May 11, 2016

"Safe spaces! Now!" chant Harvard women, protesting Harvard's rejection of single-sex clubs (which was, of course, intended to benefit women).



Boston.com reports:
The protests came just days after the Harvard administration set new policies that would ban members of single-sex social groups from holding leadership positions and from being nominated for scholarship awards. The restrictions, which would apply to next year’s freshmen, were announced after months of pressure on the exclusive all-male final clubs to accept female members.
By the way, I find this chant — "What do we want? Safe spaces! When do we want them? Now!" — a bit hate speech-y. They're saying — if I understand this correctly — we need to be able to exclude all men in order to be safe — men as a group threaten us. And isn't it weird — in a milieu where it's  unacceptable for a woman to voice fears that she is unsafe when a physically male person uses the women's bathroom and locker room — that women in groups march about shouting that they are unsafe if a man is in their social club?

39 comments:

walter said...

Marching around in public in numbers feels safer to them than the prospect of some guy intruding into special conversations with "mansplaining".
But yeah..this is Social Justice NIMBY.

Chanie said...

Presumably males identifying as females would be permitted in the female-only clubs.... but, yes, it's all weird these days, isn't it.

Bob Ellison said...

In that brief video, they seem to be marching north on Harvard Yard, toward the Science Center. The Science Center building was stupidly designed in the form of a Polaroid Land camera, because Polaroid was actually a thing back then, and could even infect places like Harvard, with money. Go figure.

rehajm said...

I don't really know what they want despite their answer to their question.

Brando said...

Try picturing white students claiming they need to exclude blacks to be "safe" and then explain why this is totally different.

traditionalguy said...

Fun and games on campus. It is just today's version of how many coeds can be fit into a telephone booth... and get publicity.

Yes, you exist. And it's all some man's fault who ejaculated in a woman and then went away. I cry for you Harvardtina.

RMc said...

Men don't need all-male spaces, but women do need all-female spaces. There is no contradiction.

rehajm said...

Random, irrelevant observation: Pictures of men in Flavio Cuervo's life, according to the last year of her Twitter feed: The Pope, Johnny Weir, Obama, Marco Rubio (mocking his intelligence in a Valentine's card), the dean's husband, some guy in front of a rainbow backdrop.

Eleanor said...

The main advantage to attending Harvard is not the education you get. You can learn as much at the local state university. It's the social connections you make. Women at Harvard haven't created the elaborate network Harvard men have been enjoying for centuries. But women have always had access to the men's network. In the past we just married one of the guys.

Robert J. said...

"(which was, of course, intended to benefit women)"

False. It was intended (by the radical leftist dean Khurana, who pushed it through) to punish groups of white men he disapproves of.

rhhardin said...

physically male person

Man, it's called.

robother said...

"Hate speech," like hate crime, has nothing to do with neutrality (cruel or not). These mores or laws are only enforced in the context of the Left's war on Western middle class culture: Black over White, Women over Men, LBGTQ over Straight, Muslim over Christian, etc.

Equal protection of the law is such a Capitalist/White/Male thing.

Gahrie said...

Feminism, thy name is hypocrisy...

TrespassersW said...

Oh, good one! For a second there I thought you were seriously expecting SJWs to exhibit consistency.

khesanh0802 said...

@Bob 100% accurate statement. I am amazed (well maybe not) that Faust fell for it. She "garnered" a lot of respect when she reintroduced ROTC to the Yard. If she had spoken with one of the marketing types at HBS she might have held off. The real- as opposed to the Dean's -issue is sexual assault on campus. As I noted a couple of days ago ,the biggest sexual assault issue is in the Harvard dorms. I contacted the WSJ reporter who did a story on the women's clubs about that issue. She responded that the administration had told her that they "would have a plan worked out before the end of the academic year" (to paraphrase). This once again confirmed my, and your, opinion that at the very least the Club business deserves Ann's BS tag.

khesanh0802 said...

