So, it's the November Poetry Slam. I'm preparing to fight for my spot in the Grand Slam. Someone I consider a friend does a poem during the open mic. It's called "Let Me Tap That Ass." He says some pretty sexist things in the poem.$ I won't say otherwise, lol. He also brings up an interesting point. He's a worker in the DUC, spends hours cleaning up after us. He's 22-23 and a student at a neighboring school. He noticed that his status at the school automatically disqualifies him from talking to women at WUSTL, who he finds attractive.
In the wake of the poem, a girl retorts against his sexual language and uses her age as the signifier of his deviant advances. (She's 17, which is the Age of Consent here.) The women of WUSTL all stand and applaud the piece...which was kind of...bad... while uniting against the guy who did the initial piece.
Yes, the language he used was aggressive, was sexist, yadayadayadayadaya. Like I said, i won't argue that. I completely agree with complaints against his poem on that turf. I also think his poem showcased a big issue with the general community at WUSTL that will be overlooked because of the other things he said.
So I'll say them.
Classism is very prevalent in our environment. It comes from this sense of entitlement that a lot of the students have. Y'know, the "I worked my ass off in school (even if I didn't), So I deserve a man/woman who is this-that-theother and will make X amount of money and do X amount of things for me!" This sense of entitlement isn't necessarily a bad thing. Classes are a necessary evil. As people accomplish more, their standards should rise. The problem is then those standards lead to 1)a negative assumption about someone who is not in your same class and 2)the belief that higher class equals higher value.
The negative assumptions about the initial poet were that he was an older, uneducated, lecherous man. Although the third quality is contested because of the piece, the first two were far from true. As a worker, people at WUSTL look at him and assume that he automatically has certain qualities about him. Most of the people who had negative experiences with him cited the way he looks at them...all the while dating someone who attends our school who looks at them the exact same way. In fact, looking at the males in our school, I'm surprised that more women don't go for workers. At least they cherish the women more. We hold certain qualities against workers (even when they haven't exhibited them) but not against fellow students.
But hey, they're students. They have more room for improvement.
Now, we would be mad if someone treats us different based on skin tone. Why do we do it off something as trivial as occupation?
What I find just as interesting is the rebuttal argument: "I'm not classist! I always make sure I make friends who work at my school."
If you intentionally seek out certain people to make friends based on their class, you're doing it as a form of charity work. That uses the same assumptions as someone who treats them negatively. They both also have the added bonus of making you feel better about yourself.
Well, that's my two-cents.
(I know that my last few entries have been poorly written and all that...but this is a blog. A lot of these thoughts are incomplete. I just write what I feel and move on with my life.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Labels
- Author's Notes (1)
- Opinions (5)
- Poetry (14)
- Purpose (1)
- Suck Wall (1)
- Video Games (1)
About Me
- AD
- Eh, I'm a simple person, to be honest. Born and raised in St. Louis, Mo (from the west side). I currently attend Washington University in St. Louis, studying English and Legal Studies. I have an uncontrollable mouth and an odd sense of humor, so be warned.
4 comments:
I can see both sides of this post...
as far as the that said 17-yr-old poem, I will admit I stood up and clapped. I could relate to that situation from my own personal experience with another WashU worker I was not fond of. However, my experience was with a [much] older guy and that just rubbed me the wrong way.
at the same time, I've gotten to actually know several WashU workers and they're no different than us--just people, just working, trying to live their lives. I don't intentionally seek to make friends with them, but I get to know them nonetheless. And I get real pissed when certain students turn their nose up at those workers or students who talk to them. I'm shocked at the ignorance as well, like, how you gonna act like you have the right to talk down to them? It boils my blood.
And of course, the rumors start flying, because people don't know how to do nothing but talk...and all types of ridiculous ish comes from that. To some, it would almost discourage you from being a friendly person, because you're so worried what other people will say.
::Kanye Shrug:: Oh well...people gonna have something to say about you either way, so I might as well do what I want to.
Thanx for posting this. Much needed.
♥ Shay
So...I definitely didn't stand up and clap for said response poem, and to me, it definitely didn't deserve the score that it got, though the scores don't matter *clearly they do, but that's for another post* That being said, I also was quite offended by the original poem. (While I concurrently found it hilarious--I have enough of a sense of humor that I can do both)
Furthermore, I consider the guy in this situation to be a friend of mine, and I along with another female friend of ours, pulled him to the side one day and let him have it. Instead of being indirect and passive-agressive as most girls who were offended by his poem, she and I took the time to explain to him the damage, if I may, wreaked by his performance.
So, during this little sit-down, we basically told him that he needs to be aware of his audience. This guy is really friendly and likes to talk to girls while he's working, and based on the location of the slam, the diverse population of the audience, and his own status at the university, he could have gotten himself in some serious trouble if he tried to hold a conversation with some girl whom he had offended.
Unfortunately, Gerald, while all that you said is true about people's sense of entitlement and negative assumptions, the truth remains that our poet should have been more thoughtful in making the choice to present that particular poem for this simple practical purpose: had any girl there been offended, and he had tried to converse with her some time since then, she could have him fired from his job. We all know that fraternization between students and staff are discouraged and the chump change in some of these girls' daddies' pockets is worth way more than saving the job a wage-paid employee. That's a truth that is upsetting, and arguably wrong, but truth nonetheless.
Being both offended by his poem and upset by the overreaction of some other people, the key to my approach was to change what I could, accept what I couldn't, and understand the difference. Despite being offended by the poem, I realized the larger issue at hand. While I believe in the power of my own words, I know that nothing I say can change the culture of our campus in the area of student-staff relations, but I do know that because this guy respects me and considers me to be a friend, he listened to what I had to say. He agreed that there was the possiblity the he could get fired just for spitting a poem, and he also admitted that my point, worthy of consideration, was one that he hadn't considered himself.
And now, while we still have the same issues that we had in November and long before then, I have contributed to the cause by provoking critical thought in the mind of someone else such that even if things never change on a macro level, people who are discriminately affected by such injustices have an opportunity to protect themselves and further combat on a micro level, which honestly, is all we can ask for. But it is something that should be demanded.
Lol, like I said, i definitely thought he said some very offensive things in his piece. I'm not defending the piece, although I thought it did some interesting things.
Although I do find it interesting that a WashU poet did a significantly more inflammatory and offensive poem about women in the December slam and was encouraged by the same women who ostracized the worker. If people demand that the worker be conscious of his audience, then I think the people should demand the same of the student. Instead, they laughed.
I think it actually proves that he knew his audience, if he got the positive reaction that he wanted, even with a more vividly degrading piece. And yet, what can you do? People react to how they feel and if they don't feel threatened, they won't act threatened, even if they know based on reason that they should...And individuals need to be aware of the effects on others to the the extent that it in turn affects said individual. Again, not a pretty truth, but one nonetheless. But I definitely agree that people shouldn't have double standards. Because double standards perpetuate injustice and ignorance
Post a Comment