Disclaimer: I don’t disagree with anything that’s been written about the co-ed transition. In fact, I agree with a lot of disgruntled sentiments, but I feel it’s gotten out of hand.
There were at least five articles last week that were overtly related to the article written by Jimmy Egan and just co-ed in general. They were the most shared articles for our chapter. In fact, most of the top articles for Chatham’s Odyssey chapter to date have been about the co-ed transition.
I feel as if the back-and-forth has gotten out of hand and overshadows the wealth of knowledge and passion our writers have to offer.
Plenty of our writers have made their points clear, and clearly at least one male disagrees, and likely many more who did not elect to write an article on the subject. Not everyone is impressed with the men on campus, and I understand that. However the men will not listen to an article that appears to be biased against them, that attacks them, that makes them feel shunned from the campus. The beautiful, amazing feminists on our staff have a breadth of knowledge to teach these new additions what it means to be a Cougar, and the men have the ability to learn.
In my fitness class, a male student was calmly discussing “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke as it played on the radio in the campus gym, reiterating how he’d never known that the song was about rape. He picked out lyrics as he heard them and explained it to his friends. We as a community taught him this awareness. We can make an impact on the ones that don’t grasp their privilege or don’t realize they aren’t special snowflakes without writing articles solely about how we feel about the transition.
Expressing our dissent about the decision is healthy, and everyone is clearly passionate about it, but let’s turn our attention to writing inspiring articles about what it means to you to be a feminist, how the pay gap has affected your family, about how you feel alienated by the push to defund Planned Parenthood. Instead of focusing our feminist laser vision directly at the male students, let’s passionately focus on the issues that are causing the male ignorance we are all upset about.
The men are not the problem on this campus. They are an example and a product of a greater social problem.
Instead of making it personal, let’s make it political. Our right to affordable healthcare is endangered. Our pay is still not equal. Minority races still experience hate crimes and discrimination. Young girls are the most trafficked population in the world. Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head because she campaigned for girls’ rights to education. The ignorance we’ve experienced by the men here is only one tiny fraction of the problem it embodies, and we must tackle larger issues to make an impact.
Spread your dissent if you must, because many do feel that way, but remember the big picture. We have a chance to inspire every single week. Let’s make the best of it.
