Running across the MOVE column “Jane Eyre: Prude n’ proud” by Claire Landsbaum really changed my week, mostly because I had to get angry about it. Connecting classic literary works to the present day, Landsbaum’s column pissed off feminist and socially conscious students when her message of “stay true to yourself to find a man” materialized as numerous jabs at other women’s apparel and dating habits. Her slut-shaming was appalling and damn near puritanical.
If that isn’t shitty enough, there was another infuriating column published the same day. “Grindr lovin’, had me aghast” by Emma Woodhouse was supposed to be centered on learning about dating from gay friends, but instead it reinforced the stereotype gay men are sassy accessories straight women use for advice. It was tokenizing and critical of gay dating culture, and inherently problematic because she attempted to appropriate the tools of another culture (Grindr) to benefit herself. Basically, it was the colonialism of sexuality.
The following edition of MOVE unsurprisingly featured a letter from MOVE editor Brandon Foster that reminded readers columns represent the opinions of columnists and are not edited for opinion. It recognized how offensive Woodhouse’s column was, because in case “Glee” and the current discourse on bullying hasn’t made it obvious enough, no one is allowed to publicly fuck with gays anymore. (I’m restricting this to gay men specifically because this campus and the country as a whole are less accepting of non-heterosexual women and completely ignorant of transgender issues.)
Advanced apology columns from both writers have already been released. Landsbaum spends her reflection defending her column was not “a ranting, raging sermon against women. It was _not_ meant to defend acts of violence against women or to tell victims of rape that they deserve what they got.” She doesn’t own up to the fact her column condones slut-shaming, a practice which inherently perpetuates violence against women. Woodhouse, on the other hand, recognizes her mistake, and goes on to talk about how she plans to continue her self-education.
I need to bring up my own past as a columnist. As referenced in Foster’s letter, I wrote an anti-Greek column when I was a freshman. It painted the Greek Life community in an incredibly negative light, and The Maneater published more than a dozen letters to the editor regarding it. I was vocal in critiquing these recent columns, but I am well aware of what it’s like to receive flack. It’s been three years since I wrote “Put down your beer and volunteer” (a title, not chosen by me, that I despise to this day) and I am still working against the nasty stereotypes I perpetuated.
If The Maneater/MOVE wants to up its game, staff should become Safe Space trained at the LGBTQ Resource Center so they can recognize preventable stereotyping before printing. As for slut-shaming and regarding it as an “opinion,” I’d suggest everyone watch the YouTube video [“Slut-Shaming and Why It’s Wrong”](http://youtu.be/SXH2K7OC37s), in which a 13-year-old breaks down how slut-shaming, no matter the intention, perpetuates the idea women who want sex are bad. Going further, I’d surely hope the sold-out production of the Vagina Monologues that took place last month was viewed by Maneaters and had an impact on the campus consciousness surrounding these issues, paying particular attention to the monologue “My Short Skirt.”
There is one moral to this story: Be willing to change. Your stay at MU is a time to become a better human, to own your mistakes and learn from them. Trust me, if I can do it, you can too.