Broad Recognition: » Congratulations Bisexual Men, You Exist

Congratulations Bisexual Men, You Exist

Alexandra Brodsky — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:45:33 +0000

Wikimedia Commons

August 25, 2011

Good news for all you bisexual men: you weren’t lying! Congratulations!

Earlier this week the New York Times reported on a Northwestern University study demonstrating that, in fact, “bisexual men… demonstrated bisexual patterns of both subjective and genital arousal.” You’d think that would be pretty obvious, but this research refuted a previous study that decided bisexual men are actually all closeted gays, because SCIENCE can do that. It’s easy to dismiss the earlier study by celebrating the new findings, but this whole pursuit is sort of disgusting, even if it ends up lending scientific validation to a marginalized identity.

Firstly, before we get to the real heart of the issue, we have to acknowledge that the methodology of this newest study is deeply flawed. Of course, the idea that attraction boils down to what happens in someone’s pants when images are flashed across a scene is bogus. But perhaps my favorite (read: least favorite) part of the paper was the set of “qualifications” to be bisexual. One requirement is that the individual must have had at least one three-month long relationship with a person of each sex. I don’t know about you, but I think dating is hard, and I can imagine about a billion reasons why someone wouldn’t have such a resume that have nothing to do with to whom he’s attracted. What if the “subject” gets bored easily? What if he’s boring? What if he’s busy? What if he goes to Yale? This requirement also ignores the fact that, in many parts of the country, a guy dating a guy is still not so cool, even if the attraction is there.

However, I don’t want to get hung up on the methodology if only because the very basis of the research question—“are all bisexual men lying?”—is just so absurd. Skepticism of bisexuality is nothing new. I’ve heard many friends venture guesses when a guy, self-identified as bisexual, would “really come out,” as though bisexuality was a halfway mark toward the truth. Others have made passing comments about how bisexual women just “use” their public sexual identities to attract men.

I think part of the reason these assumptions are so insidious is that they’re based on the unspoken recognition of real problems. To assume that gay men would proclaim a false bisexuality acknowledges that great stigma remains and that the process of coming out often just sucks; to assume some women would fake a sexual identity to seem more desirable points to the fetishization of lesbianism, in which popular culture’s obsession with girl-on-girl action reduces actual female same-sex attraction—which really only involves ladies—to a gift for men. So yeah, sometimes gay dudes pretend they’re into women too because they think it’s more acceptable (though that’s clearly not always true, given the fact that SCIENCE, until recently, thought this was all fake), and my suburban high school can’t be the only one where girls made out at parties to get attention—but that’s not the problem here.

The leap from the fact that some people feel the pressure to claim a label that doesn’t fit comfortably to a heavily-funded neurobiological study investigating the hypothesis that all bisexuals are lying is not only ridiculous but harmful, exacerbating the root problem. Sexuality isn’t about presenting a palatable, static identity to the general public. If we want gay men to feel comfortable admitting they’re not really into boobs and straight women to realize their sexual acts should be inspired by their own desires, not the attention of men, running around trying to scientifically validate and classify sexuality is just about the worst thing we could do. What you want to do with whom doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you and, to a significant but lesser extent, your partner.

Of course, the assumed sexual majority doesn’t have to explain itself; no lab coats are trying to prove that “straightness” exists. The Northwestern researchers relied, in large part, on measured genital arousal in response videos of naked men and women to prove that, yes, bisexual men got hard when they saw either. However, similar studies have shown that female subjects are physically turned on by just about everything—men, women, monkeys—but these findings didn’t lead to a very serious paper about the Myth of the Straight Woman. In that case we are quick to note the limitations of such methodologies, since we just assume that heterosexuality must exist, even though plenty of other evidence suggests that everyone’s a little queer. Only “deviant sexualities” need to prove themselves.

Ultimately, we have to acknowledge that sexuality is confusing—contradictory, fluid, unpredictable—and while that complexity can inspire an insatiable drive toward understanding, not all puzzles are solved the same way; human desire is not a mutant cell or electrical current that can be identified by the NIH. And when dealing with sexuality, the imperfect impartiality of neurobiology is particularly clear; studies are conducted by real people with their own prejudices, assumptions, and baggage. If the Northwestern scientists want to explore the variety of ways people can experience their sexualities, they should join the interdisciplinary conversation and recognize the varying strengths and limitations of their methodology. Perhaps they should read some queer theory before they start attaching electrodes to genitalia.

Alexandra Brodsky is a senior in Yale College. She is the executive editor for Broad Recognition.

The Comprehensive Broads Guide to the Blue Book—Fall 2011

Alexandra Brodsky — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:34:35 +0000

YCPS-Brodsky

By ALEXANDRA BRODSKY

August 14, 2011

Since the beginning of time Broad Recognition has helped you find the best Yale classes to put together your feminist education. While you were busy lying in the sun, preparing for FOOT, or having some serious internship (whatever), we were scouring the Blue Book, investigating course evaluations and syllabi, and annoying friends for recommendations. For you, we bled from our paper-cut fingers; for you, our browsers crashed from so many open tabs. Below is our collection of some of the best classes—in and out of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department—to train your brain to think critically about feminist issues.

AFAM 349 01 (12037) /AMST326/WGSS388
Civil Rights and Women’s Liberation
Crystal Feimster
T 2.30-4.20

This new course has one of the most exciting syllabi offered this fall. The readings span 1960s journal entries to Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help,” but even more intriguing are the assignments. Like students in Chauncey’s LGBTQ history class, Feimster’s pupils will reach back a few generations to write a paper based on interviews with their grandmothers’ “life as it pertains to work, community, family, politics, sexuality (if possible) as well as attitudes toward the civil rights movement and women’s liberation movement,” and will also be responsible for an extensive analysis of historical marriage columns. Students insist Feimster is “incredibly nice and always willing to help out a student”—not that you needed any more convincing.

AFST 406 01 (13986) /AFST806/PLSC720/PLSC406
Sexual Violence and War
Elisabeth Wood
W 3.30-5.20

This class will likely be emotionally grueling but should be worth it nonetheless. You probably know Professor Wood’s name from the always-popular “Collective Action and Social Movements;” my roommate used to come home from every class bubbling over with excitement at Wood’s stories from her days on the field/at the barricade. The course promises not only to explore various disciplines’ approaches to “patterns of sexual violence in war” but also to evaluate how well these different schools are prepared to handle the topic. It’s unclear from the course listing how discussion-based the course will be—and OCI reviewers warn that Wood’s lecturing can run “pretty dry”—but keep an eye out for the syllabus and definitely stop by for the first day.

AMST 135 01 (12848) /HIST127/WGSS200
U.S. Lesbian and Gay History
George Chauncey
TTh 10.30-11.20  1 HTBA

Broads recommended the class last year, we’re recommending it this year, and we’ll keep recommending it until it’s gone. Chauncey is basically the most important gay historian of our time, lectures engagingly, and wants to take you out to lunch. Many students speak movingly of finding their own place in history through the readings and, particularly, the final project, which involves discussing LGBTQ issues with parents and grandparents. Also, Chauncey has a ton of respect for all the work the ladies did for the movement, which is rare in this field. As one friend of Broads eloquently insisted: “Duh. Take it.”