@Eleanor I had that thought last night. What are all those nice Wellesley and Wheaton girls going to do after Harvard has emasculated their potential mates?

wildswan said...

The last argument used by segregationists in the Sixties was that segregation created a better environment for learning for black children, that "a classroom organized around a socially homogenous group of children" had fewer "attention diverting anti-social incidents" caused by differences in "behavioral traits." In short, segregation created a "safe space" for blacks - they said.

[Stell v. Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education, 220 F. Supp. 667 (S.D. Ga. 1963) A motion to intervene on behalf of themselves and their class was made by minor white school children alleging that the separation of Negro and white children in the public schools was not determined solely by race or color but rather upon racial traits of educational significance]

What do we want? Segregation!
What do we call it? Safe Spaces!
When do we want it? Now!

Who supports us? Facebook!
Where will we get it? Harvard!
How are we trending? Backward!! Backward!! Stuck on stupid now!!


Vet66 said...

I thought the women's restroom was a social club. Go figure.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

The Ivy League is populated by the downtrodden, outcast, defenseless, wretched refuse of our land, seemingly. We should send CARE packages.

Michael K said...

It's interesting to see the deterioration of elite educational institutions. My own college, USC, still has a good football team but I have lost interest in the rest of it. I would not send my kids there now. The medical school is still good but not as good at teaching medicine as when I went there.

A couple of weeks ago they cancelled an important event for game designers, because no women were on the program.

What a cool, possibly life-changing event for the students at USC. It would be a shame if people’s feelings got in the way….

Well, just four hours prior to the event, the whole thing was cancelled. And the reason given was it had to be shut down because of the all-male panel — as explained on the Facebook page of the University of Southern California Interactive Media & Games Division.


This is not my thing but game design is a big deal for the programmer and computer science field. It became a huge deal the last couple of years because women have been invading activities mostly favored by men and trying to take over.

Science fiction writing, also not my thing, is another example.

"We smacked the Sad Puppies with a rolled-up newspaper," said a woman on the shuttle bus between hotels at WorldCon in Spokane, Wash., on Sunday night. "It's the only way to teach them."

The presentation for the 2015 Hugo Awards had ended an hour earlier, and this was the mood in public areas at the convention: ebullient, relieved and more than a little smug. 2015 was the year science-fiction fandom's most prestigious award was dominated by a voting bloc calling themselves the Sad Puppies, and a more extreme offshoot, the Rabid Puppies. The Puppies claim the Hugos have been taken over by affirmative-action-driven voters pushing a diversity agenda by nominating women and non-white writers, regardless of the quality of their work. For 2015, they organized their own corrective slates, consisting largely of conservative, straight white males — including themselves.


It doesn't seem to matter who writes better games or plays them, and who writers better Sci-Fi stories, or reads them.

Mens clubs are just collateral damage.

Sebastian said...

"I find this chant. . . a bit hate speech-y." Well, that's very nice of you. Now you tell them and teach them. Get out there and instruct them on the real meaning of "feminism," so-called.

"And isn't it weird — in a milieu where it's unacceptable for a woman to voice fears that she is unsafe when a physically male person uses the women's bathroom and locker room — that women in groups march about shouting that they are unsafe if a man is in their social club?" Isn't it weird? I'm amazed! Why-oh-why? That Althouse shtick again. Faux surprise, right? I mean, you do understand the situational quality of Prog arguments. There's no real inconsistency: in any situation, power must be used on behalf of the relevant underprivileged group, either to break down any traditional norms or provide special benefits. If it's men vs. women at Harvard, the Prog move is to stiff the men while protecting the women (admin still needs to catch up and see the light). If it's trannies vs. cons and women in NC, girls and cons and custom lose. Girl safety is a small price to pay, and beating cons + custom is just collecting scalps in the culture war.

Bill Peschel said...

Meanwhile, Harvard has my son (who had a great PSAT) on their mailing list. We've received solicitation letters and a lookbook promising all kinds of great benefits if he "chose" to go there.

