Unforgiving Women’s Center Gives Zeta Psi Apology-Blueballs
From a single sheet of 8-and-half-by-11 to a zillion column-inches of news. Yale Daily News joins the Yale Women's Center vs. Zeta Psi cagematch a day late and with no fewer than three articles: the news story, Zeta Psi's apology, and YWC's cold, hard rejection of it. And their sports headlines might have some subliminal messaging, too.
The news story offered some interesting details on the preamble to the WE LOVE YALE SLUTS photo op:
Former Women's Center Public Relations Coordinator Jessica Svendsen '09 said she found a group of men chanting "Dick! Dick! Dick!" in front of the Elm Street entrance to the Center... shortly before midnight last Tuesday.
This reminds me of Tom Cruise's character in Magnolia, who preaches phallocracy but it just ends up gay, because standing around with a bunch of dudes talking about penises tends to have that effect. In retrospect, I don't recall if the character was actually gay, or if that's just the way it reads because, you know, it's Tom Cruise. But if the Zetas were Tom Cruise in Magnolia, they probably wouldn't have published these groveling words:
Every single member would like to stress our utmost respect for the female student body. Our words depicted in the photograph were disrespectful and, even in jest, they have had an unintended negative and hurtful effect on our fellow students. For this we are deeply sorry, and would ask our peers and our community to accept our heartfelt apology. ... The officers of the fraternity are open and willing to meet with the leaders of the Yale Women's Center to discuss this issue further and address solutions to this kind of irresponsible behavior.
"Open and willing to meet"? C'mon Zeta, take a hint: The Women's Center just isn't that into you. From the YWC column:
The gentlemen of Zeta Psi have apologized to "YALE SLUTS" - but only for what they thought they'd been caught for. They didn't apologize for chanting "dick" outside the Women's Center before their photo-op, and intimidating a female student from entering the Center (which, by the way, services rape victims - roughly 25 percent of women). They didn't apologize for using the word "slut," and being proud of it. They didn't apologize for committing premeditated hate speech, for documenting that hate speech with pride, or for exalting it on Facebook.
Zetas, you have been burned.
26 Comments | 
| 
Print This Post
Read more: frats, Yale
Email – 
Search
About
Follow us on Twitter
Report a bug
Archives
RSS Feed
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Is the women’s center saying that 25% of women are rape victims? And I thought West Philly was a tough neighborhood.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Is the women’s center saying that 25% of women are rape victims? And I thought West Philly was a tough neighborhood.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
“one in four” is a commonly cited statistic.. “one in four women in college have been raped”– doesnt just apply to yale. obviously there are variations across campuses.. it’s wrong in a couple aspects– some problems with the study itself (ms. magazine) and also major problems with rape reporting.
another statistic: the dept of justice did an v v in depth study on rape on college campuses and came up with a model (based on region, demographics, campus size) to estimate # of rapes per year.. yale’s is ~90 i believe. of course this doesn’t align with the 25% number since so much assault occurs before college.
nevertheless, i am sure that the wc knows all these facts, but wanted to make quick reference to it in an op-ed which was not directly concerned with rape.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
They were chanting “DKE” “DKE” “DKE” (deek, deek deek) their rival frat. It’s a long established traditional chant originally beginning as a strategy to escape punishment by appearing to be another frat.
The girl is simply mistaken about what she heard.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
who wants to protest the impending candlelight vigil with me?
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
i do theyre a bunch of fucking morons
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
zeta psi is a bunch of fucking morons
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Ladies, please! Female unrest at Dartmouth, then Yale… must be that time of the month…
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:20 am
the chant “Dick! Dick! Dick!” makes zero sense, any decent reporter would not only recognize that (and its attribution by a former WC member) as suspect, they would have also done the minimal amount of research necessary to determine the much more likely alternative (Deek! [for rival frat DKE]). Should be a lesson for the YDN- looks like they might be the only ones getting a law suit here… for libel.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:27 am
also- there is no way real legal action is pending. Or put another way: If there was, there isn’t anymore. The first thing any lawyer would have told the YWC was not to talk to the press about this or send out the email as any of the myriad of mistakes they made (distributing a copyrighted photo, publishing libelous stories, etc.) would immediately and irrevocably destroy their chances in a legal setting.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:23 am
As previous posters have pointed out, they were most definitely chanting “Deek,” not “Dick.” That said, it clearly didn’t help conceal their identities.
