevitt, a sexology from West Chester, told Philly.com, “To have this product sold on a college campus breeds a culture in which this type of behavior toward women is normal, and even cute or funny.”
