Best bums, stupidest comments

Sometimes my attention gets drawn to something that distracts me so much that I can’t help but stop work and write about it.

Apparently, there’s a “Best Bums” contest underway at Cambridge University. You can see photos of the entrants here, on the site of the online student newspaper that’s organising the contest. (I think my vote goes to “Bella from Queens’ reading Natsci”, but young Amber is the one most deserving of a sound spanking, being pictured on her college’s lawn holding a “Please keep off the grass” sign ).

But here’s the annoying bit:

Lauren Steele, Women’s Officer at Cambridge University Students’ Union, condemned the event’s organisers as “irresponsible” and “immature”, demanding the pictures be taken down. In a joint statement with Anija Dokter, of Cambridge Feminist Society, Steele said: “This is an example of immature, blind and irresponsible behaviour on the part of The Tab editors.

“I sincerely hope they will take responsibility for the harm caused, not only to the women depicted but also to the broader community, for reinforcing sexism and exclusion. The Tab should immediately remove the photos, publish an apology and mandate that all future publications cannot include the misuse and appropriation of women’s and other minorities’ bodies.”

Anyone spot the flaw in their argument? There are ten entrants in the competition: five women, and five from that other well-known minority group: men! How on earth people like this are allowed to hijack the term ‘feminist’ to promote their own narrow view of the world, in which women are denied the right to make their own choices in life and to embrace their own sexuality, is quite beyond me.

Oh, sorry, that’s me being a sexist b*stard, picking on a disadvantaged group: these poor women at the country’s top university are clear not intelligent enough, or sufficiently able to withstand the peer pressure imposed on them by an inherently hostile society, to realise that they are victims. How fortunate it is that they have such eloquent representatives to speak out on their behalf and protect them. Honestly…

And by the way, Ms Steele & Ms Dokter: using the word “blind” as a derogatory term? I think the implied insult to those with sight difficulties is far more harmful than anything the participants in this contest might have done. Time for you both to resign?