Controversy over Mr. Wellesley Freshman contest- tell us what you think!
As you probably know, we are in the early rounds of the Mr. Campus Freshman contest right now, as Windsor explained last week. Each of our 24 My Campus branches is hosting a Mr. Campus Freshman contest at their school (e.g., Mr. Harvard Freshman, Mr. JMU Freshman, etc.). The winners from each school's contest will then compete against one another in a couple weeks for the title of Mr. Campus Freshman! It's a fun, entertaining contest based off of the Mr. Harvard Freshman Contest that Windsor launched at Harvard when we ran Harvard's lifestyle and fashion online magazine before starting Her Campus.
However, it seems that this lighthearted contest has generated a lot of controversy over at Wellesley! Wellesley is an all-women's college, so the Her Campus Wellesley team had students nominate guys they know to compete for the title of Mr. Wellesley Freshman and then represent Her Campus Wellesley in the national Mr. Campus Freshman contest amongst all our branches.
But, many women at Wellesley are up in arms over the fact that Her Campus Wellesley is going to be represented by a guy from another school, rather than by a transgender student at this women's college.
We've been receiving TONS of emails from Wellesley students over the past few days voicing their thoughts and expressing their concerns over this issue. We have loved receiving all this feedback so that we can use it to make changes to next year's contest and inform our understanding of Wellesley's women - whom Her Campus Wellesley is meant to serve - and how we run Her Campus Wellesley in the future.
We thought we'd also share some of the feedback we've been getting with all of you, so that you can weigh in on it and tell us what you think! I'll paste some of the emails we've been getting from Wellesley students about this (with the senders' names anonymous) over the next few blog posts.
Please leave comments!! We are open to any and all feedback- hearing from you helps us to best embody our mission of serving college women.
To get us started, here is a post on Wellesleyfml.com about this very issue (you might need to scroll down).
GET HC IN YOUR INBOX!
About the Author
Biography
Co-founder, CTO, Creative Director, Webmaster
Her Campus Media LLC
annie@hercampus.com
Annie singlehandedly built and continues to develop the HerCampus.com site, building off her previous experiences with website design. She is responsible for managing the online publication of all Her Campus content as well as directing the image and branding of Her Campus. In September 2010, Annie took a leave of absence from Harvard to work full-time on Her Campus. She was a senior majoring in Visual and Environmental Studies with a concentration in Animation and a minor in Psychology. Prior to founding Her Campus, Annie managed the web and/or branding presence for nearly two-dozen organizations nationally. In her spare time, Annie can be found shopping for dresses, shooting hoops, watching The West Wing, or playing Starcraft with her guyfriends.
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Comments
"feminist lesbian"
when I think of Wellesley...this is what i think of....the great divide between the needy boy crazy straight girls (you know the type...the ones that are always getting really dressed up to party at other schools trying to find "boys" //or the ones who get into relationship with guys from other schools oblivious of the fact that they are cheating on them with girls from their own schools...seen way too many of those here at Harvard)...and the feminist or independent trans/bi/lesbian/straight students at Wellesley who frankly don't need a man to represent them or make them feel "complete" and are great and strong enough to do it on their own...thank goodness for those.
hey there miss.."amaziiing" i think that by your ignorant "feminist lesbian" comment...we can already tell which group you fall into. and people wonder why it is that men think that this is a "man's world"?...its because of the needy ignorant straight women that let them think so.
I think holding a Mr. Wellesley Freshman competition would be a great idea if they only let Wellesley male students participate (because there are plenty of male identified students attending Wellesley)..and not make this a desperate hetero cry for boys from other schools.
I'm kind of wondering...
...why a straight girl is automatically anti-feminist in this scenario. I don't think the existence of women who like men is the cause of the whole "man's world" thing, but that's kind of a side issue.
Honestly, I agree that Wellesley shouldn't be made to participate at all, seeing as how it is an all-women school. As for people who identify as male, well, I have to admit I don't know too much about that. Perhaps they would be better off as contestants. I'm not sure. But what I do know is that it's quite disorienting to see arguments that male-identified students should be the contestants here coupled with arguments that anything having to do with celebrating males is entirely chauvinistic.
yeah
COOL STORY BRO
you guys need to make up your
you guys need to make up your minds. Every school has transgendered male identified students. My school has a huge community and no one is complaining about this contest. As far as I am concerned no men (biological or male-identified) should attend a womens school. It is a school for people who identify as WOMEN. If Wellesley was left out of this contest, there would be controversy of HerCampus being anti-feminist. It's a tough spot. I would support this if the issue was only based on transgender equality but it's not.
honestly, if you identify as
honestly, if you identify as a male, why would you or should you be allowed to go to a college only for women. If gender isn't defined by what is between your legs, how is it okay to attend a women's only college? You can't have your cake and eat it too. If Wellesley was excluded from this competition all together, there would be complaints about how hercampus is anti-feminist. People, make up your minds.
End this contest, PLEASE
You need to take Wellesley's page out of this contest RIGHT NOW. We refuse to be represented by people who do not go to our school, are in no way affiliated with it, and as a side note have chosen to represent themselves in a childish and misogynistic way. It is condescending and obnoxious, and we have made it clear that there is absolutely no reason why this contest should continue.
p.s. Oh no, I'm a feminist lesbian?!?! Gee, no one has ever assumed that about me because I go to Wellesley College for women!! Not only is that not a hurtful epithet, I am PROUD to be a feminist and PROUD to be an ally.
HAHAHAHA
I'm sorry to tell you, but most people do not give a damn about this cause. Do you think LGBT equality on a website, or a male representing Wellesley is concern for anyone other than yourselves? You're blowing up an issue that has no resonance within the real world. Getting a website to remove a contest about a male representing women isn't going to change the way people view the LGBT community so why are making such a big deal? If you don't like the website, don't read it. I'm sure HerCampus will be fine without Wellesleyan readers. Thankfully, 99 percent of the population isn't as naive as all of you.
First of all, we go to
First of all, we go to Wellesley, not Wesleyan.
Second of all, we are entitled to our opinion, we have the right to be upset, and we were forced both into this contest but onto this web site.
Furthermore WE are the future female leaders of this country and we will help change the way the LGBT community is viewed an accepted. The way the entire student body came together against the insulting contest and misrepresenting magazine should serve as a warning of what we are capable of doing.
HerCampus will be just fine without WELLESLEY readers, and we were fine before HC wormed its way into our lives, so I am confident that we will be fine after this controversy is settled.
calm down, sister
You sound ridiculous. The original poster said "Wellesleyan", as in someone who attends Wellesley. You'd know that he/she knows the school is Wellesley, not Wesleyan, if you'd only read his/her comment a little more carefully instead of having an immediate defensive response. Geez. As a fellow Wellesley student, I'm getting kind of embarrassed by some of your comments on these articles.
Get it right
If you had people telling you that their nephew/brother/co-worker's ex-boyfriend played lacrosse/football/any other sport we don't even have at Wellesley, you would get pissed at the comparison to Wesleyan, too. It's a lovely school, but we are not co-ed or in Connecticut. I'm sure if someone got Princeton, Harvard, or Yale's name wrong, it would be an issue. We deserve to have our name pronounced correctly.
It's Wellesley. Not Wessley, Wesleyan, Wellesleyan, or any other variation.
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