Here's an interesting case of censorship I ran across today that's currently being taken up at Morehouse College, a very prestigious, all-male historically black college in Atlanta:
http://www.vibe.com/content/mean-girls-morehouse
and a response in Jezebel:
http://jezebel.com/5674560/who-are-the-real-mean-girls-of-morehouse?skyline=true&s=i
What does everyone think? Can a private all male college limit gender expression?
I found those articles really interesting, and I think that the issue in this case is bigger than freedom of expression. In general, a dress code like Morehouses's is a hinderance on personal freedom, but the fact that Morehouse is an all male university complicates the matter. If they aren't letting girls attend, then asking the students to honor that is reasonable. This is especially relevant since there ARE alternatives for the men there; if universities were all gender segregated, then by all means students should be allowed to dress and identify with genders in whatever way they feel comfortable. But since I assume one of the purposes of all male schools (and conversely all female) is to promote camaraderie between men, by pushing the boundaries of gender norms the goals of the school are disrupted.
ReplyDeleteI'm still unsure if I agree or disagree with the decision, but I certainly believe there are a lot of factors in play.