The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/sexism/)
Enough is enough. It is tempting to say that Trump’s reelection signals the crumbling of American democracy as we know it. The truth is that our democracy has been broken for awhile, and will continue to fall apart for a long while after Trump leaves office. Our country has a sickness, and Trump is a mere symptom.
When I first came to Cornell, all bright eyed and hopeful, experiencing sexism was simply an afterthought. Boy was I proven wrong.
I was never so aware of my womanhood (should we call it femininity?) until I came to Cornell. My guy friends remind me that I am a woman when they offer to walk me back home in the dark. This reminder is sort of a friendly one (although the idea that I need protection is not entirely comforting to me — that this protection is available to me, should I want it, is nice). My self-proclaimed feminist friends remind me of my womanhood, too, but they do so largely in a self-victimizing way with which I’m much less comfortable.
Even if Cornell students like to think that our education allows us to transcend bias, there is a culture of casual sexism among young male students.
“I have heard of many unfortunate incidents happening to women on campus while they were walking home by themselves at night, so I always make sure to walk home with a friend or call an Uber… I’ve been taught to always have my guard up, especially at social events,” said Jamie Levy ’23
The problem of sexual harrassment and discrimination in the industry has run rampant for years; Activision is just the flag bearer. Recently, there have been resignations among senior members at Ubisoft as a result of sexual assault allegations and the California fair employment agency has gone after Riot Games for the same issues. Hopefully, the traction of these lawsuits will be enough to cause a major turning point for harassment in the industry.
The last year and a half (or so) have been marked by some uncharacteristic interpersonal drama, mostly in the form of internet harassment and (at least) half in response to columns that I’ve written. My Greek life column was met with the most serious antagonism, but I can’t deny that basically any piece of writing that I’ve put out in the world has resulted in angry emails, internet comments and some uncomfortable conversations. Recently, I’ve resorted to less controversial subjects, sinking my teeth into the heart-warming and uplifting spectrum of opinion writing. A few weeks ago, I read Mary Beard’s essay “The Public Voice of Women,” and there was a special type of familiarity in the pages. Beard details a history of women being told to stop talking.
The 2016 election changed the narrative of “who mattered” in terms of voter turnout, Schaffner said.
I already know how this will go. I’m standing up to deliver a speech in front of an organization’s executive board, my name adorning the title of president, but my face screaming something else to the panel that eyes me with raised eyebrows. I’m petitioning a policy yet again — I’m angry, I’m invigorated, I’m explosive. I get a few eye rolls. Someone clears their throat.
To the Editor:
Over the past few weeks, several of our fellow Ivy League athletics teams made headlines for engaging in some appalling actions. The Harvard Men’s Soccer and Men’s Cross Country teams both created spreadsheets to assess the physical attractiveness and sexual appeal of their female student-athlete counterparts and freshmen recruits. These “scouting reports” contained degrading, sexually explicit language about these women, many of whom were their friends. At Columbia, the Men’s Wrestling team is currently under investigation for racially and sexually explicit group messages. As captains and leaders of varsity athletics teams at Cornell, we are deeply disappointed by these acts.