I find the phrase “We love Yale sluts” rather endearing. Considering there are plenty of self-professed sluts on campus, in most arenas there is nothing offensive here whatsoever. While perhaps more morally elevated, even the phrase “We HATE Yale sluts” would be, technically speaking, more cause to be upset.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 am
Olivarius-McAllister is a member of the Sphincter Troupe, an all-female sketch comedy group at Yale. This fall they performed a skit targeted at Zeta Psi. In the skit, two females acted as members of the fraternity, using harmless stereotypes like baggy jackets, sweatpants, and flat-brimmed hats to poke fun at the style of Zeta Psi brothers. Unfortunately, the women of the Sphincter Troupe pushed the envelope by making the Zeta Psi characters bumbling idiots obsessed with “fucking [the] pussies” of two equally idiotic female characters. The skit portrayed the fraternity brothers as drug-users, drunks, misogynists, romantically desensitized and clueless, racists, and homophobes. Clearly, one of these attacks has been shown to be well-grounded in this particular instance, but at the same time I can’t help but think that Olivarius-McAllister is a self-righteous shitbag blessed to have no sense of smell. The Sphincter Troupe performance was a PUBLIC event that stereotyped Zeta Psi brothers for the sake of humor in a grossly exaggerated fashion, yet there was no public outcry. Perhaps Olivarius-McAllister should make herself more credible by owning up to, explaining, and apologizing for her own past “hate speech” against the very same organization she now decries. While the Sphincter Troupe event was a public attack, the picture in question here was not meant to be seen publicly, and I think most of this community–including all of the Zeta Psi brothers–regrets that it was. To the isolated audience of the pledges, the irony of the picture was probably humorous, though I would guess that the appreciation of such irony does not lessen the love that any of these young men have for their mothers, sisters, girlfriends, etc. Rather, the use of irony in this instance seemed humorous because it crossed the line, much as the Sphincter Troupe skit did. This does not mean that either instance was hateful or meant to cause harm, regardless of how their intentions were perceived. In the larger audience of the Yale community, the irony of this image is neither humorous nor acceptable. Unfortunately, again, it was Olivarius-McAllister who turned this into a public spectacle by e-mailing it around campus and drumming up a media response. Her need for attention is unsettling, as well as her continued targeting of Zeta Psi. Furthermore, the parallel she draws between the use of the N-word and “slut” is ridiculously out of line. While some see it as a searching attempt to communicate the gravity of Zeta Psi’s offense to women, to me it shows a deeply flawed understanding of the complex racial and gender relations on campus. For example, it is clear to anyone who knows Zeta Psi’s members that the fraternity is among the most diverse student groups racially and socioeconomically, so to suggest the use of a racial epithet in a hateful manner is a hopelessly misguided attempt to introduce this situation. While the existence of this picture and its recent publicity are regrettable, Olivarius-McAllister’s response taken with the lack of contrition for her own past actions only serve to magnify the ugly and hateful facets of this situation without bringing the parties any closer to a mutual understanding. And it is a MUTUAL understanding that is needed. Zeta Psi’s president has expressed contrition and the willingness to open a dialogue, now where is that commitment from the other side?
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:40 am
1. Women should be allowed to determine their own behavior.
2. Acting like a slut is a type of behavior.
3. Some women freely choose to act as such- in fact, no woman outside an inner-city prostitution ring (not present among the Yale student body) is forced to act like a slut.
So why is slut such a dirty word? Why are the “feminists” afraid of and offended by it? Do women only deserve respect if they’re chaste? If they’re lesbians? If they do nothing but masturbate? If they find some other word for “slut” that seems more acceptable?
My confusion persists. Is the chanting of “CLIT! CLIT! CLIT!” more appropriate outside the women’s center? Would that have been even worse? Is chanting completely prohibited on the streets of New Haven?
By the way, that girl being too “intimidated” to approach a bunch of nerdy Yale boys and ask them to get out of the way sounds an awful lot like submitting to the patriarchy. Epic fail. Chick needs to grow a pair. :P
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
I wouldn’t try to speak for YWC. But I suspect that they’re not a bunch of prudes who think the behavior the word “slut” refers to is wrong. I think they object to the word used in front of a rape victim’s shelter, a rape victim who may have been made to feel that it’s “her fault” and that she somehow “owed him” sex due to her previous “slutty” behavior.
