Well, this is taking a diary to the next level.
A recent straight-identifying female graduate of Duke University spent her senior year doing not only her actual thesis, but another, more “private” one in PowerPoint format, entitled “An Education Beyond the Classroom: Excelling in the Realm of Horizontal Academia.” Yes, dear readers, you read that correctly. This young woman made a PowerPoint presentation about sex. More specifically, about every male student she had had sex with during her time at Duke.
Each young man was rated by their physical attractiveness, penis size, talent, creativity, aggressiveness, entertainment, athletic ability, and “bonus” factors, such as “the presence of professional surfing skills.”
How do I know this?
Well, firstly, it was posted on Jezebel along with an interesting commentary. But before that happened, the PowerPoint went viral. The author says that she only meant for it to be seen by three of her close friends, but her ladies ended up sending it to others, who sent it to more people, and so on and so forth, until …
… it was all over the internet and Duke fraternity listserves. She is quoted as saying:
I regret it with all my heart. I would never intentionally hurt the people that are mentioned on that.
Well, of course not. But she still made the presentation and sent it to people over the internet. And she was still writing potentially hurtful things about the individuals she had sexual relationships with, using their real names.
However, don’t fear: the female student is dealing with the unwanted fame and rigors of grief and regret quiet well. The Dean of Students apparently called the author of the list to “see how she was doing.” And, get this … a HarperCollins publisher has gone to Jezebel attempting to get the author’s contact info … why? Because they want her to write a book as the “female Tucker Max.”
I’m not going to lie, this girl is clearly very smart, funny, and introspective. However, I have to ask: is this only being considered okay and not-so-awful by the general public because the author is female? What if the author was a male, and all of the “victims” on the list were female?
If one of the frat boys in her PowerPoint presentation were to have made it, I would bet that the reaction would be much, much different. He would not be offered book deals. The Dean would not be calling to “check up” on him. In fact, he would probably be publicly scrutinized and have his integrity called into question. I’d even go as far as to say that the people who were written about would press charges against him for defamation and sexual harrassment.
But that’s just me (and you know how I feel about the internet). What do you guys think?
I feel like she’s just copying Chelsea Handler, who already put out a book called “My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands.”
I definitely agree. If it was a guy doing this he would be called a pig for exploiting women and judging them on their appearance. He would probably be called an anti-woman macho man.
It is sad (in my own conservative mind) that people think it is so Ok and normal to have sex with so many people that they can write a book about it. I mean yes, sex is great and what not, but it should not be so freely done. There have been studies that show that having a lot of partners negatively affects peoples’ ability to form meaningful relationships down the line; some chemical thing that goes on in the body ( and I am sure there is a counter study just like with everything else in the world). So no, I do not think that it is perfectly normal for people to have sex whenever just because they have the urge. No such thing as safe sex.
I don’t think I have a conservative mind at all and I find this in poor taste as well. And yes and double standard does exist.
I think there’s a difference between being okay with sleeping with lots of people, and being okay with sharing the details of it. Two separate issues.
Personally, I don’t care what people do with their own bodies. This kind of ‘random hookup’ thing doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest, but hey, you all do what you want.
I dunno if this really exemplifies a double standard. Most sources I’ve heard concerning this have been fairly disparaging, and most seem to agree that it’s in incredibly poor taste.
Bobby and I already went back and forth a tad on another post about this, but to refresh, I don’t like to call people sluts and rarely use the term. But I would consider someone who views all of their “conquests” as pieces of meat to be objectified via power point a slut.
If it was a dude a lot of very angry women and self-hating men would be burning the midnight oil trying to think up ways to send him to jail, sue his pants off and/or get his degree revoked. But because it is a woman it is seen as girl power or some such crap.
Point me to a single site that has shown this girl in a positive light. I have yet to find one.
Boring, I take it you’re feeling better?
Much better thank you, oh and my landlady’s son just told me they had to toss her into the looney bin, I mean “send away for some rest”.
At least someone is watching out for her. Can you imagine coming home every day wondering if she was in your bed waiting for you? You’ve got a good story for your grandkids one day. My husband used to be a postman, he has some great stories about lonely housewives!
Who says she sees them as objectified subjects? When she was with them, she probably saw them like anyone else. In hindsight, when writing up a presentation and trying to make it sound pseudo-scientific, she uses the term ‘subject’ as a simple way to avoid identification.
Personally, I’m amused at the concept, and would be if it were a man. I am NOT amused at whoever passed it on and on – at least not without removing the photos and other identifying details.
It makes me curious as to her major.
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At least Tucker Max didn’t use real names or PICTURES ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I hope this asshole does get sued. “Oooh I’d never INTENTIONALLY hurt the people in this list.” Yeah, and drunk drivers never intentionally run over people. But they did get drunk and get in the car. Except they didn’t spend all of senior year carefully preparing to get drunk and get in the car and plotting routes where the most people would be standing. Just sickening.
I quite like that comparison, actually.
And for what, exactly, does she deserve to be sued? Talking about people she’s screwed? That would set a precedent to be followed by suing most of the population.
Or is it just if it goes out to x people? Or if it’s written down?
This girl was a little more thorough about it, but she didn’t tell anything that most other college girls don’t.
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For one, she didn’t pass this on to a gazillion people. Two, I think I read. that’s hardly setting out for massive hurt. It is the others who passed it on who are responsible for it getting out.
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I still disagree with the idea of the girl as a calculating dehumanizing plotting temptress who sought out ‘subjects’ for her research.
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You or I could decide to write a little report for some friends about our dating histories. And then we could do it up in pseudoscientific language like a research project. That would make no implications as to the way we treated the people when we were active with them.
I have not read her “report” yet but as long as its truthfull I see no problem with it. I don’t think it was a nice thing to set out and do but at the same time it was not wrong for her to evaluate people she has laid. Both sexes engage in this sort of evaluation all the time. What is her crime?
Their have been video talk with lawyers about if she could be sued. The first they said is slander, but if all the athletes said the info was true the next would be invasion of privacy. Emotional Distress if any of the names low on the list start getting called on from other males(or female) as the one that is crappy at sex. Like I’ve said, being bad in bed is not a crime as long as people want to improve.
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Reports are the she apologized to each guy and most are not all that upset with her. I still think if she does write a book this story will continue to linger because everyone will know it was a bout the athletes at duke. The barrier of identity protection has long been broken even if she/publishing company changes the names.
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I just hope younger teenage girls do not see this as a way to get book deals and or fame. Many feminist sites list Karen Owen as heroic and I would agree if…. she had purposely released the list without names and pictures.