March 12, 2015

"An all-male Harvard final club is facing criticism over a sexually suggestive party invitation..."

"... that university administrators say raises concerns about 'sexism and bigotry' at the institution," reports The Boston Globe:
Members of the Spee Club canceled a pajama-themed party Saturday at their house on Mount Auburn Street amid backlash over an e-mail and video depicting scantily clad women, according to The Harvard Crimson student newspaper.

The invitation encouraged partiers to “stay the night.”
Scantily clad, eh? Scantily clad is the first language issue ever discussed on this blog, here. I clicked through to The Harvard Crimson:
The drawing, titled “Playbear,” depicted a bear wearing a robe, pants, and hat, with its arm around a woman dressed in tights and a sleeveless top. The email linked to a video that included multiple clips of women wearing underwear and male and female models walking a runway, as well as a clip from the song “Stay the Night.” The video, which was previously public on YouTube, was made private and then removed Thursday evening, after it prompted criticism from students and other social club members.
Somebody emailed me that Boston Globe link. So that means this is the kind of thing I'm supposed to have an opinion about [OR: this was an old reader who remembers my fixation on "scantily clad"]. I'm not going to jump through that hoop. I'm not that kind of girl. I'm just going to tell you about the 3 things I googled as my mind circulated around the prospect of writing this blog post:

1. Final Club. Never heard of it. Doesn't seem to be about studying for finals. I see at Wikipedia that this is a special Harvard term. There are lots of social clubs at Harvard, dating back to a time in the mid-19th century when Harvard banned fraternities. Final Clubs were the "last social club a person could join before graduation.... Years ago Harvard College freshmen could join a freshman club, then a 'waiting club,' and finally a 'final club.'" Wikipedia lists 8 all-male clubs and 5 all-female clubs (including "Isis Club (2000 - no affiliation with the Islamic extremist rebel group of the same name)").  Here's an article from 2014 in The Atlantic: "Still White, Still Male: The Anachronism of Harvard's Final Clubs."

2. Playbear. Is this a character I'm supposed to be familiar with? I picture the Owsley acid bear often seen connection with The Grateful Dead, but Google seems to be pointing me to a variation on the Playboy rabbit logo. I feel simultaneously old and young, because back in the days when I went to college — not Harvard, but the University of Michigan — it was the era of the Grateful Dead and LSD. Playboy was a relic of the previous generation (notably, my father, who was a longtime subscriber and unabashed fan). To think that Playboy has currency among young people today, that is just — as we hippies used to say — so weird. But what I love most about my Google search on "playbear" is that among the first few hits was the play "The Bear" by Anton Chekhov. ("You're a boor! A coarse bear! A Bourbon! A monster!")

3. "Stay the Night." This is a song sung by an empowered-looking woman with lyrics that seem to be about the situation in which sex was already had and the question is whether there's going to be a more substantial relationship. That is, staying the night isn't like "Let's Spend the Night Together" — in which The Rolling Stones were inviting the woman to have sex. The singer, Hayley Williams, is asking "Are you gonna stay the night?/Doesn't mean we're bound for life." So, staying the night raises the prospect of being bound for life, that is, married. So it seems to be along the lines of the great old Prince song "Let's Pretend We're Married" ("Ooh, little darlin' if you're free for a couple of hours/If you ain't busy for the next 7 years... Ooh-we-sha-sha-coo-coo-yeah/All the hippies sing together....").

60 comments:

bwebster said...

Reading the article, my first thought was, "I can only imagine what Camilla Paglia would have to say about this [i.e., the university's reaction]." Take that for what it's worth.

Known Unknown said...

This Is What Rape Culture Looks Like.

Also, Chicago sang "Stay the Night" back in their 80s heyday.

Wince said...

What's old is new. Back when Playboy was popular, the Rolling Stones appeared on Ed Sullivan's "really-big shuuu" and did their hit...

"Let's Spend Some Time Together"

Maybe the Harvard Final Club should have just changed their wording?