I’m female, and personally not offended by the word slut. But I understand why others are and particularly why it is hurtful when chanted by a rowdy group of guys in front of YWC/rape victim’s shelter.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 am
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/01/21/2008-01-21_bombmaking_factory_found_in_brooklyn_apa-3.html
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:32 am
they’re not booing, they’re chanting DKE.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
Right, I might object to the word being used outside a rape shelter too. One problem–the WC isn’t a rape center so far as I can tell. In my years at Yale, I’ve never heard ANYTHING about it being a rape center. I have heard of students being advised to go to University Health Services to get a rape kit and to contact mental health while there, etc. In fact, I just looked over this nifty little pamphlet that the Yale administration gave upperclassmen when we registered for classes, and in which I did not find a single mention of the Women’s Center.
In all seriousness, why don’t you take a look through the WC website? I just did and found NOTHING about it being a rape shelter…I only found out about how it’s affiliated with Sphincter Troupe, the aforementioned (and honestly, pretty fucking terrible) sketch comedy group, and a few other groups which we should all support in principle, but have been hijacked by gender feminists (as opposed to equity feminists…look it up).
True, there is a Rape and Sexual Violence Prevention association affiliated with the WC, but that’s prevention. Those Zeta fellows couldn’t have stopped a rape victim from going in there because there would be no rape victim going in there because A) THE CENTER WAS CLOSED and B) IT IS NOT A RAPE CRISIS COUNSELING CENTER.
So, as a wise poster on Huffington Post (which generally has a liberal, pro-women’s rights readership), said, “Women all over the Third World being systematically tortured, raped and murdered for “crimes” as trivial as failing to wear a head scarf, and these silly little girls want to waste money over a sign carried by some silly little boys?”
Give me a break. Oppression of women all over the world is very real. But this is not an example of it.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
That’s what i’m talking about. why would the “rape-shelter” on campus be a STUDENT RUN ORGANIZATION?
I think the wc just has an inflated sense of self-worth (much like the rest of campus organizations).
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:23 am
Don’t believe the wc ever claimed to be a rape crisis center, but rather a place of safety for rape victims, or a place that provides some services for rape victims. unfortunate how words get twisted when people who don’t know what they’re talking about get involved…
and you know what? women at yale are raped–ALL THE TIME– as well, by misogynistic people. i don’t think the fury is just directed toward zeta, or just about this incident. but this is a really obvious, public example.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:27 am
those sweet frat bros intimidated me out of my late-night durfees run. i went the night without my gummy worms!
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 am
*Sigh* every argument eventually comes down to semantics, doesn’t it? I suspect you’re playing dumb, but I’ll play along: ‘Clit” has no real pejorative connotation, so of course it is inoffensive. ‘Slut’ has a history as a pejorative just as ‘nigger’ has a history as a pejorative. Both still have extremely negative connotations. Both are still used to hurt. What if I have a lot of sex partners but don’t define that as ‘slutty’? I’m not afraid of the terms ‘slut’ or ‘nigger’ but you don’t get to call me either (without me getting really fucking pissed at you, anyway.) Women and black people attempt to reclaim these terms to negate the pejorative meaning. But until all people can use the term ‘slut’ or ‘nigger’ without it referring their pejorative connotations, no person at the top of a long-dominant power structure can use it without it being a pejorative. People at the top of a long-dominant power structure (men, non-blacks…whomever) don’t get to reclaim these words because they haven’t been leveled at them in the same way. It’s the same with any slur. If you’re not a part of the group, you’re not entitled to use it. Cue bitching and moaning about how it’s not right.
I don’t believe for one second that those pledges believed that they were using ‘slut’ as a compliment. If I went up to one of them and said, “Your girlfriend’s a real slut,” I’m sure they would fail to take it as a compliment.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:47 am
this website sucks
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
@*Sigh*
I left this comment on one of the YDN articles, but doesn’t anyone find it ironic that Yale Women’s Center website has a direct link to a feminist blog called “Broad Recognition?” ‘Broad’ doesn’t have a history as a pejorative? Or is it ok because females are using the word in jest?
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I think the phrase Maureen is looking for is “Respect the cock, and tame the cunt;” interestingly enough, P.T. Anderson is also behind this year’s newest catchphrase amongst intellectuals, “Bastard from a basket.”
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:29 pm
This is the most hilarious ivy gate post EVER.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:35 pm
http://fox61.trb.com/news/?track=nav
find “yale fraternity” from 1/23