AMST 317 01 (12905) /AFAM167/WGSS167
African American Women’s History
Crystal Feimster
TTh 1.30-2.20  1 HTBA

We have to hope that someday courses like this and Chauncey’s will be unnecessary—that the narratives of minority communities will be integrated in our standard history texts—but until then, Broads is glad Professor Feimster has put together such a great syllabus. All of the required texts are written by women, which is pretty hard to find in a Yale history course, and any opportunity to read Toni Morrison is a welcome one. This lecture runs small (it was only 13 students last spring) which allows for a close, interactive experience that lends urgency to the past; one reviewer remarked that the course “really makes you think about the ways that the historical oppression of Black women continues in the present day.”

ANTH 357 01 (11912) /ANTH557
Anthropology of the Body
P. Sean Brotherton
T 1.30-3.20

As one Broads editor said of this course’s feminist implications, it is “pretty self explanatory! Foucault! Bio politics! Gendered body!” The course, focused on “theoretical debates about the body as a subject of anthropological, historical, psychological, medical, and literary inquiry,” hasn’t been offered for two years but back in the day got stellar reviews from anthro and non-anthro majors alike. The syllabus promises a multicultural approach, with texts touching on Brazil and South Africa, in addition to the standard Western theory you’d expect.

ANTH 011 01 (12565)
Reproductive Technologies
Marcia Inhorn
TTh 2.30-3.45 WLH 011

There are many reasons why I am glad I am no longer a freshman—dorm living, frat parties, getting lost all the time—but this course makes me super jealous of the Class of 2015. The discussion-heavy course, which revolves around eight feminist ethnographies of reproduction from around the world, got rave reviews. The books are enjoyable, students claim class time feels like a conversation with friends, and one member of the class of 2014 claimed “it was the best class I took this semester.” The syllabus is definitely left-leaning, but let’s be honest, so are you.

CSTC 250 01 (11216)
Child Care, Society, and Public Policy
Jessica Sager Janna Wagner
Th 2.30-4.20

Whether you swing Gaia or Butler, children matter to women’s rights; child care practices not only reflect our understandings of motherhood but determine women’s professional opportunities and autonomy from the family. Jessica Sager and Janna Wagner are the rock star directors of the non-profit All our Kin which trains New Haven residents to open high-quality child care services, so the course is sure to be informed by serious literature and first-hand experience. This diversity of sources is reflected in the assignments, which range from a traditional research paper to reflections on trips to child care facilities in New Haven. OCI reviewers warn that the class is “poorly organized,” but also “incredibly rewarding and valuable.”

EAST 414 01 (11534) /HSAR478
Gender in East Asian Art History
Yuhang Li
M 1.30-3.20

Professor Li is a post-doc teaching at Yale for the first time this fall, but while I don’t have much material on which to recommend this course, I will anyway. The course promises to investigate “ideas of gender applied to the canons of East Asian art,” both that made by and depicting women. Li clearly knows her stuff; she wrote her UChicago dissertation on “Gendered Materialization: An Investigation of Women’s Artistic and Literary Reproductions of Guanyin in Late Imperial China.” It seems fair to assume that the class will be heavy on China, but will likely attract a number of art history students in addition to the standard Light Fellowship-hungry crowd.

ENGL 339 01 (11728) /WGSS336/AFAM327/ER&M399/AMST373
American Literary Nationalisms
GerShun Avilez
T 9.25-11.15

So, you should take this class, as long as we can all get in too. It’s cross-listed in basically every department at Yale and taught by a prof known, according to one friend of Broads, for always touching on fascinating “sexual norms/issues.” And you get to read X-Men (and Toni Morrison, Susan Lori-Parks, Alice Walker, and David Henry-Hwang, amongst others)! The focus on how “feminist and queer articulations of solidarity” interacted with nationalist movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s should allow for a nice departure from Yale’s very white feminist syllabi.

HLTH 170 01 (12205) /AMST879/HSHM634/AMST247/HIST147/HSHM202/HIST914

Media and Medicine in Modern America

John Warner & Gretchen Berland
TTh 10.30-11.20  1 HTBA

This popular lecture does not focus specifically on gender, but the methods by which the media influence our bodies—both in conception and physical reality—is certainly a feminist issue. The week-long units on breast cancer, health care reform, the medicalization of sex, and HIV should be particularly interesting. Reviewers enjoyed the frequent film clips and light workload, though few were enthusiastic about section (is anyone ever, really?). Plus, given how widely the course is cross-listed, you would probably have to make a concerted effort not to get credit toward your major.

LAW 20379
Regulating Sexuality: Legal and Psychological Perspectives
Robert A. Burt
Barbara Marcus
Braxton McKee
M 6.10-7.45

YLS is known for producing some pretty big-name feminist lawyers, and the school offers one or two strong gender/sexuality courses each year to train the next generation. You’ll have some trouble getting into this small seminar, but your obnoxious e-mails to the professors and downright groveling will be worth it. As the course title suggests, the class, team-taught by law, psych, and medical professors, focuses on the interplay of psychological and the law regarding “gender identity, prostitution, pornography and violence in intimate relationships.” Reviewers promise a fantastic, theory-heavy syllabus and rave about Professor Burt, “a grandfather figure that you’d just like to know.” If the class is oversubscribed but you’re fixing for some feminist legal jargon, consider checking out the less lauded but larger “Sexuality, Gender and the Law.”

WGSS 371 01 (13092) /AMST322
Gender, Family, and Cultural Identity in Asia and the United States

Geetanjali Chanda
MW 1.00-2.15

Few courses receive as consistently positive reviews as this “cross-cultural dialogue focusing on family, gender, and identity;” a whole seminar of students urge you to “absolutely take this course.” The syllabus is split between films, novels, and academic writing, and this diversity should lighten the burden of a fairly dense syllabus. Encouragingly, this course avoids the common Yale assumption that “Asia” actually just means China. The authors featured range in origin from Vietnam to Morocco to the Philippines, complicating the course’s premise of two distinct cultures in conversation.

WGSS 428 01 (13129) /HIST169J
Labor and Democracy in the Twentieth-Century United States
Jennifer Klein
M 3.30-5.20

It’s a shame that the only labor history class at Yale with an eye toward gender is intimidatingly difficult, but Broads suggests you woman up and take it despite the heavy reading load. Put some serious effort into your reading responses and papers and you’ll be rewarded by “in depth comments” and “constructive criticism,” say reviewers—but don’t expect particularly productive class time. However, office hours with Professor Klein should be a treat. One student describes her as ““a great person to get to know… [with] such a vast love and understanding for the material,” and her command of gender issues at the university is strong.

