English wk 2 discussion

The Objectification of Woman. Who’s Fault Is it? Santi DeRosa

Are women being objectified by a university that has a responsibility to treat women with equality and not as second class citizens?

I say yes. All you need to do is look at the athletics department to see the way women are treated. What I don’t understand is that in the year 2003, women are still allowing themselves to be used in such a way

In the past week I have read a couple of news articles from the campus newspaper that got me a little perplexed. Maybe it’s the fact that I have a son the age of the female students in the articles. Or, maybe it’s the fact that I have a wife, a sister, a mother and nieces that I respect as people and as women. The articles upset my sense of right and wrong.

Joe Watson wrote the first article, “Risky behavior not policed in univer- sity recruiting” and explains how high school football players that visit the university for the purpose of being recruited are met by coeds, of which, thirty-five of the thirty-seven are females. Is this just a coincidence? No, I don’t think so. It is no coincidence when schools from all over the country use the same practices to recruit high school players. The reporter took an informal survey of 117 Division 1-A football programs nationwide and found many with the same recruiter make-up. Louisiana State has 55 females; Ala- bama leads the way with 100 females. The university advertises every spring for new recruiters. Most come from sororities. The football coaches say they prefer using females because that’s the way the other schools do it and the players coming to campus to be recruited would be uncomfortable if they were greeted by males, because they are used to female recruiters. I think that this is just an excuse to turn a blind eye to a potential problem. Most of the players who come to be recruited are 17 and l8 years old. There have been many reports of under-age drinking at local clubs and parties and sometimes sex according to some senior recruiters. The people interviewed for the article who are in support of the “hostess” program defend it by saying that “the recruiters perform respectable duties during high school recruits’ campus visits.” Does the responsibility of “performing respectable duties” end when they leave the campus for a party? I believe that Becky Stoltz, a fourth year recruiter said it best when interviewed, “It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

The second news article I read was by Megan Rudebeck. The story titled “’Hot’ recruiters draw prospects” seems to be defending the program. Ms. Rudebeck not only talked to the coaches that run the program; she spoke with recruiters and players as well. She almost had me convinced that I might have been over reacting. I started to think that here is a woman writing a story that seems to be in defense of the way the recruiting program works. Maybe I am reacting wrongly. That is until the last line of the story when she quotes Zach Krula, a freshman offensive lineman. Zach says, “We’ve got a

lot of hot girls, we might as well utilize them.” After a few minutes I started to think to myself, why isn’t Ms. Rudebeck insulted by that comment? Is she, as well as the women that are part of the program, so brain-washed with the need to get quality players into the football program that they are willing to overlook the fact that they are being “utilized.”