Comments on: Tufts Crew Team Suspended for “Check Out Our Cox” Spring Fling T-Shirts

By: The State Of Sexual Entitlement In The ‘Cac | In The 'Cac

The State Of Sexual Entitlement In The ‘Cac | In The 'Cac — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 01:27:46 +0000

[...] Tufts Crew Team Suspended for "Check Out Our Cox" Spring Fling T-Shirts5 comments [...]

By: Delfina Harvey

Delfina Harvey — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:45:21 +0000

This is just another example of the ways in which Tufts administration makes life difficult for students and faculty alike – I don't know who exactly is making the decisions here as it seems to be unclear to the university as well, but to cite this as a bias incident and suspend crew members who have worked hard for 4 years is overly punitive, not to mention it undermines actual bias incidents that might occur on campus.

By: John Yeatman

John Yeatman — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:20:00 +0000

Whoever thinks that looks phallic has either never seen one or else is so deformed as to need both a shrink and a plastic surgeon.

By: Andrew Szatkowski

Andrew Szatkowski — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:22:19 +0000

This is bullcrap. It's a boat, not some "phallic symbol of rape."

By: mcshaq

mcshaq — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:23:33 +0000

Absurdity. The dean is clearly responding to FIRE’s Red List label. Agree with Daisy in that by enforcing such a harsh punishment for these shirts, Tufts is trivializing sexual assault and rape. If anything, the tanks promote indecent exposure, which has been immortalized at a newly ‘Cac school in upstate New York. Tufts: Not smart.

By: Daisy Alioto

Daisy Alioto — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:49:26 +0000

I think that if the gender roles had been reversed, and the shirts somehow suggestive of the female anatomy, that this would be a non-issue–in fact it may be an applauded t-shirt design in coordination with a variety of normalized campus initiatives championing female empowerment and sexuality. This raises questions as to whether there is a double standard in place In-The Cac. Although men are often seen as sexual aggressors and the perpetrators of rape-culture, do women not have the ability to be sexually aggressive to an offensive extent? Is any implied statement of male sexual aggression automatically an infringement on female space, especially when the statement is non-verbalized? One immediately calls to mind the Yale Title IX case, in which verbalized sexual statements were made outside of freshmen dorms, to the discomfort of the women present. (To me, the course of action for Yale to take in that case was much more obvious than in this one.) When does one person's free expression enter another person's space, and to what extent should the rights of the individual–either to make a statement or maintain a comfortable personal space–be protected? I can understand if the coach felt that the team acted in a manner unbecoming a NESCAC athlete, harsh but justifiable…I just don't see how the rationalization for punishment can invoke rape culture in this case, without the threat of a highly problematic double standard.