Posted on 02/24/2003 12:01:43 PM PST by MikalM
Ruined Snow Penis Stimulates Debate
When a few members of the Harvard crew team decided to build a snowy representation of the male anatomy on Feb. 11, they never imagined it would be so hard to keep it up.
The 9-foot snow phallus, constructed in Tercentenary Theater, was torn down just hours after its erection.
But its impression still sparked an intense debate, from dining halls to dorm rooms, over the appropriateness of public displays of genitalia.
Even The Economist magazine weighed in on the discussion, offering the destruction of the sculpture as evidence of American prudishness on its usually staid pages.
But women’s groups on campus have led a chorus of complaints against the snow penis, arguing that such a display is demeaning to women.
“It was offensive because it was pornographic,” said Amy E. Keel ’04, who said she and her roommate “dismantled” the giant snow penis.
“As a feminist, pornography is degrading to women and creates a violent atmosphere,” she said.
Keel said that her personal experience as a rape survivor makes this statue even more uncomfortable to observe.
“Men think they have the right to force that on you,” she said. “It’s a logical extension.”
Furthermore, Keel claims that she and her roommate were verbally and physically harassed by a group of roughly 25 men when they attempted to tear down the statue with a cardboard tube at 1:30 a.m. the morning after it was built.
“A few people came out and crowded me with their bodies and one person shoved me away from the penis,” she said. “It was gendered violence, because [their comments] were said in the context of our gender and accompanied by aggressive actions toward us.”
Though Keel assumed some of her harassers were among the creators of the statue, she said she could not identify any of the men.
And crew team captain Michael J. Skey ’04 denies that he or any of the other makers of the statue had been involved in the incident. According to Spey, the group left the Yard over three hours before Keel and her roommate tried to take down the snow phallus.
“We cleared out by 10:15 p.m.,” Spey said. “We had morning practice, and if guys are out there that late I’d be pissed. That’s why we did it so early.”
But regardless of the alleged circumstances surrounding the snow penis’ downfall, a controversy over the meaning of the statue lingers.
Women’s Studies Lecturer Diane L. Rosenfeld, who teaches Women, Violence and the Law this semester, said that the implications of the snow phallus go beyond the legitimacy of the statue’s presence.
“The ice sculpture was erected in a public space, one that should be free from menacing reminders of women’s sexual vulnerability,” Rosenfeld wrote in an e-mail yesterday.
She said the snow penis follows a long line of public phallic symbols, including the Washington Monument and missiles.
“Women do not need to be reminded of the power of the symbol of the male genitalia,” Rosenfeld said. “My guess is that they are constantly reminded of it in daily messages.”
A discussion about feminist perspectives on the statue, sponsored by the Radcliffe Union of Students, will take place Tuesday night in the Adams House small dining room.
But the makers of the statue said they intended to build the snow penis as a simple joke.
Skey said he came up with the idea to allow a few members of the team to “hang out together” outside of practice.
“We built it for fun, instead of building a snowman,” he said. “We built it specifically as a junior high prank.”
Skey said he never expected such national attention—or such heated opposition.
“Once it turned around into a huge sexism debate, it was like a giant keg of gunpowder waiting for a spark,” Skey said.
In spite of Skey’s intentions, Keel said she was offended by the joke.
“I have a right to speak out against the joke,” Keel said. “I criticize the motives of putting it up, but since they did, it is within my rights to put it down. It goes both ways.”
Skey said he agreed Keel did not do anything wrong by knocking down the statue.
“If people found it obscene, they had a right to rip it down,” he said. “That’s perfectly true.”
But Skey said he thinks that at a school like Harvard, jokes can be blown out of proportion.
“Smart kids overanalyze things,” he said.
—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.
It appeared we had some type of massacre in our front yard...... "bloody" snow was running down the yard........ I never tried that again.........
! . ! . !
Whew!
Ten Thousand Men of Harvard
Nine Thousand are Queer
Eight Hunder are a-sexual
The Rest Won't Last a Year.
Letting a prank by a few drunken frat boys prompt grumblings about "decadent Greece and Rome" sounds like someone who feels threatened. Believe me, college kids have been pulling things like this for CENTURIES; it's really not the end of civilization. The Classical civilizations' fall had a lot more to do with overextended empires and military supply lines than it did with erect weenies on the furniture.
And BTW, I'm not a "conservative." If you take me for one, it's probably because most of the people who tend to indulge in the sort of risible public stupidity I enjoy mocking, are left-wingers. Forty years ago, when the uptight, humorless control-freaks that I love to needle were mostly RIGHT-wingers, I probably would have been (erroneously) labeled a "liberal" for pointing out their foibles.
If you take this attitude, as I do, California is actually a pretty nice place to live. I reside in the Bay Area, so you can imagine how much free entertainment I get on a daily basis here.
BTW, cool handle. I wear a badge on my leather jacket that's a replica of the MILITI CHRISTI two-on-a-horse seal.
Maybe they should erect a flacid snow penis next time, then it would be art, not porn.
BOULDER --
If it's any consolation, from a distance they look like socks hanging on a clothesline.
That's the assessment from Karen Ripley, director of cultural programs for the Boulder Public Library.
She is stunned at the outcry over a piece of art that features 21 ceramic . . . ummm . . . men's appendages, which are displayed on a clothesline in the library. It's entitled "Hung out to dry."
"Men find this disturbing, but women find it amusing," Ripley said.
"I think it's rather powerful myself," said Julia Wrapp, a city planner who was attending another function at the library Wednesday night.
The artwork is part of an exhibition sponsored by Safehouse, which assists women and children who are victims of domestic violence. The exhibit, "Art Over Domestic Violence," has been on display at the library gallery since Oct. 19.
Actually, I first heard about the snow-dong incident on Andrew Sullivan's Weblog. Sullivan is a gay conservative who probably saw in the story a chance to both celebrate the male anatomy, and lampoon Harvard PC loons.
Looks to me like she's in wuv....
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