WGSS 301 01 (12161) /SOCY311/SOCY547
Gender, Race, and Genetic Testing
Rene Almeling
W 2.30-4.20

A gender- and race-conscious approach to biology—particularly genetics—is a rare beast, and it’s exciting that this one has found its place at Yale. Given the wide “focus on genetic testing in Huntington’s disease, pregnancy, cancer, and psychological disorders to explore how genetic information is provided to patients, and how patients experience genetic risk,” you’ll come out of the course with a pretty thorough but detailed understanding of “sociological approaches to genetics.” Reviewers promise that the course will transform you into an informed activist, but also that you’ll love the classroom time along the way. Just remember that weekly reading responses—a requirement for the course’s WR credit—always sound more fun than they are.

WGSS 619 01 (11053) /WGSS340
Feminist and Queer Theory: National and Transnational Perspectives
Inderpal Grewal
W 1.30-3.20

This is a bit of a risky one. Yale is really lacking in courses offering solid feminist theory (plus Michael Warner isn’t teaching Queer Theory in the spring) and state critique, and while the syllabus isn’t up yet, Grewal is sure to deliver. Students insist the professor is a “great teacher” who facilitates discussion well, and she’s known to be a great adviser. However, with all that said, the course’s reliance on weekly guest professors is a bit worrisome. Hearing from the wide diversity of scholars that constitute the WGSS department could be really wonderful, but it also might make for a somewhat disjointed semester. Given the strength of Grewal’s recent syllabi, though, the risk might be worthwhile.

Alexandra Brodsky is a senior at Yale College. She is the Executive Editor of Broad Recognition.

#FindLauren and the Racial Politics of a Search

Alexandra Brodsky — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:01:54 +0000

Photo: Bloomington Police

By ALEXANDRA BRODSKY

June 22, 2011

The last two weeks have been a nightmare for the family and friends of missing Indiana student Lauren Spierer. The 20-year-old, after a night out with friends, was last seen in the early hours of June 3. Despite extensive search efforts by the police, neighbors, classmates, and relatives few clues have emerged, though foul play is expected. Spierer was a year behind me at our suburban New York high school and we were bat mitzvahed at the same temple; I didn’t know her well, but even at this proximity her disappearance hits hard. It is cliché to proclaim that I have no idea what her close friends and family must be going through, but it seems the only respectful statement. Any other response would presume an understanding of a trauma I simply cannot begin to comprehend.

Within this panicked tragedy, many have recognized and been heartened by the remarkable online organizing efforts to locate Spierer. I found out about her disappearance from a friend’s Facebook; a Facebook event and multiple groups and a Twitter are updated constantly; the catchphrase of the effort has become #FindLauren. And it’s not just Spierer’s inner circle and fellow Indiana University students who are joining in. Nick Kristoff, Alyssa Milano, and Ryan Seacrest—amongst other tweeting celebrities—have helped to raise the profile of the case. These efforts have introduced Spierer’s face and identifying information to millions of strangers and caught the attention of major news outlets, increasing the chance that she will be recognized if still alive.

I have two main hopes. The first is that Spierer returns home, alive and well. The second is that this social media blitz sets a new standard for how we approach all disappearances. I mean “we” in the largest sense—as the last two weeks have shown, everyone with an Internet connection can contribute to search efforts, no matter their location, financial means, or relation to the missing. If we can band together every time someone’s neighbor disappears, we will save lives.

To be entirely honest, though, I’m skeptical that this phenomenon of public collaboration will become common practice. Efforts to combat violence against women have long been plagued by a very first-wave focus, and I worry that those from less privileged backgrounds will never benefit from such campaigns. Struck by a “missing white girl syndrome,” advocates, law enforcement personnel, and journalists alike tend to imagine a perfect victim much like Spierer: always white, generally pretty and affluent with a stable family. The media has made Natalie Holloway, Elizabeth Smart, and Laci Paterson household names, while the murders of Rilya Wilson, LaToyia Figueroa, and other girls and women of color went unnoticed. This double standard played out in New Haven earlier this year when the community rallied to support the search for Isabella Oleschuk while it ignored the disappearance of Precious Rivera. Why? According to Mike Foley of the New Haven Register it’s “because Precious Rivera is brown and lives in New Haven and Isabella Oleschuk is white and lives in Orange.”

It is absolutely just that so much effort and money has gone into the search for Spierer. The collaboration demonstrates a tremendous generosity that we, as human beings in constant doubt of our moral fiber, should consider with awe and pride. However, if we truly stand against violence, we must rush with equal fervor to protect every victim. We all hope Spierer comes home safe, but let’s also make the commitment to ensure that no matter her fate, she stands as a standard for the power of our ever-expanding community rather than just another pretty white face.

Alexandra Brodsky is a senior at Yale College. She is the Executive Editor at Broad Recognition.

This article does not necessarily reflect the views of Broad Recognition.

Toward a Feminist IMF?

Alexandra Brodsky — Fri, 27 May 2011 07:06:42 +0000

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

by ALEXANDRA BRODSKY

May 27, 2011

There’s been a whole lot of fuss about the fact that Christine Lagarde is a woman. The French finance minister has recently announced, to no one’s surprise, her bid to lead the International Monetary Fund now that former director Dominique Strauss-Khan is otherwise engaged in defending himself against sexual assault charges. If her candidacy is successful, Lagarde will be the first female head of any large, international financial body. Many have presented this fact as though a victory for Lagarde would be a victory for women at large.

To an extent, this seems reasonable. The dearth of women in leadership positions at the IMF and its peer institutions indicates structural barriers to female ascension in the economic policy world, an arena historically unfriendly to women. Lagarde’s prominence in the field suggests that such systemic sexism may be crumbling, and a woman at the head of the IMF might encourage other female economists (and women in general) that gender should be no reason to quash ambition. Further, a recent New York Times article suggests–to some debate–that the “old boy’s club” atmosphere of international finance is manifest in serious harassment at the IMF, and a respected female director could be particularly effective in changing standards for appropriate treatment of women.

However, it is unclear how a Lagarde directorship would affect women outside the profession. The minister herself seems to think that women offer a different perspective on policy, telling Christine Amanpour that women bring “less libido, less testosterone” to their work. However, this argument, seen in many misguided attempts to highlight the importance of women in politics, relies on a dangerous essentialism that draws a direct line from hormones to professional decisions, unfairly casting all women as compassionate, asexual mothers of the world and men as aggressive brutes. Further, while research does indicate the female policy-makers do tend to better represent the needs of women than do their male counterparts, it is unclear how, exactly, the IMF could promote a global feminist agenda if it desired to do so. Few opportunities to micromanage gender dynamics through macroscopic financial policy present themselves, and the Fund seems ill-equipped to handle the rare cases effectively, as seen when the IMF came under fire in 2010 for recommending gendered tax cuts in Ireland to encourage women to join the workforce of the desperate country. The questionable logic and outright gender discrimination of this decision suggest that the IMF’s instruments are too blunt to effectively promote the status of women as it attempts to resuscitate collapsed economies.

