Reading Lara Levi's "Talent Shows," published in the Daily Sept. 25, we were struck by how the author reduced our evaluations of young women to their proficiency in oral sex. Levi seems to equate women's self-worth with their ability to please men by mastering the blowjob. Oral sex can be a pleasurable activity for both men and women, but saying that oral sex is a woman's "greatest soliloquy" is taking it a bit too far.
A woman should not judge herself as mediocre based on her ability to please a man sexually. Rather, sexual relations should be reciprocal interactions with both partners equally focused on each other's pleasure. Levi's representation of ideal oral sex centers on male satisfaction, perpetuating the current gender hierarchy.
Sadly, men and women are still not on equal levels in our society, in large part because of traditional gender roles. Currently, men hold a great deal more power based solely on their gender - something over which they have no control.
Although historically, men have had a higher status than women, we were under the impression that we, as a society, now disapprove of that antiquated power structure. We thought the goal was to achieve gender equality and to elevate the status of women. We were disappointed to find a fellow alumni of Professor Ostrander's "Sex and Gender in Society" class referring to a man's genitals as "his manliness, his authority" - in the Tufts Daily no less.
Gender roles are social constructs which our culture prescribes to men and women. However, it is our decision to accept these roles or reject them. We are active creators of culture and social norms. It is only in active rejection of the devalued status of women that we can ever hope to find gender equality.
Levi's article promotes the devalued status of women by focusing solely on how women can provide pleasure for men and fulfill the stereotypical caretaker role.
We had high hopes for Levi's article when she asserted that the "tongue is the strongest muscle in [a woman's] body" and is a "powerful asset."
Unfortunately, rather than explain how a woman could use language as her greatest form of agency, she mentioned only the tongue's use as a tool with which to pleasure men. Levi could have seized this opportunity to encourage women to take an active role in voicing their need for mutual pleasure and attention while performing oral sex.
Regrettably, even the end of Levi's article seems to focus on one-sided sexual relations. In a distinctly ladies-should-know-their-place tone of voice, Levi reminds women to be "conversational and polite" and "check up on him" afterwards. What about him checking up on you?
She continues this narrow representation of the ideal woman by suggesting that the reader remind her "booty call" that she is the perfect sexual partner because she is "working so hard to make him happy."
Bringing sex out into the open is a wonderful tool and can help resolve many issues, but one must be careful not to blatantly glorify the current gender hierarchy. Oral sex provides potential pleasure for both partners, but Levi's article failed to take into account mutual pleasure and satisfaction. While witty and well written, a men's magazine would be a better outlet for this sort of disempowering article than the Tufts Daily.
