Wow. Senior male athletes at Andover get it.

[redqueen]

...
a group of the school’s seniors, led by Tyler Olkowski ’13, wrote an unprecedented, brave, and thorough Letter to the Editor endorsing feminism and calling out some problematic aspects of sports culture on their campus. An excerpt (all emphasis mine):

“For the last few months, the feminist movement has appealed to the entire campus, stirring debate among all. Yet, one demographic above all seems underrepresented and less welcomed: male athletes. Perhaps athletes feel like they cannot bring as much to the discussion. Perhaps it is easier to sweep this issue under the rug. Today, we, as Senior male athletes, think it’s time to speak out.

To us, this is as much an endorsement of feminism as it is a necessary action. Some of us are a part of the current movement on campus. Others are not. But the discussions of gender have caused us to realize our athlete culture has a problem.

Male athlete culture plays a leading role in Andover’s imbalanced hook-up culture, classroom dynamics and even in defining the gender roles of females on campus that younger students emulate and eventually internalize. As we look back on our times on varsity sports here at Andover, it is easy to find highlight reels of our best moments, whether it was a winning goal or touchdown. Despite these athletic feats, our collective character has been tainted by the objectification and sexism that pervade athlete culture.”

If this all seems too good to be true, you might want to sit down before you read on. Because somehow it gets even better, with Tyler and his merry band of newly minted feminist athletes getting specific about the behavior they think needs to change:

In more egregious examples of this problem, teams have turned relationships into games, people into prizes. Athletes have bonded over actions that marginalized and objectified women. Yet, the fault of this doesn’t land on the team’s shoulders (Ed. note: not even partially?), but on the culture as a whole that has structuralized and normalized these destructive behaviors from years past. The blame lies not on one captain or class of Seniors, but on the culture teams inherit from decades of captains and Senior leaders.

This culture may not be our fault, but it is our problem to fix. It is time for Andover’s athletes to find new, constructive ways to bond and develop team camaraderie—not ones based on conquering dances and competitively targeting females, not by prodding teammates to “hook-up” and teasing those who don’t. The definition of “cool” doesn’t have to be a traditionally masculine figure who objectifies their sexual partners or who climbs their respective social ladders through hook-ups.

Awesome, right? I think this really gets at some of the painful ways that fucked up gender dynamics pervade social interactions in schools all over the country, not just boarding schools (and not just in high schools, for that matter). And the solutions proposed embody a pretty thoughtful and unbridled endorsement of feminism, at a time when it seems like it will really make a difference at the school. As laid out by the New York Times, the school is currently engulfed in debate over the position of school president, a position to which only four girls have been elected since 1973 (when the school became c0-ed). The debate was kicked off by this initial Letter to the Editor, signed by a co-ed group which certainly also deserves our props, calling the lack of female school presidents “embarrassing” and decrying the “casual attitude surrounding this issue.” Students taking “the issue of gender lightly, or worse, to ignore it,” the original letter warned, “will only further exacerbate the problem and ignore the proverbial elephant in our collective room.”

...


http://feministing.com/2013/06/14/friday-feminist-fuck-yeah-senior-male-athletes-at-phillips-andover/

Think they might explain the meaning of objectification to the super smart geeks and freethinkig atheists who seem to need remedial classes in understanding women and women's issues?

[mercuryblues]

1. While they are at it

could they 'mansplain' a few things to Fredette, who gets his scientific info from a relationship book written 30 years ago.

[redqueen]

2. LOL, I think men like him are lost causes.

Too far gone to reach, most of them... they'll be written off and ignored like so many racist senior citizens who cause people to simply cringe behind their backs and embarrassingly explain that they just grew up in a different world.

[mercuryblues]

3. +1

[ismnotwasm]

4. Nice!

[redqueen]

5. Gives you hope, doesn't it?

Between this and the incredible response to the petition to stop Creepshots from the young people on tumblr I am feeling downright optimistic

[ismnotwasm]

7. It does

The nature of activism is changing and women entering colleges and work places or areas still male dominated are being exposed to the massive sexism that still exists. And they're pissed. Nice to see the guys figure it out right along side of them.

[Squinch]

6. Kick. I love this.