Even if the IMF were capable of devising financial policies to benefit women, it is unclear whether the costs would be worth the gains. Conditional aid, like that practiced by the IMF, is seen by many as deeply unethical and damaging to the countries it purports to benefit. Given feminism’s inextricable linked to class and ethnic struggles, it seems hard to imagine how IMF policy could ever be pro-woman if it perpetuates other related inequalities.

This skepticism is particularly relevant given Europe’s determination to keep one of their own at the head of the IMF and thus continue the regional dominance that has characterized the Fund since its creation in the 1940s. The continent is nervous because, as The New York Times writes “appointing simply another European, particularly another white middle-age male, might not fly this time” given the Western excess–embodied by Strauss-Khan–that brought upon the recent global financial collapse. While diversity of leadership would certainly benefit the IMF, such conflation of race and gender is dangerous, packing all candidates who are not white, middle-aged, European men into one category. This practice is unfair not only to those interested in the position, but both the female and the non-European populations as it lumps together the interests of women and emerging markets, as though they were identical simply because they are “other.” Lagarde is supremely qualified for the position, but her gender is not a card that should be played by Europe to overcome a push for much-needed regional change in IMF leadership.

Lagarde may be the next IMF director, and if so, her credentials suggest she will perform admirably. But let’s not confuse a woman’s victory with global feminism.

Alexandra Brodsky is a senior at Yale College. She is the Executive Editor for Broad Recognition.

Wesleyan Fights for Planned Parenthood

Alexandra Brodsky — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:22:14 +0000

By ALEXANDRA BRODSKY

March 12, 2011

Wesleyan has sex. Since a bunch of Wes students uploaded a pro-Planned Parenthood video on March 9, it’s been all over the Internet—Facebook, Twitter, my primary care physician’s blog. The short piece centers around shots of young adults, diverse but all smiling, holding signs declaring “I have sex,” or a slight alternative (“My friends have sex,” “I plan to have sex,” “I use birth control”). The final message of support for Planned Parenthood’s services is delivered in simple white and red print against a black background. Like the whole video, it is endearingly provocative.

I have to say, before anything else, that the piece is great. The message is clear that “Young Americans have sex”—and these are not just any young Americans, but cute ones at a prestigious university, including my friend from high school (Hi Mel!). And if Americans are, inevitably, having or planning to have sex, there seems to be little point in withholding condoms and education to save our youths’ collective lost virginity.

The problem, though, is that the call to remove Title X support for Planned Parenthood isn’t really about premarital sex, or at least not only. A fair amount of the effort seems to be rooted in the misconception that federal funds are used to pay for abortions performed by Planned Parenthood physicians. The indignant cry that I don’t want my tax dollars to pay for the killing of babies is misinformed for many reasons, but one simple point is the that the Hyde Amendment does not allow federal funds to cover abortions. The 1997 amendment results in great injustice, rendering poor women’s legal right to abortion economically inaccessible, but it should be of great comfort to many railing against Planned Parenthood. The volume of Title X funds is an entirely separate matter from federal aid for abortions.

The other main argument levied against Planned Parenthood’s funding is a budgetary concern. With national debt through the roof, cutting support for reproductive and women’s overall health is a good way to save some cash, right? Yet Planned Parenthood actually saves the government a lot of money by catching infections and chronic diseases early, ensuring the health of young infants, and teaching individuals to take care of their bodies.

It is for this reason that the Wesleyan video is not just off point, but possibly strategically dangerous. Funding Planned Parenthood is fiscally sound, and thus should appeal to the very politicians who now call for privatization. The video’s final point that “corporate entitlements” cost the government far more than Planned Parenthood may be true, but it mischaracterizes the economic effects of funding reproductive health. The video should emphasize not just that Planned Parenthood costs less than benefits for oil companies, but that Planned Parenthood actually saves us money. Framing reproductive health as an issue of the left further polarizes an issue that is fundamentally about taking care of our lovers and our children. Everyone should be able to get behind that.

This is not to say that the video should not be applauded. The call to action, to “stand up… speak out” is certainly needed. However, the content of these protests matter. And if we’re going to convince anyone, sex might not be enough.

Alexandra Brodsky is a junior in Yale College. She is an associate editor for Broad Recognition.

Memo to Chief Higgins: Rape is a Crime

Alexandra Brodsky — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:18:30 +0000

Photo: opa.yale.edu

By ALEXANDRA BRODSKY

February 9, 2011

On Wednesday, February 9, Yale’s Chief of Police Ronnell A. Higgins sent the student body an email that an “acquaintance rape involving two undergraduates that occurred at the end of January” had been reported anonymously to the Yale University Police Department. The news of the crime is, of course, deeply upsetting, but the announcement—together with a similar alert on October 28—promises to increase public awareness of and response to acquaintance rapes, which are historically underreported. That rape occurs at Yale is without question; an increase in campus-wide reporting is undoubtedly good news for our community.

Yet Higgins’s note, while encouraging victims to take action, fails to fully empower them. In accordance with Yale’s standard (and problematic) protection of perpetrators of sexual violence, the Chief encouraged students who have been assaulted to contact “the Sexual Harassment and Assault Resource and Education Center…Yale University Health, your residential college dean or master, or the Yale Police.” While these resources are certainly valuable, the conspicuous omission of the New Haven police from this list illustrates Yale’s desire to handle rapes in-house, to the detriment of victims and future victims alike.

Let’s be clear: sexual violence is criminal. Some rape victims may prefer a quiet, extra-legal approach, but a criminal prosecution – and the permanent record that it confers – should always be an option. No such option is acknowledged in Higgins’s missive. Instead, Higgins’s email, like all of Yale’s online resources for victims, quietly funnels student complaints into Yale’s private labyrinth of “justice” mechanisms, in which real punishment is rare. Yale’s system of harassment-related disciplinary action within the school is confusing and often opaque; it varies by schools and departments, and it all too often betrays a lack of respect for the gravity of sexual crimes. Students who report to the Sexual Harassment Grievance Board, a mediating body that offers “counseling” but no disciplinary action, are often tacitly discouraged from reporting their crimes to more powerful disciplinary forces. Even the Executive Committee has since 1998 suspended only one student found guilty of sexual assault for a single semester. In that same year, it imposed a harsher sentence on a student who plagiarized. The bias against punishing sexual offenders is obtrusive.

Yale’s ultimate aim should be the end of sexual violence on campus, but until that goal has been achieved, it has an obligation to ensure that sexual victims have access to justice. Indeed, part of ending sexual violence is enforcing penalties for violators; by discouraging students to contact the police, Yale administrators are tacitly condoning rape as a venial offence, forgivable in people of our age group. Given how ineffectual Yale’s reporting system has proven to be, our school’s discouragement of prosecution under criminal law is unethical. Higgins’s omission is all the more insidious for being unannounced.

Alexandra Brodsky is a junior at Yale College. She is an associate editor for Broad Recognition.

