For this particular part of this particular discussion, I am overlooking raunchiness and gender insensitivity and rape culture.
I am only thinking about how we teach young women to take credit for their accomplishments.
Derby Day may not be a good example of this. For me it sort of is because, as in all things, there is a continuum and the OP article discussed getting the girls to do the work.
Slaughter thinks a lot about women, work culture, etc. I am way off topic.
I didn’t care about Derby Days at my U either; it was totally voluntary and I never participated or attended as it just didn’t interest me, mainly because it was mostly athletic events and I didn’t consider myself much of an athlete at the time. The girls in my house who participated were the “jock girls”, and they always had a great time.
Despite not participating, the message I took from it at the time (70s) was quite positive, as this was barely post Title 9, so any time women were encouraged or given the opportunity to be athletic, there was large contingent of enthusiastic participants, and look where we are now.
alh, I feel you are overblowing concerns about sororities getting “credit” for participating. Especially today, when sororities are on FB, Twitter and their own chapter websites in addition to national publications, all of which are media through which they can scream their participation in Derby Days to the hilltops if they want to. If you think credit is valid only if the Sigma Chis announce it for them, well that is a weird paternalistic position to be taking, to me.
“The fact that women contribute labor and don’t get credit for it is nothing new. Call me humorless if you will, but I was dismayed by their complicity in designing banners that portrayed them as little more than sexual objects. Given the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, and in society more generally, I was concerned.”
Actually, it portrayed them as the aggressors, not victims. I guess I just can’t really see any harm in these quasi-risque slogans (it’s always a home run when a Kappa grabs your bat, or some such). It’s just young adults flirting in young-adult ways.
I have historically refused to read Jezebel, as their early articles were usually peppered with the f-bomb in what seemed about every paragraph, which is a writing style that immediately turns me off. I did notice that the present one was devoid of such, so I guess they are cleaning themselves up, but their writing continues to be slanted in an exaggerated style that turns any issue into an assault against women or something like that.
I guess Jezebel would consider the taking down of the signs as a result of their article to be a victory for women (?), but that may be an empty victory since it was women who made the signs and put them up. Of course, if we look at everything that women do as coming from a position of victimhood, then I guess Jezebel can be credited with rescuing these poor oppressed women who were forced into crafting and displaying the signs. Because of course the women who made them could not possibly have actually wanted to make them, right?
