The Truth About Groping

By: Claire Porter ‘18 (Guest Blogger)

I experienced something last night that I read about countless times in my media classes. Just a few weeks ago, I read Denise Riley’s ‘Am I That Name?’: Feminism and the Category of ‘Women’ in History, in which she articulated the idea that a woman cannot transcend her womanhood. Regardless of what other categories define me, whether that is the color of my skin, my education, my job, etc., I will always be a woman at the core. And through this understanding, I, as a woman, am shown and told through normalized interactions that I will be subject to objectification. I attended a fraternity exchange in which the theme offered two outfit options: 1) dress like a scantily clothed woman, or 2) dress like a middle-aged man. It was obviously intended for the sorority women to wear less and the fraternity men to attempt to look 30 years older. I, however, wanting to break barriers but stay within the theme, decided to opt for dressing like an adult man. I borrowed my male friend’s button down, shorts, and belt, slipped on my converse, and tied my hair in a low bun before placing a baseball cap featuring the fraternity’s letters on my head. The only discernable feminine feature I still had was some makeup on my face.