Friday, October 22, 2010

Remember "No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal?"



The pledge chant of the DKE fraternity at Yale?

Here's what the Boston Globe says about the chant and the events that followed:

Yale fraternity under fire for alleged misogyny

By Stephanie Reitz, Associated Press Writer | October 19, 2010

HARTFORD, Conn. --Members of a Yale fraternity that counts both Bush presidents among its famous alumni and whose pledges were ordered to chant obscenities against women are getting a visit from concerned officials of the national organization.

Delta Kappa Epsilon, which was founded at Yale in 1855, has been under fire since amateur video appeared online of pledges marching through the New Haven campus on Oct. 13, chanting about women in the context of necrophilia and a specific sexual act.
Am I the only one who feels this way of addressing the chant bowdlerizes it? What "specific sexual act" does yelling "no means yes, yes means anal" refer to?

It would seem to be rape. Calling that a "specific sexual act" is just stupid and so is defining all this as something to do with obscenity. The obscenity is the misogyny of the chant, not the fact that sex was mentioned, and the misogyny is not "alleged."

Still, I guess it's good that some attention is drawn to the events, however half-brainedly.