This month, Lisa Belkin, a writer for The New York Times’ Motherlode blog, wrote about her own disbelief and utter shock towards the following message sent by the Sigma Nu fraternity of Duke University: “Hey Ladies, Whether your dressing up as a slutty nurse, a slutty doctor, a slutty schoolgirl or just a slut, we invite you…” Lisa Belkin admitted to being stunned by the message.  Adding it to her already established education of college relations, she concluded that “in social settings and in relationships men set the pace, the rules, and act as they had in the days when women were still “less than.”  It might as well [be] the 1950s, but with skimpier clothing, fewer inhibitions and better birth control.”

My initial reaction: Now, I am in no way going to defend this obviously sexist Facebook message, but I am also not going to say I was as shocked as Lisa Belkin when reading it. Being the recipient of several variations of the same message, I felt indifferent — if not completely unmoved — by the evident sexist remarks. If anything, the message was just some boys being immature…

Lisa Belkin provides several other examples of “after-class sexism” that exist at other universities. From the Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter at Yale, chanting, “No means yes, and yes means anal,” to Kappa Sigma fraternity of Southern California who refer to women as “targets” who “aren’t actual people like us men,” there were many examples to pick from. Princeton junior Jared Griffin adds to this general feeling by correctly observing: “When the guys go [out] they are laid-back, casual, like they are going to class. But the women come in, in short cocktail dresses, makeup, high heels…” Read More »

The Internet is a nasty place. Especially for women. We all know that, but yet we stay on it. Some of us constantly. Valleywag recently featured an article titled “5 reasons why women really do need to get off the Internet.”

The reasons themselves may at first seem valid until you really think about them:

Because it’s a nasty breeding ground for predators and there’s nothing women can do about it.

Because we don’t know any better than to overshare.

Because there’s nothing worse in this world than being called a slut.

Because we’re giving it up for nothing!

Because men don’t believe we’re real women anyway.

I was shocked while reading this article, until I came to the conclusion that it must be satire. Or do women actually believe we need to get off the Internet?

My reasons women should stay on the Internet:

There is something women can do about the predators: Not talk to sketchballs online. Not give away personal information. Keep your social networking accounts private. Be smart, like many of us are. Read More »