Then I read in "Crazy U" that a third of Harvard's admissions go to legacies and a third to fill various slots (black, Indian, Chinese, transgendered football players, etc), leaving a third for people like my white, male son.

"Crazy U" also pointed out that the Ivies promote themselves in order to boost the number of applications so that they would look better on the U.S. News and Princeton Review rankings.

So to sum up, my son could be accepted and be thrust into the SJW weirdness that is Harvard today, or be denied and help them beat #1 Princeton in next year's rankings.

I don't think my son will be applying to Harvard.

Otto said...

" a bit hate speechy" Ann is it's ok to hate injustice, hate war, hate slavery, hate hitler, hate bush, hate the confederate flag, etc. Oh what a tangle web we weave.

SeanF said...

Althouse: And isn't it weird — in a milieu where it's unacceptable for a woman to voice fears that she is unsafe when a physically male person uses the women's bathroom and locker room — that women in groups march about shouting that they are unsafe if a man is in their social club?

The fact that "it's unacceptable for a woman to voice fears that she is unsafe when a physically male person uses the women's bathroom and locker room" is weird all by itself.

Known Unknown said...

My standard response is thus:

"The only true safe space is in a casket."

mccullough said...

Rich kids are whiners

Captain Curt said...

I hope that someone was playing Steely Dan's "Pretzel Logic" for the demonstration. (Yes I know that the actual lyrics have nothing to do with this, but the title is so appropriate!)

Sam L. said...

Nobody EVER expected feminists to be logical or reasonable.

hombre said...

Let 'em join the men's groups and adjust the initiation rites accordingly, I say. Lol.

n.n said...

Planned Parenthood will offer them a safe, private space in exchange for sacrificing and cannibalizing their first-born child and future unwanted or inconvenient children.

Establishing a pro-choice religion that is incompatible with natural imperatives, denigrates individual dignity, and debases human life has consequences.

JAORE said...

Can I assume there will be no rest rooms in the safe spaces?

sean said...

Women who join these clubs are pretty conservative; I'd assume that they were endeavoring to hoist the administration on its own petard. It seems to have worked here, as numerous conservatives attack them.

mikee said...

May I refer our blog host to the recent Emory University report about open communications (i.e., free speech) wherein the non-punishment of sidewalk chalkers promoting Trump was compared explicitly with the precedent of non-punishment for anti-Israeli protests? Some places still have the ability to use logic, rational arguments, and facts to determine the effects of written speech policies, rather than situational ethics of dubious legitimacy. And reading between the lines, the report's tone implies, "Stop whining and get back to class, before we allow further non-PC speech, you sissy progs."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/05/10/emory-university-open-expression-committee-opinion-on-trump-chalkings-mein-trumpf-poster-and-other-matters/

Harvard could learn a thing or two from the little university down in Atlanta.

KellyM said...

"khesanh0802 said...
@Eleanor I had that thought last night. What are all those nice Wellesley and Wheaton girls going to do after Harvard has emasculated their potential mates?"

They'll try slumming at BU or Northeastern, even maybe Emerson. Although MIT is just two stops away on the Red Line....

Mike said...

I'm a little saddened that the male finals club members didn't just show up and just march alongside them or chant in unison.

Nabucco said...

Poster children for the eugenics movement.

jr565 said...

I actually agree with them. They should be allowed to associate with who they want. But these are the same feminists demanding that men give up their safe spaces. So fuck them.

jr565 said...

Brando wrote:
Try picturing white students claiming they need to exclude blacks to be "safe" and then explain why this is totally different.

Try picturing black students calming they need to exclude whites to be safe. That's black lives matter. So, not hard to picture.

jaed said...

And isn't it weird — in a milieu where it's unacceptable for a woman to voice fears that she is unsafe when a physically male person uses the women's bathroom and locker room — that women in groups march about shouting that they are unsafe if a man is in their social club?

Not weird at all, if you reflect that they are not allowed to voice objections to the first problem - the actual problem of safety. It's displacement behavior.