(Enjoy the Jagger eye-rolls.)

Ann Althouse said...

Wikipedia disambiguation on the title "Stay the Night":

"Stay The Night" may refer to:

"Stay the Night" (Alcazar song)
"Stay the Night" (Benjamin Orr song)
"Stay the Night" (Billy Ocean song), also covered by La Toya Jackson
"Stay the Night" (Chicago song)
"Stay the Night" (Ghosts song)
"Stay the Night" (IMx song)
"Stay the Night" (James Blunt song)
"Stay the Night" (Millionaires song)
"Stay the Night" (Zedd song) featuring Hayley Williams
"Stay the Night", a song by 98 Degrees from Revelation
"Stay the Night", a song by Brian McKnight from Brian McKnight
"Stay the Night", a song by Mariah Carey from The Emancipation of Mimi
Stay The Night, an album by Jane Olivor and its title song
Stay the Night (film), a 1992 TV film featuring Fred Thompson
"Stay the Night", a song by Green Day from ¡Uno!


LOL. I love that Fred Thompson got into that array.

If I had more of an inclination toward studious random research, I'd try to discern the range of meaning for the phrase and its tendency to mean either let's have sex or let's have a more substantial relationship.

Anyway, I did watch about 4 seconds of the Chicago video EMD linked to, which is just about all the Chicago I can stand. (Though I did once sit through a Chicago performance at the Fillmore East... when they were opening for some group I cared about. I just want points for that.) In that 4 second, a tough-looking female punched a sensitive-seeming man in the jaw and knocked him to the ground.

Laslo Spatula said...

I checked out the "Stay the Night" lyrics and there are no obvious anal sex references. Alas. Then, maybe the anal sex already happened before the beginning of the song narrative. Possible.''

Googling "Hayley Williams anal sex" does bring up the fascinating site literotica.com, where Hayley has her own page of fantasies devoted to her.

While "Hayley Pleasures a Fan" seems enticing, I bet the real find is the story ""Hazy Night with Taylor Swift Ch. 17" because, you know: Taylor Swift. Girl-on-girl.

Scintillating dialog ensues:

"Hayley stared into Taylor's eyes as the blonde whispered to her, "who is Taylor's little freak?"

"I am," she answered.

"Yeah?" Taylor asked.

"Definitely," she responded.

"Say it!"

"I'm Swifty's little freak!" she exclaimed as she felt a tight feeling in her p***y."

I hope I put in the right number of asterisks.

Finally: the song DOES contain a possible reference to a 'Pearl Necklace': I'll leave that for you to explore and decide.


I am Laslo.

rhhardin said...

You want scantily clad women because they're sexier than naked ones.

Ann Althouse said...

Okay, I looked it up on the Fillmore East show listings page. It was February 21 or 22, 1969, and Chicago was the first act. The second act was Buddy Miles Express. The headline act, which is what we came to see, was the Mothers of Invention. Can you imagine how little we cared about seeing Chicago?

Ann Althouse said...

And frankly how little I care about Harvard's problem with its clubs.

Ann Althouse said...

Here, listen to Buddy Miles Express. Amusing comment at that link: "This guy needs to team up with a good guitarist. That would be amazing!"

Ann Althouse said...

My point about scantily clad is that neither word seems capable of appearing anywhere without the other. It's like they're married.

Fernandinande said...

university administrators say raises concerns about 'sexism and bigotry' at the institution,"

Of course they say that. "University administrators" say that about anything that doesn't fit The Official University Administrators' Narrative.

MadisonMan said...

What a dreary joyless place college is turning into.

Laslo Spatula said...

"My point about scantily clad is that neither word seems capable of appearing anywhere without the other. It's like they're married."

I think your point is ironclad.

I am Laslo.

madAsHell said...

This Is What Rape Culture Looks Like.

"You wanna spend the night together" was determined to be superior vs. the strong-arm approach.
Thank you, Mr. Jagger.

MadisonMan said...

