There are a lot of newsworthy things happening at Mills and it
is unfortunate that some journalists, and I use the term lightly,
are pas- sing off their opinions as reporting.
The article “Students on the search for boys” was a poorly
written piece that belonged on the Opinions page.
Even as an opinion, the author managed to include numerous
stereotypes of straight women, Mills, and men.
The main quote of the piece implies that Mills is a place where
straight women are converted into lesbians, and that “Boys in
Berkeley” is a veiled attempt to keep “straight women
straight.”
“Boys in Berkeley” is keeping straight women straight about as
much as my Ethnic Studies classes are keeping me African
American.
Heterosexual women are presented as nymphomaniacs who are on the
constant search for men to have sex with.
“Boys in Berkeley” isn’t called “Let’s find men in Berkeley to
have sex with.”
Considering Mills is an all women’s college, it doesn’t seem
abnormal to me that anyone, not just straight women, would want to
interact with men, unless the point going to an all women’s college
is to stop interacting with men altogether.
The article also presents men in a negative way. Referring to
the incidents with the CMA men attending Mills’ functions, she
states, “the men became more difficult to control.”
No human being should be controlled and those disrespectful men
are not a representation of the entire male population.
The cartoon that accompanied the piece was just as offensive. I
can just speak for myself as a straight woman saying that my
breasts aren’t that large in comparison to my waist and I’m not
blonde.
As for other straight women I know, they think about world
issues, United States and International policy, their careers, and
a wide variety of other things that are not related to how to find
men to sleep with.
I was also under the impression that being in a frat wasn’t one
of the requirements to be considered a man. I respect the right of
everyone to have an opinion, but the way that this opinion was
presented in the Weekly was that the entire Mills community shared
that opinion and that’s not the case.