The Comprehensive Broads Guide to the Blue Book—Spring 2011

Alexandra Brodsky — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 04:27:30 +0000

By ALEXANDRA BRODSKY

January 4, 2011

Every semester (starting last semester), Broads brings you a listing of Yale courses to train your feminist mind to tackle issues of gender and sexuality. We scour the Blue Book for courses—particularly outside the Women, Gender, and Sexual Studies department—that you may miss in your shopping adventures, but that will make you a more effective thinker and advocate. Peruse our list and fill out those Google Calendars. No thanks required— though we hope you’ll submit those final papers for Broads publication!

AFST 356 01 (22895) /LAST412/PLSC356/INTS326
Collective Action and Social Movements
Elisabeth Wood
TTh 4.00-5.15
This popular class has no specific feminist focus. However, one friend of Broads notes that the syllabus contains “a lot of info pertinent to organizing/activism in general.” We suggest making your interest known to Professor Wood early, since “one could certainly focus on feminist struggles.” Reviews range widely, so make sure you’re up for a theory-heavy semester before signing up.

AMST 271 01 (21787) /WGSS201/HIST171
Women in America: The Twentieth Century
Joanne Meyerowitz
TTh 10.30-11.20
One friend of Broads reports crying at the end of every book assigned for this course—in a good way. Lectures are “fabulous,” Professor Meyerowitz is “funny, nice, and very engaging,” and the workload is manageable. One reviewer goes so far as to proclaim the course should “be a prerequisite for every Yale student.” Some warn that this is very much “a 100-level course,” so perhaps reconsider if you already have a strong background in the subject.

ANTH 591 01 (20605) /WGSS689/AFAM647
Black Feminist Theory and Praxis
Jafari Allen
T 1.30-3.20
We’ve been drooling over this course description. While course hasn’t been offered before, with a focus on “black feminisms as both political space and scholarly choice” it certainly “looks pretty amazing and interdisciplinary,” suitable for the academic or the activist. Professor Allen taught the hugely popular Anthropology of Sex and Sexuality two years ago, so seminar should be engaging. You’ll be competing with grad students for spots, so a quick e-mail to Professor Allen now might be necessary.

ARCG 424 01 (21910) /HSAR424/CLCV230
eClavdia: Women in Ancient Rome
Diana Kleiner
T 1.30-3.20
Somehow missing a WGSS cross-listing, this course is a must-take for all those interested in politico-artistic representations of women. According to one junior, “the course focuses on the Augustan era, with attention given to how, through the representation of Livia in various works, Augustus was able to construct a feminine ideal.” Recalling Graeme Reid’s syllabus, the course also touches on “Roman coins, hairstyles, dress, religious rituals and war monuments.” The assignments, including a final project designing a museum exhibit, sound unorthodox and exciting. Further, “Kleiner is brilliant,” and a big shot in her field.

ART 581 01 (23495)
Queer Strategies
Dean Daderko
F 12.30-3.30
If you can drag yourself to class every other Friday afternoon, this course is not to be missed. While billed as a “primer on selected aspects of queer history,” available through other classes like Chauncey’s famous survey in the fall, the approach from an Art Department course is sure to be unique. Plus, you’ll get 1.5 credits for the deal. Let us know how “the attempt… to separate sex, gender, and sexuality as coherent categories” goes.

CPLT 511 01 (20767) /ENGL300/LITR300
Introduction to Theory of Literature
Haun Saussy
TTh 11.35-12.25
For some reason, there is a real dearth of opportunities to read Butler at Yale, even though her alma mater should be very proud of her texts. This course offers a chance to read Butler outside of a gender studies context, training you to bring a critical feminist eye to all disciplines. Just make sure you’re ready to have your mind blown—and take quizzes, high school style.

ECON 404 01 (21691) /ECON776
Population Economics
Nancy Qian
MW 2.30-3.45
Professor Qian’s class has no specific feminist focus, but the population issues studied are essential for a full understanding of international women’s politics. Reviewers promise the class is “fun,” and “the workload is pretty low.” Unfortunately for some of us, introductory statistics and intermediate microeconomics are prerequisites, and students recommend a background in econometrics.

ECON 475 01 (23639)
Discrimination in Law, Theory, and Practice
Gerald Jaynes
T 2.30-4.30
Broads is always excited to see cool interdisciplinary economics classes and this one looks promising. It requires a background in econ and Af-Am studies, Ethnicity, Race, & Migration, or WGSS, so discussion should take place on a high level, with an unusual quantitative spin. Professor Jaynes has only taught intro econ classes thus far, so the verdict is still out on his teaching—let us know how it goes. To ensure a spot, make sure to pre-register if you’re eligible.

ENGL 446 01 (22084)
Virginia Woolf
Margaret Homans
T 1.30-3.20
Virginia Woolf is a staple of feminist literature, and this is one of the few classes in which you’ll get to read her at Yale. Although no syllabus is available yet, you can certain be prepared for Mrs. Dalloway and A Room of One’s Own, in addition to biographical readings and plenty of lit critique. Professor Homans is also teaching “Feminist Fictions” this semester, so she should have her feminist hat on pretty firmly. Reviewers warn that the workload is high, but also promise the reading is worth it.

HIST 181J 01 (22246) /HSHM417
The American Family, 1873 to the Present
Ziv Eisenberg
W 1.30-3.20
Different feminisms conceive of the family in varying ways—from an oppressive institution to a cause for celebration of womanhood—but all must agree that different forms of the family have been an essential determinant to women’s role in society. This is grad student Professor Eisenberg’s first class, but his bio looks awesome, and indicates a strong focus on gender. We also have to admit we’re intrigued at the prospect of taking a feminist class with a male professor, an unfortunately rare opportunity.

HIST 301J 01 (21670)
Gender and Japanese History
Daniel Botsman
W 1.30-3.20
Too often, the experience of Asian women is oversimplified, and we’re excited for the opportunity to focus on one specific country. Botsman is new, but this “broad sweep of Japanese history from ancient times to the post–World War II era, viewed through the lens of gender and sexuality” sounds worth the risk. While junior history seminars can be tough to get into, this could be a good introduction to gender studies for those who have mastered the archives but are intimidated by theory-heavy WGSS courses.

HIST 341J 01 (23916) /HSHM419
Gender and Health in Modern African History
Mandisa Mbali
W 3.30-5.20
Professor Mbali is sort of a rock star. She grew up in South Africa, the daughter of once-exiled refugees, and is fresh from her Rhodes. This class looks pretty spectacular, with a focus on “how healing systems shaped and were shaped by gender identities and power in colonial and post-colonial Africa,” according to this syllabus. This first assignment, “a short review essay discussing the construction of gender evident in 2-3 medical missionary photos,” looks particularly compelling. This is a junior history seminar, so competition for spaces will be tough. Start sending those sob-story e-mails now!