Scant is used in weather by people who tire of the word trace in reference to precipitation. But I've never heard It will scantily rain. No, it's there will be scant amounts of rain.

Clad is used all the time. Clad in iron. Clad in plaid. So Clad is clearly the male in the scantily clad relationship. He goes out and does what he wants. Sometimes he allows his partner scantily to come along for the ride.

Patrick said...

"Clad" may be married to "scantily," but it seems to be an open marriage. Clad steps out more often than scantily.

virgil xenophon said...

We've been living in a neo-prohibitionist age for quite some time now. No surprise here..

Ann Althouse said...

"Scant is used in weather by people who tire of the word trace in reference to precipitation. But I've never heard It will scantily rain. No, it's there will be scant amounts of rain."

You've got to get to an adjective to mobilize the adverb "scantily." So, to describe rain, go with "rainy." It's going to be scantily rainy today.

Think adjective if you want to make adverbs happen.

Sorry. I tend to be scantily adjectival.

carrie said...

This is what the hookup culture looks like. I was reminded of this article about the attempt to establish an abstinence club at Harvard several years ago--I wonder if this club still exists. Not all diversity is embraced at Harvard. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/magazine/30Chastity-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Ann Althouse said...

"The adverb is not your friend. Adverbs … are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They’re the ones that usually end in -ly. Adverbs, like the passive voice, seem to have been created with the timid writer in mind. … With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across. Consider the sentence He closed the door firmly. It’s by no means a terrible sentence (at least it’s got an active verb going for it), but ask yourself if firmly really has to be there. You can argue that it expresses a degree of difference between He closed the door and He slammed the door, and you’ll get no argument from me … but what about context? What about all the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before He closed the door firmly? Shouldn’t this tell us how he closed the door? And if the foregoing prose does tell us, isn’t firmly an extra word? Isn’t it redundant?"

Ann Althouse said...

That quote wasn't what I was looking for. It was something I read recently, some famous writer was pushed into reading some young person's story and all he could say, other than that he basically normally declines to comment on the writing of newcomers, was: You've got to stop using all those adjectives.

Ann Althouse said...

Oh, here it is! From Roald Dahl.

Ann Althouse said...

Actually, I think it was something else.

Maybe all decent writers give that obvious advice to those who bother them for advice.

Obvious.

Decent.

It's horrible to start monitoring yourself for adjectives.

Horrible.

Don't do that.

rhhardin said...

With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across.

Talk about timid writers.

Fen said...

My PR advice to Harvard is to draft the following response:

Dear Social Justice Warriors

Go fuck yourself

Regards
Harvard

Graham Powell said...

I love that Rolling Stones video. Pre-hippie 60s fashion. Charlie Watts looks like he's auditioning for Our Man Flint.

Birches said...

This thread is much more amusing than the Harvard pearl clutching.

rhhardin said...

Tom Swiftys depend on adverbs.

traditionalguy said...

I love advice to "eschew" things, but avoid using it.

ken in tx said...

How about Sky Clad? It means naked in Wiccan ceremonies.

rhhardin said...

They were well dressed, he said habitually.

rhhardin said...

Microkinis let you be scantily unclad.

They give the appearance of clothing, so that you don't get the naked female effect, but let you know what you should be imagining.

Charlie said...

Apparently all sex is rape now on campus. Also, everyone should apologize, for everything.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

"We hope to work with the female final clubs and other women on campus to provide some sort of open forum for them to voice their concerns so we can continue to make our space a comfortable, fun environment."

The offered redress is to create a forum for club members to chat up women. Well played, Spee boys.

MadisonMan said...

They were well dressed, he said habitually

No. It should be The nuns were well dressed, he said habitually.

MadisonMan said...

No one would ever say It's going to be scantily rainy today.

Too much exercise of the tongue.

I'm trying to think of a Tom Swifty that uses scantily. Failing.

Laslo Spatula said...

"because, you know: Taylor Swift. Girl-on-girl."

Would someone be disappointed if they were only scantily-tongued?


I am Laslo.

mccullough said...

