Author's note:
An opinion piece about recent accusations by a University of San Diego student in regard to a male student requesting a photo of "Rush Boobs" from a female student.
You can read the original Breitbart piece HERE
Or watch the video below to hear about the case directly from the accuser herself.
Social Justice Warriors - mutations of just principles
What you see here, is a cultural phenomenon. The juxtapositioning of a word or object as a symbol of one thing - then used in a shocking way to bring understanding and tolerance: but then indescriminately and unexpectedly used conversely as a battering ram - when not used in the exact way advocates demands.
The "N-word" is another example of this practice. That word has power, if we want it to have power. For a while, I was hopeful that it was losing power, as it was being adopted everywhere and becoming commonplace. I believe that by FULL incorporation into the daily lexicon, you can remove the power of these vestiges to our ignorant past. But when a society grants only proprietary usages to these words or items, you not only maintain their ability to hurt - you magnify it.
Social Justice warriors are the societal "resistant genes" that often bring topical mutations far worse than the original, parent topic.
This woman participated in the Free the Nipple demonstrations. I personally like that movement, because like this woman, I believe breasts are just parts. We all have them (mine are getting larger as I age) and I've never understood the big deal. The free the Nipple campaign seems to have the goal of illustrating how goofy it is to only make a woman's nipple "dirty" and pornographic - while all of men's boobs are fine, and all but the nipple of womans' boobs are fine. It's dopey if you think about it. Free the Nipple aims to put the goofiness under a magnifying glass.
Anyway, so this poor sap of a college student is tasked with getting a picture of a boob with letters on them. So he could have gone to the internet and opened Photoshop, and probably got away with it, but instead he figures, "Well who do I know that's trying to make boobs public and not taboo?" And he approaches this girl because he has made a shade of gray miscalculation in her exact position on boobs. He doesn't understand that writing "free the nipple" on boobs is acceptable, but writing greek letters on a boob is rape culture.
To me, just like a boob is a boob, paint is paint. But I'm probably just as dopey as this young fella. They are your boobs - do with them as you like. I'll even go further and say that by objecting to writing whatever you want on a boob, you are furthering the mystification of the breast to the exact place that made nipples "dirty" in the first place. You are saying that your interpretation of breasts are to be used for is the ONLY usage tolerated. That's how we got to this exact place, only back in the day, it was guys like Kellogue making the decisions, not this girl from CA.
Is it rape culture? I'm going to bet that the reason this guy approached this particular girl is because he feels absolutely ZERO sexual response to her. I'm guessing he gets that she is trying to be equal. And if you want to be equal, you have to realize that equal means getting both good and bad opportunities. When men and women are truly equal, neither sex gets to get upset when approached with any request. If a guy asked me for a photo of my "rush boobs", I'd tell him to fuck off - and that would be that. No accusations of rape culture or national news. Just an answer, and we get back to our lives.
Of course, that is just my guess, but after hearing the girl speak (and agreeing with her) that female breasts are parts that deserve equally benign status as male breasts. And since I also believe that integration is the key to acceptance and understanding a topic: I understand what this fella did.
Did he maybe miscalculate? Sure. Did he do anything that was a crime, or dirty, or rape culture or objectification? No way. Is this girl also slightly confused on her own intentions: you betcha.
What a complex labyrinth of social traps and potential devastating instantly globally spread pitfalls we have set-up for our young people. I'm glad I'm old, irrelevant and well on my way to crotchety old man boobs status. I don't think I could navigate today.
Sources:
Article:
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2015/10/18/san-diego-fraternity-faces-heat-demanding-rush-boobs
Video:
http://launch.newsinc.com/share.htmltrackingGroup=91074&siteSection=breitbart_cali&videoId=29818840