HIST 400 01 (21933) /F&ES770/MCDB861/MCDB150
Global Problems of Population Growth
Robert Wyman, Fabian Drixler
MW 2.30-3.45
Global Problems of Population Growth is a controversial class for a feminist magazine to endorse. The topic—the population explosion—is certainly relevant to reproductive and sexual rights work, but this course’s handling is, in one student’s words, “racist, imperialist, elitist, classist and sexist.” Indeed, the class opens with an essentialist explanation of domestic abuse (essentially, “monkey’s do it”) and ends with the assertion that all women want fewer kids, coupled with a denial of global forced sterilization campaigns. However, the issue of overpopulation is so urgent, and so inextricably intertwined with feminist politics, that if you’re prepared to approach the material with a skeptical eye, argue with the professor, and tolerate detail-oriented exams, it could be as life-changing a science credit for you as it was for this Broads writer.

MCDB 240 01 (20636)
Biology of Reproduction
Hugh Taylor, Mary Klein
MWF 10.30-11.20 OML 202
In order to advocate for reproductive rights and health, it’s probably helpful to understand how it all works. Topics on the syllabus range from meiosis to sexual response to STDs. As long as you have your 5 on the Biology AP you’re prepared, and students promise the material of the visiting lecturers is fascinating. Be warned, though, that this style of teaching can lead to a disjointed syllabus and confusing exams. The course is certainly not a gut—but you came to Yale to learn, right?

SOCY 361 01 (23025) /SOCY543
Demography, Gender, and Health
Vida Maralani
T 9.25-11.15
This Broads writer has worked her whole schedule around this class. This is the only class offered at Yale in recent memory focusing specifically on the status of women within a growing population—and is sure to do a less offensive job of it than “Global Problems of Population Growth.” The syllabus isn’t up yet, but Professor Maralani got great reviews in the team-taught “Numbers and Societies” (even if everyone hated the rest of the profs). Her CV is impressive, and her expertise in social demography is unique amongst Yale’s faculty. Our only hesitation in recommending this course is that you may take our spot.

WGSS 408 01 (22214) /HUMS288/ENGL342
Queer Mythologies
Sam See
TTh 1.00-2.15
No feminist education is complete without training in queer thought, and Professor See’s course is a remarkably rewarding opportunity for this sort of intellectual boot camp. One reviewer raves that the class “was also one of the few that challenged me in the way I expected to be challenged as a Yale student,” and one friend of Broads described Professor See as a “fun young professor.” Be prepared for a heavy workload, though the class tends to be populated by plenty of non-majors.

WGSS 631 01 (21424) /ANTH631/AMST631
Feminist Theory: State and Non-State
Inderpal Grewal
T 9.25-11.15
Some days, we sit around fantasizing about courses like this. Grewal is tough, and this is a grad seminar, but if you’re reading to dive into some serious theory, you won’t find a better option. Professor Grewal, who specializes in transnational feminisms, is “wonderful” and “a really fun woman to work with,” according to reviewers.

Alexandra Brodsky is a junior in Yale College. She is a contributing editor for Broad Recognition.

The Comprehensive Broads’ Guide to 2011 Summer Internships

Alexandra Brodsky — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:21:29 +0000

Photo: Campus Access

By ALEXANDRA BROSKY

December 21, 2010

For many ambitious Yale students—ignoring those who long ago started parading around in suits for the Holy Trinity of Consulting or practicing their Arabic for the State Department—winter break is the time to start work on summer internships. Yet while this job search is in many ways an orgy of egos, we all like to think that those hours of reformatting resumes and spell-checking cover letters will contribute to a good beyond our own future prospects on the job market; ideally, we hope, our work will reap some societal benefit just as it trains us for careers. Lucky for you, Broads is here to help.

Of course, there is no one way to approach your summer planning from a feminist perspective. To insist that women turn down banking jobs to fight the good fight is distinctly misogynistic, and we also know that many public interest internships in fields from sustainable development to education can indirectly support feminist efforts. However, in this article we are looking to find you promising internships with explicitly feminist organizations, working to improve the status of women at home and abroad. We have scoured Yale’s offerings, as well as independent application processes, and have tried to display a wide range of options, focusing on major U.S. cities with a few international options.

National Organization for Women
Location:Washington, DC
Deadline: March 18th
Funding: Unpaid
Website: http://www.now.org/organization/intern.html
You’ve got a lot of time on this deadline, but NOW is an obvious choice for this list. Interns are placed with one of seven teams, ranging from Government Relations/Public Policy to Fundraising to Communications, at “the largest feminist organization in the United States.” Unlike many hosts of undergraduate interests, NOW takes its responsibility of preparing the next generation of feminist leaders quite seriously, offering trainings, weekly discussion groups, and “fieldtrips.”

Planned Parenthood
Location: Various
Deadline: Various
Funding: Generally unpaid
Website: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/jobs-and-volunteer.asp
Planned Parenthood, the preeminent reproductive health and rights non-profit worldwide, offers about a bazillion internships. The listings are difficult to navigate, and cities vary in their application processes, but it is worth setting up an account with their online job search. Whenever an internship specifying your parameters (like location and timing) is announced, you will get a notification e-mail. Many of the internships are part time, which is great if you want to get some credits out of the way or study for the MCATs.

Jezebel
Location: Brooklyn, Your Home
Deadline: TBA
Funding: Maybe a small stipend?
Website: www.jezebel.com
Alright, so confession time: the Jezebel internship has yet to be announced. But, we promise, it is going to happen. For the last few years this online pop culture magazine has hired summer interns, sometimes to work from home, but their calls for applications have been way late for our neurotic planning (like, April). Our suggestion is to send in an e-mail anyway, following the guidelines from previous years. And young men, Jezebel wants you too!

Feminist Majority Foundation
Location: Washington DC, Los Angeles
Deadline: March 31st
Funding: Unpaid, though “a limited amount of paid administrative work is available”
Website: http://feminist.org/intern/
The Feminist Majority Foundation’s internship program is clearly well organized and professionally managed, characteristic of this non-profit “dedicated to women’s equality, reproductive health, and non-violence.” Opportunities vary between the two offices, with a wider variety of advocacy options in DC and a chance to work for Ms. magazine in LA. From perusing the website, it looks like the group of interns get pretty close, or at least do a good job of smiling together for pictures. Science and math majors are particularly encouraged to apply, as are men.

All Our Kin
Location: New Haven
Deadline: N/A
Funding: Unpaid, but a 2010 intern was funded through a Dwight Hall Summer Fellowship
Website: http://www.allourkin.org/
All Our Kin is one of the coolest non-profits in New Haven. Founded by two Yale grads, the organization trains low-income individuals to start their own childcare businesses, improving the health of families, stimulating the economy, and providing women (so far the only clients) with independent incomes. While All Our Kin does not seem to have an official internship program, last year they hosted students from Yale and Connecticut College. E-mail early to prepare for your Dwight Hall Summer Fellowship application.

Women’s Foreign Policy Group
Location: Washington DC
Deadline: March 25th
Funding: Unpaid
Website: http://www.wfpg.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=47265&orgId=wfpg
Yale might not be everyone’s favorite feminist hero recently (or, you know, ever), but the Undergraduate Career Service’s internship database did point us toward the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, which works to promote female leadership in global politics. Intern responsibilities vary widely, from event planning to research. The listing on UCS is only for a spring internship, but WFPG’s website offers general internship information, and encourages early applications.