Hemingway hated adverbs, too. It's always a good exercise to see if you can get a more precise verb or adjective. But the adverbial phrase is pretty indispensable.

mccullough said...

I think the club should host an afternoon delight party.
Keep the bear.

bwebster said...

The headline act, which is what we came to see, was the Mothers of Invention.

In high school (probably fall of 1970), I took my girl friend to see a double concert -- in a remarkably small venue -- of Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention and Country Joe & The Fish. Still have very fond memories of that.

Drago said...

This is the result of Harvards long affiliation with the confederacy.

Not to mention the decades long colonial occupation of Massachusetts by white Christian westerners.

Drago said...

mccullough: "Hemingway hated adverbs, too."

I woke up.

I walked down to the beach.

I fished.

I slept.

Sigivald said...

I first thought of a Stay the Night not posted in the disambiguation list above; the one by The Hundred In The Hands.

I expect I like it better than the one used in the video, too.

damikesc said...

At least SJWs arent prudes.

bgates said...

Talk about timid writers.

If a writer wants to be clear, he or she or a person who identifies with neither pronoun should do himself/herself/that writer's self a favor and not subject his or her or that writer's readers to redundancy.

clint said...

Final Club -- it's a Harvard thing.

Harvard doesn't have dorms, it has houses. Harvard doesn't have TAs, it has TFs. Harvard doesn't give out BAs it gives out ABs. And it doesn't have frats, it has final clubs. (Actually, I always thought it was finals clubs -- like final exams. Shows how much I know.)

This is just the continuing campaign against frats.

And, since I can't walk past a good Tom Swifty without joining in...

"Doff thy cladding," she whispered scantily.

Simon said...

Meh. The college newspaper for another college in town--not mine!--has an ad only today in which it brags about its publication schedule (versus, perhaps, the other colleges' newspapers) which "put[s] out three times a week." Sexual innuendo? In advertising?! The HELL you say!

Simon said...

And as to adverbs--don't worry about adverbs. Most prose sinks because it's laden-down with adjectives, not adverbs; I tell students to take their first draft, delete every adjective in it, and then put back only those which do real work. Adverbs can create clutter, but they aren't so deadly for concise, vigorous prose* as the passive voice or so apt to fog things up as adjectives.

* See? Two adjectives doing work.

Sebastian said...

Slapping period pads all over town: good.

Sexually suggestive private club party invitation: bad.

the wolf said...

Thirty years ago would anyone have imagined what hapless prudes leftists would be in the future?

MadisonMan said...

The kitchen drain needs to be fixed, he said succintly.

MadisonMan said...

My all-time favorite: "This is where Elmer Fudd is buried", Tom quipped.

harpoon223 said...

"It didn't hurt a bit," said Captain Hook offhandedly.

rhhardin said...

The best Tom Swifty was generated automatically by a computer searching a thesaurus

Prototype:

Hit me with your X, she said Y

where Y is an adverb made from a synomym of X.

The randomly generated one was, "Hit me with your midpoint, she said meanly."

damikesc said...

Why is it OK to try and shame white males for being white and male?

Would they PREFER white males stop acting like white knights? Because the huge majority of men who defend feminist bullshit are white men.

eddie willers said...

Dustin Hoffman [Sam] and Kevin Spacey [Casey] in the movie Outbreak, 1995

Sam Daniels: Alarmingly high fatality. All localized within a three mile radius. Incubation period: short. Appears contained. Alarmingly. Casey, you didn't put "alarmingly."

Casey Schuler: It's an adverb, Sam. It's a lazy tool of a weak mind.

Kirk Parker said...

"Can you imagine how little we cared about seeing Chicago? "

No, I cannot. Anyone who's musical enjoyment cannot span the distance between Chicago and The Mothers is stunted IMO.

RonF said...

When I build a dipole antenna for my ham radio I use copper-clad steel wire.

RonF said...

I saw FZ and the Mothers in Chicago. Their opening act? Chuck Berry, no less.

MayBee said...

Neo Victorians.