Monday, May 02, 2005

Giant (non-tenured) Penises on Campus

College Republicans go for the easy laugh by staging Penis Day at Roger Williams University. No, this is not a salute to Bush, but a parody of those kitschy V-Day celebrations that get staged on campuses every Feb 14th. The highlight of the Republican parody was a frat boy in a giant penis costume harassing the university provost. Ha-ha.

Formal charges were filed, but we can wait to see if the case stands up in court. (Ba-Dum-Bump!) Christina Hoff Summers, in the linked article, notes that the giant penis is perhaps inappropriate in a place of learning, but argues that students at Arizona State (a totally different university for those who are keeping track) erected (ahem) a giant vagina, which was not confiscated. Apparently, there is no across the board rule for dealing with giant prosthetic sex organs in an academic setting. But, in our favor, I don't think McDonald's
has any hard and fast rule about giant vaginas either. (yes, I know- hard and fast, heh-heh)

I guess I'm hopelessly old-fashioned for thinking that neither a giant penis nor a giant vagina has any place in a university setting. Summers argues: "Unhappily, P-Day may be the only effective means of countering V-Day with all its c-fests, graphic lollipops, intrusive questionnaires, outsized effigies of vaginas and its thematic anti-male play." Um, yes. Or, the College Republicans could simply ignore V-Day like the rest of us do. Would William F. Buckley really approve of giant penis costumes as the political voice of spoiled frat boys? Also, is there anything left to college activism besides dick and pussy jokes?

2 comments:

Becky said...

Isn't it redundant for a frat boy to dress in a giant penis costume anyway?

Sorry. I know - that's not exactly raising the level of discourse any.

Rufus said...

Well, you know, sure frat boys dressing like giant penises has its place... in the frat house. Maybe that's an initiation of some sort. But, I guess I'm old-fashioned. If I was teaching a class and saw Johnny dressed as a giant penis and Mary dressed as a large vagina, I'd have to ask them to leave the class. Again, I just can't imagine any job where dressing like a giant penis would be appreciated. "Johnson, we weren't too happy with your work on the Henderson report. But, when you came to the board meeting dressed as a large penis, well, that's when we knew you were executive material!"