Imagine my shock when I picked up a copy of The Daily Orange last Thursday and out slipped a full-color, postcard-sized advertisement for The Valkyrie Club. Clad only in a black bra and panties, a strand of white pearls and fire engine red fingernails, ‘Anna’ crawled toward me, inviting me to ‘come play with’ her and promising ‘all nude lap dances.’ ‘She’s just 3 miles away,’ it promises, ‘and waiting.’ And I should bring a friend! I get ‘two for one admission’ with the card!

I am disappointed that The D.O., an organization we all hope functions as a training ground for democracy’s future standard-bearers of objective journalism, is so blatantly suggesting that we reduce sexuality to such dated stereotypes and that, in the process, we reduce our rhetoric to the lowest common denominator. This ad assumes that all women and men who enjoy sex with women are somehow turned on by a naked woman crawling toward them.

I am more disappointed The D.O. would continue to accept The Valkyrie Club’s advertising dollars, even after an October 2010 letter from the editor responding to a previous Valkyrie Club ad that ‘met with dissatisfaction’ from readers (see ‘The Daily Orange reviews advertising policy,’ Oct. 4, 2010). As a space of education, conversation and intellectual exploration, I hope that SU, rather than reifying the physical and sexual exploitation of women, would instead challenge institutions that perpetuate that violence. 

Yes, our culture is based on capitalism. The D.O. must offset its publication costs through fundraising and ‘Anna’ must pay her rent through employment. I’m not questioning or condemning either. Rather, I’m questioning our own passive engagement with ‘Anna,’ our willingness to exploit her body to offset these publication costs or to look the other way while The D.O. reduces itself to just this. As an organization associated with my university, The D.O. is ultimately accountable to me, to you, to all of us. It’s therefore time to hold it accountable.

I can’t do anything about the poles and cages around and in which women are encouraged to dance in numerous fraternity houses across this campus. I can, however, give voice to the hostile environment women encounter at SU that is only perpetuated by the ad. I can also loudly, forcefully and vociferously criticize said encouragement by one of the very SU voices that I count on to speak with and for me, not against me. The D.O. should be ashamed and embarrassed. I know I am.

Rebecca Moody

Doctoral student, religion 

Published on April 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm