Campus Trash
Some of this is directly related to girls and our course material and some of it really isn't, but I knew that this was something that you all would care about and be as outraged over as me. I apologize if it seems like I'm spamming the blog. I think you all have amazing feminist analysis and this is relevant to our campus, so I thought of you all!
So, I don't know how many of you have seen the magazine Campus Talk all around campus. I never really looked too closely at it until recently. I honestly probably thought it was the same magazine as Axis or whatever -- sexy blond women on the cover, coverage of terrible bands...whatever. But I walked past the stands recently and saw the following headline:
TIGHTEN THE LEASH! How 2 Train Your Girlfriend
Umm? So I just walked past, not wanting to even bother looking closer. I was sure that the editor/writer thought they were brilliantly funny and clever and it wasn't the first time I'd seen an offensive headline.
Well, turns out my friends had the same horrified reaction when they saw it and actually picked up a copy to read. It's so much worse than I even thought! The article is accompanied by a close-up picture of a woman's face with a man's hand covering her mouth. Her eyes look terrified. The image was probably supposed to be clever because "haha! he's getting her to stop talking!", but evokes immediate thoughts of rape for every single woman I've shown the picture to. She looks like she is being attacked.
The article itself gives all kinds of ways to improve your girlfriend, with the logic that she's always trying to change you so why can't you try to change her? It gives tips such as, if your girlfriend won't stop complaining (read: talking about anything to you) you should get one of your guy friends to INSULT HER every time she speaks. Then, and I quote, "A few blunt remarks later, she'll begin to learn what guys actually care about hearing from women -- nothing! If your friend's really effective, she may just stop speaking altogether. Ah, perfection." Apparently Mr. Writer wants a blow-up doll for a girlfriend...?
Throughout the magazine, "Totally useless fact"s are listed. You know, stuff about pens, giraffes, Shakespeare... oh! and that "Rape is reported every six minutes in the U.S." You're right, Campus Talk. That is indeed a TOTALLY USELESS FACT, just like how a dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
After this enlightening reading session, I decided to check and see if they had a website. Lo and behold, they do! And there are other fine articles to read! This one jumped out at me right away:
The next article that I read was entitled:
Yeahhhhh, bro.
Looking through other articles, the whole deal of the magazine seems to be alternating between "FOOTBALLJAGERBITCHESI'MINCOLLEGEYEAHHHH" and "I like mascara and ice cream and they let me write an article! Tee hee!" Lots of "jokes" are sprinkled throughout the really stereotypical mix, but none of them are funny because either...they're just really dumb and not all that funny or they're really offensive. The really offensive bit stands out to me and I think this magazine is a giant piece of trash. It's not even a matter of just not liking it, because there are plenty of publications that I just don't like that I just don't read. It's a matter of that I am one of many women (they've told me) who feel threatened by the presence of this magazine on their campus -- the culture of violence against women that it perpetuates and normalizes amongst other issues. The latter two articles are bad enough, but perpetuating rape culture is unacceptable to say the very least. Beyond this, it's just more ideas of what girls and women should be (air-brushed, silent and...okay, that's about it). These gender constructions are not healthy for girls and women, not healthy for boys and men, not healthy for anyone.
It seems to be coming right out of Florida, judging from all of the local ads, but I'm going to try to find out so that I and others can do something about it. Be proud of the fine literature on your campus, everyone. It's free!
So, I don't know how many of you have seen the magazine Campus Talk all around campus. I never really looked too closely at it until recently. I honestly probably thought it was the same magazine as Axis or whatever -- sexy blond women on the cover, coverage of terrible bands...whatever. But I walked past the stands recently and saw the following headline:
TIGHTEN THE LEASH! How 2 Train Your Girlfriend
Umm? So I just walked past, not wanting to even bother looking closer. I was sure that the editor/writer thought they were brilliantly funny and clever and it wasn't the first time I'd seen an offensive headline.
Well, turns out my friends had the same horrified reaction when they saw it and actually picked up a copy to read. It's so much worse than I even thought! The article is accompanied by a close-up picture of a woman's face with a man's hand covering her mouth. Her eyes look terrified. The image was probably supposed to be clever because "haha! he's getting her to stop talking!", but evokes immediate thoughts of rape for every single woman I've shown the picture to. She looks like she is being attacked.
The article itself gives all kinds of ways to improve your girlfriend, with the logic that she's always trying to change you so why can't you try to change her? It gives tips such as, if your girlfriend won't stop complaining (read: talking about anything to you) you should get one of your guy friends to INSULT HER every time she speaks. Then, and I quote, "A few blunt remarks later, she'll begin to learn what guys actually care about hearing from women -- nothing! If your friend's really effective, she may just stop speaking altogether. Ah, perfection." Apparently Mr. Writer wants a blow-up doll for a girlfriend...?
Throughout the magazine, "Totally useless fact"s are listed. You know, stuff about pens, giraffes, Shakespeare... oh! and that "Rape is reported every six minutes in the U.S." You're right, Campus Talk. That is indeed a TOTALLY USELESS FACT, just like how a dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
After this enlightening reading session, I decided to check and see if they had a website. Lo and behold, they do! And there are other fine articles to read! This one jumped out at me right away:
Is Is Better To Be A Good Girl In College...Or A Bad One?
Oh, here we go, right? I know that we've read a lot about binaries between supposed "good girls" and "bad girls." This falls right into that trap. The author is a woman, which I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse about it. She throws out every tired cliche about how there are slutty party girls and then there are girls who get their Mrs. Degree (yes, she seriously fucking says Mrs. Degree), settling down with a nice, rich engineer. The entire article is ridiculous, hating on both supposed types of women, really. So you're screwed either way, good girl or bad girl.The next article that I read was entitled:
How To Steal Your Best Friend's Girl
This one's pretty great too, but I'll just let the picture speak for itself:Yeahhhhh, bro.
Looking through other articles, the whole deal of the magazine seems to be alternating between "FOOTBALLJAGERBITCHESI'MINCOLLEGEYEAHHHH" and "I like mascara and ice cream and they let me write an article! Tee hee!" Lots of "jokes" are sprinkled throughout the really stereotypical mix, but none of them are funny because either...they're just really dumb and not all that funny or they're really offensive. The really offensive bit stands out to me and I think this magazine is a giant piece of trash. It's not even a matter of just not liking it, because there are plenty of publications that I just don't like that I just don't read. It's a matter of that I am one of many women (they've told me) who feel threatened by the presence of this magazine on their campus -- the culture of violence against women that it perpetuates and normalizes amongst other issues. The latter two articles are bad enough, but perpetuating rape culture is unacceptable to say the very least. Beyond this, it's just more ideas of what girls and women should be (air-brushed, silent and...okay, that's about it). These gender constructions are not healthy for girls and women, not healthy for boys and men, not healthy for anyone.
It seems to be coming right out of Florida, judging from all of the local ads, but I'm going to try to find out so that I and others can do something about it. Be proud of the fine literature on your campus, everyone. It's free!
Comments
I like Ariel's idea - maybe we could work to have it removed from campus. I don't know if we could get it totally shut down but I think it's based out of Central Florida so who knows what we could do.
we took a stack of them the other day as week.