Population Media Group
Location: Usually Shelburne, Vermont
Deadline: Rolling
Funding: Generally unpaid
Website: http://www.populationmedia.org/who/internship-opportunities/
The Population Media Group has one of the most unusual approaches to women’s issues of any non-profit we know. The organization “works worldwide using entertainment-education for social change,” and is particularly famous for soap operas focused on issues like reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. This internship should be particularly appealing to those interested in population growth challenges and environmental justice. Internships are generally sort of in the middle of nowhere, but that could make for a nice break from a summer of Yale in DC/New York.

National Women’s Law Center
Location: Washington DC
Deadline: February 7th
Funding: Unpaid
Website: http://www.idealist.org/view/internship/bx8WC7Cshjjd/
The National Women’s Law Center is an impressive non-profit offering exposure to multiple facets of legal advocacy. This summer, the Center is offering a Communications Internship, perfect for media-savvy Broads readers. Make sure to apply early—while the position by no means requires an LSAT score, NWLC will be a hot target for our punctual pre-law classmates.

WET Productions
Location: New York
Deadline: Rolling
Funding: Unpaid
Website: http://wetweb.org/mentor.htm
WET is pretty cool. The non-profit works “to empower women and girls by producing media that challenges female stereotypes and advocates for equality,” and interns will simultaneously gain experience in production and non-profit management. WET seems to view the internship program as part of its mission to increase the influence of women in the creation of popular media, promoting this position as a chance to be mentored and take a step toward a career in production. Plus, WET’s office is right near Grand Central (and the Yale Club), and their days start at 10am. Nice.

NYC Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence
Location: New York
Deadline: Rolling
Funding: Unpaid
Website: http://www.nyc.gov/html/ocdv/html/about/opportunities.shtml
This New York government office, created in 2001, works to address domestic violence in the city through multiple strategies. Given this multitude of approaches, it’s not surprising that a wide variety of internships are available. While the work of the office is certainly not without flaw, this should be a good opportunity for Broads readers to learn how to navigate frustrating city politics, rarely hospitable to feminist efforts.

Rosie’s Place
Location: Boston
Deadline: March 15th
Funding: Unpaid
Website: https://www.rosiesplace.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=392
Rosie’s Place is an impressive center for low-income and homeless a woman that provides a holistic spread of services “to help women maintain their dignity, seek opportunity and find security in their lives.” Gong well beyond the traditional offerings of meals and job training, Rosie’s Place organizes a Women’s Craft Collective microenterprise and legal workshops. Interns work in the arts, development, direct service, or hunger programs, and are sure to have a lot more fun (and learn quite a bit more) than classmates spending their summers in a cubicle.

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Location: New York; Cape Town; Buenos Aires
Deadline: Rolling
Funding: Unpaid (but there are a bunch of specialized Yale fellowships for LGBTQ work)
Website: http://www.iglhrc.org/cgibin/iowa/content/about/careeropportunity/internship/index.html
IGLHRC, in addition to having the best acronym ever (pronounced EYE-GIL-HURK), is doing really exciting work in the realm of international sexual rights. This summer, the non-profit will offer a really cool internship program, in the United States, South Africa, or Argentina. Interns will be brought on board with a specific focus, like communications or a certain region, but it sounds like IGLHRC will make an effort to integrate interns into the larger functions of the organization. And we’ve heard Cape Town has great beaches, even if it will be a little chilly in July.

Bulldogs in Uganda: Intern with the Honorable Betty Amongi
Location: Kampala, Uganda
Deadline: February 1st
Funding: Unpaid, but Yale students can use their ISA money
Website: Accessible through Yale “Experience” database
Although Yale has dramatically cut down its Bulldogs in Africa program, Bulldogs in Uganda is offering an opportunity to work with Parliament member Hon. Betty Amongi. Follow in the footsteps of Broads contributor Cristina Constantini and work with Amongi on her upcoming book on women’s rights and affirmative action in Parliament, in addition to assisting the politician in her day-to-day tasks. Just be careful; Uganda is beautiful, but its government is not exactly known for sexual tolerance, so you may end up working with some people you would really like to slap.

British Bulldogs: The Rhodes Project
Location: London
Deadline: February 1st
Funding: Paid! $5,400
Website: Accessible through Yale “Experience” database
The name Olivarius is already associated with feminism at Yale thanks to two former Women’s Center board members bearing this name, but this is a chance to work on Dr. Ann Olivarius’ project tracking female Rhodes Scholars to gain insight into the decisions and lives of high-achieving women. As you work on reports and social media presence (we expect lots of tweets @yalebroads), Broads editor and current project manager Alice Buttrick will be tracking your progress. Sounds like Yale is finally turning into an Old Girls Club…

Programme on Women’s Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Location: Delhi
Deadline: Rolling
Funding: Unpaid, some housing available
Website: http://www.caleidoscop.org/Members/Marius/news-2010/pwescr-internship-programme-in-india
Indian feminism is fascinating precisely because there is no such thing as a single Indian feminism. Intern responsibilities are vague, but PWESCR’s work on global women’s issues—including, but not limited to, Indian policy questions— is impressive enough that this should be a valuable experience nonetheless. Additionally, approaching global feminisms from an already foreign perspective should be a bit of a Third Wave eye opener, an important challenge preparing students for future work. Be warned that PWESCR is looking for long-term commitments, so it is worth thinking about serious fellowships now.
Alexandra Brodsky is a junior in Yale College. She is a staff writer for Broad Recognition.

The Promise and Risk of Q

Alexandra Brodsky — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:12:36 +0000

Photo: Q's inaugural cover

By ALEXANDRA BRODSKY

December 9, 2010

Q is not what you would expect from the condoms. Strewn about dining hall tables, the brightly colored prophylactics bearing the new Yale magazine’s name would suggest an equally raunchy cover. Yet the actual presentation is perhaps more provocative, though in a very different manner. Across the cover stand nine young men and women in vintage Yale sweaters, the right side fading into white, implying many more forgotten.

“It’s saying, we are Yale. We’ve always been here, and we always will be,” said Q Editor-in-Chief Jacob Conway, a senior.

And indeed, Q thrives off of the past. In addition to the “Old Yale” uniforms, the magazine features a “From the Archives” section recounting the same-sex desire of study Albert Dodd in 1838, and an article on cruising attempts—to a questionable degree of success—to place contemporary eye flirtation in a context of long-term “revolutionary” sex.

Yet Q does not only claim the fun stuff, and this is the key mechanism that will determine its success. The magazine is, to an extent, a collage of appropriations, to use Conway’s term. The condoms? An attempt to appropriate stereotypes about gay promiscuity to start conversations about the magazine. The title? A reclamation of the term “queer,” “which means ‘I’m not normal,’” according to Conway. The article on lesbian sex? “[Broads isn’t] going to like this,” he warns, “but we knew pictures of beautiful women would get straight men to read the magazine.” The methodology is dangerous; appropriation can capitalize on known bigotry to start a conversation, but it can also justify flawed perceptions. Conway is aware of this, what he repeatedly refers to as a “delicate balance,” a calculated “risk.”

Q writer CeeCee, a junior who wrote the piece on lesbian sex under her own name but requested a pseudonym for this article, thinks the magazine is succeeding in correcting misconceptions through this methodology. “So many people have such a nebulous idea of how two female-bodied people have sex, and they usually fill in the gaps with ideas that are inaccurate and based on images from the porn industry,” she said. “Ask any queer woman and I assure you she has been asked, ‘So, like, how do y’all, you know, have sex?’”

Given this, CeeCee—who writes with a simultaneous defiance and genuine delight in her subject—thinks relying on the fetishization of lesbian sex to attract readers is worthwhile. “It is pretty powerful to have the picture catch the eyes of all audiences,” she said “and then derail all the inaccurate conceptions… while the initial lure may have been something that triggered those conceptions of lesbian sex.”

This targeting of straight audiences is not isolated to CeeCee’s article, and in many ways, Q reads less like a “queer magazine” and more as a straight student’s guide to this segment of Yale. Conway sold the concept to impressive advertisers like J.P. Morgan, Bain, and the New York Times as a magazine targeting queer Yalies, and this strategy paid off; the $5,000 publication feels like the latest addition of The New Yorker, printed professionally on glossy, thin paper. However, he openly admits this was a fundraising effort to attract businesses looking for a “known demographic,” and he returns repeatedly to his hope of attracting straight readers. He is conscious that the magazine “cannot represent all queer students,” particularly transpeople, but he does think Q can serve to introduce a larger audience to same-sex desire and its manifestations. This is perhaps clearest from the subtitle to “The Lowdown,” the section in which CeeCee’s piece ran, which bills the article as part of a repeated effort “to tell you what really happens behind closed doors.”

Ultimately, then, the ethical value of harnessing stereotypes comes down to one of representation; Q’s management and writers may be comfortable taking this risk, but their choice implicates others when they attempt to speak for them. Of course, not all gay magazines seek to take on this task—and to expect this is as misguided as assuming Seventeen represents all 17-year old girls or Broad Recognition all feminists—but Q openly considers such a public explanation of gay life to be a central goal.

And this is a tremendous, and dangerous, ambition. The burden of representation is felt most heavily in the essays of the “ten writers [who] tell us what it means to be queer at Yale” in the “We Are Yale” essay section . While often beautiful, how can ten stories speak for hundreds of students on campus? In presenting such a vision of Yale to a wider audience, Q takes on the task of representing the nebulous, essentially imaginary monolithic unit called “the gay community.”

“That representation is impossible,” said junior Joe Breen, a contributing photographer for Q. “I think it’s a worthy experiment to try to represent, but one that will always fail, and we should understand that as personal consumers of ‘lifestyle’ magazines.”

In this experiment, Q does hit some road blocks. The hypersexualization of the marketing has alienated some potential readers, who feel disconnected from such a public experience of sexuality. “That’s not my gay Yale,” said one junior, who wished to remain anonymous. Another junior, Paulina Arnold, noted that “one of the problems in the gay community is that gay men are stereotyped as being promiscuous,” and that while Conway views the appropriation of this assumption as “radical” and “revolutionary,” she saw Q reinforcing, rather than challenging, this stereotype.

Another reader, a sophomore who also wished to withhold his name, similarly found the queerness Q represents to be alien to his own. “There is this political agenda, to represent gay life at Yale to straight life, which strikes me as problematic” he said, especially when rife with sexual lifestyle assumptions he found “a little presumptuous.” He found the condom campaign and explicit sexuality pervasive through the magazine to be “a flawed strategy for ‘otherizing’ queerness in a way that doesn’t add anything substantial politically.” Indeed, this strategy excludes many LGBT movements. The hypersexuality on this aspect ignores facets of queer politics with less sexual focuses; to choose only one version of the revolution, no matter how legitimate that ideology, leaves many out of the conversation.

Arnold also felt that the magazine failed to represent queer women. “If I were actively lesbian at Yale,” she said, “I think picking up a magazine that was attempting to speak for me, that is so male-dominated, would be incredibly frustrating.” While the “We are Yale” section and advice column are equitably split between the genders, and a brief side panel discusses sex toys for women, Arnold found the rest of the magazine to cater to a male audience. The art and history articles are focused on gay men, the article on lesbian sex seems targeted for everyone but queer women—“is this for lesbians not having sex?” quipped Arnold—and the piece on cruising focuses on a sexual strategy “seen as such an explicitly male activity.” For a magazine attempting to reclaim queerness, Q seems to focus disproportionately on the gay male experience.

But despite these shortcomings, Q is an impressive magazine representing many—though never all—queer voices at Yale. Conway has clearly made an attempt to reach out to a wide spectrum of gay students; “we contacted everyone,” he joked, and put a particular focus on recruiting queer women, traditionally silenced on campus. The diversity of voices is heard. “We Are Yale,” despite the unachievable task it approaches, succeeds in offering varied narratives.

Junior Michael Blume is “proud of overcoming the obstacles being GAY has presented,” while an anonymous writer admits that “I wish this were a story about how I forgave myself, came out and moved on confidently, [but] it is not.” The reader learns from athlete Grey de Grissom, a sophomore, about the falsehood of gay stereotypes as he insists “I don’t have limp wrists. I don’t swish my hips side to side,” while senior Kelvin Vu claims his “high voice, competitive figure skating career and preference for hugs over high fives” as indications of his sexuality. Vu’s piece also acknowledges the difficulty of navigating the role of femininity in the male gay community, writing that “all the guys around me were well-dressed, intellectual and at least vaguely artsy—so in my mind clearly gay.” In these moments of honestly and refusal to simplify the LGBTQ Yale into a single, unified and self-righteous community easily understood by a straight audience, Q approaches its impossible goal of representation with insight and respect.

Critics of the magazine recognize this, and their concerns seem to derive from a great appreciation for the publication’s objectives; if this task were not important, its execution would not warrant analysis.

Ultimately, the strengths and stumblings of the magazine are themselves an opening for dialogue. Q is not a bunch of condoms thrown across a table, nor is it a quiet apology. The magazine itself struggles with the proper role of stereotypes in queer life, just like Vu and the reader. It does not wholly represent gay life and sex at Yale, but in its attempt to do so, it has us talking.

This is not to say that Q can do no wrong, that there is no risk in igniting a discussion. The magazine is in the powerful position to start a conversation, but the direction is not yet clear. With such an opportunity, Conway and the rest of Q find themselves with a great responsibility that they must consider carefully. It can certainly be said, however, that as the first installation of an attempted dining hall revolution, this is one for the archives.

Alexandra Brodsky is a Junior in Yale College. She is a staff writer for Broad Recognition.