May 10, 2006

Overexposed?

A lecturer at the University of Southern California said she started a blog because her students wanted “more of me after our class time has ended,” she wrote. And they got it.

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The undergraduate who blogged about Blaine, under the pseudonym Andrew Winthrop Cunningham III, said that the professor first caught his attention with an editorial she wrote in the student paper last year that called on all men at USC to take responsibility for rapes that occur on campus. “I hold every single male on this campus responsible,” Blaine wrote, “because every single male on this campus has the responsibility for stopping rape.… Because they all rape? Of course not,” she added. “But because only men rape and only men can stop other men from raping.”

Blaine said that she had “every expectation” the article would infuriate some conservative students at USC.

Cunningham said that he and the other two bloggers — one man and one woman, he said — “are all Republicans … although I am pro-choice and pro-gay rights, and so therefore consider myself a moderate,” he wrote in an e-mail. He would agree with the “infuriated” classification, however.

With regard to Blaine’s editorial, Cunningham said he finds “it morally abhorrent to hold any person, let alone the entire male student body, responsible for a crime he has not committed.”

The editorial came amid rape charges against Eric Wright, a Trojan football player. Cunningham points out on his blog that, though the charges against Wright were dropped, Blaine keeps piling on. “I knew a number of things about the case,” Blaine wrote, “which include the fact that women are not generally lying when they expose themselves to public humiliation by making accusations of rape.”

Blaine added that she knew “particulars about this situation through insider sources which I will never name that helped me to have confidence in speaking out against an injustice that I am quite sure occurred.”

Cunningham said that Blaine’s editorial contributed to the “guilty before convicted” atmosphere on the USC campus.

Blaine counters that the Cardinal Martini bloggers “aren’t interesting to me,” and said that she “didn’t write [the editorial] for them. I wrote it for truth and justice.”

Cunningham said that the topless photos are just one part of behavior that “harms the reputation of our school.”

Jonathan Knight, director of the Department of Academic Freedom and Governance at the American Association of University Professors, said that Blaine’s posts are akin to a faculty member writing a newspaper editorial. “It’s the individual who’s speaking, not the institution,” he said.

Blaine said that the bloggers didn’t expose anything secret by finding her pictures. She said they have a “let’s tell dad, sister’s showing her breasts” attitude that operates “in a patriarchal system.”

Much of Blaine’s blog — “The Adventures of Dr. Diana” — is devoted to discussing body image issues, how she overcame her own, and ideas wrought of feminist theory that she can share with others.

To that end, Blaine said that part of posting the pictures was “to put them in perspective, they’re just tits,” she said.

— David Epstein

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Comments

This seems a lot nicer than professors complaining the “hotness” rating on RMP.

Larry, at 8:05 am EDT on May 10, 2006

The virtue of remaining clothed

Diana Blaine can issue all the sexist imperatives she wants, castigating men, blaming men, or empowering men.

After viewing Blaine’s ungainly and unappealling topless photos, I strongly urge her to keep her blouse buttoned up, even if she cannot button up her lip.

Chuck, at 9:20 am EDT on May 10, 2006

Clueless

Aren’t clueless students just one of the occupational hazards of faculty? Dr Blaine deserves a round of applause. And so does USC for not rising to the bait. I can only shudder anticipating what MY school would do with this story ... Cluelessnes is not, unfortunately, limited to the student body in some institutions.

NL, Technologies Coordinator at National Center on Low-Incidence Disaabilities, at 9:20 am EDT on May 10, 2006

Predictable response

...and that’s what it’s all about, right, Chuck? Getting women to “button their lips"?

Hoosier Prof, at 9:50 am EDT on May 10, 2006

I found the painting of the nude in the background more interesting than the live model.

Doctor Ross, at 9:55 am EDT on May 10, 2006

Hoosier Prof is correct!

Loose cannons like Blaine DO perpetuate sexist stereotypes with their hilariously misguided exhortations.

I merely offered some unrequited advice for a prof like her who seems to prefer narcissism to logic.

Either way, the joke’s on her and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the laughter.

Chuck, at 11:15 am EDT on May 10, 2006

I find it curious that the respondents to Dr. Blaine’s blog and to this article focus on how she fits or doesn’t fit their own prejudices about female beauty, in some cases resorting to name calling and insult, rather than any discussion of (a) artistic expression or (b) the propriety of a learned professional modeling in such a way. Her posting of these photos may be a more effective way of making her case about the feminist critique of male dominated organizations far more effectively than words could have. The proof is to be found in the words of her detractors who live down to every criticism she made. Well done, Dr. Diane!

Blogged, at 11:55 am EDT on May 10, 2006

Back to the article...

And that’s where I disagree with you, Chuck. You and some other posters have already changed the tone of the discussion to make it a commentary on Blaine and her appearance. Personal ridicule and ad hominem attacks are the refuge of the intellectual coward; let’s get back to the real discussion, which is about personal responsibility, academic and civil rights.

Hoosier Prof, at 11:55 am EDT on May 10, 2006

Misuse of the word “editorial”

Too many speakers and writers in this article misuse the word “editorial.” Newspaper editorials are written by staff writers to express the views of the paper’s publisher and editorial board. Outsiders write op-ed pieces and columns.—

Charlie Clark, senior editor at AGB, at 2:00 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

1) I think she looks nice; and 2) Chuck did not point to any illogical statements that she made – but insists that her arguments are illogical, which is bad form for an academic that wishes to rebut an argument.

Larry, at 2:10 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

It is this obsession with female breasts as “hot” objects that leads to rapidly declining trend of breat feeding and increased use of baby-food ‘formulas’. Eventually leading to greater infant mortality esp in less developed parts of the world.

Anil Sethi, Reader in Economics, at 2:10 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Web Page with a Centerfold

It really amuses me how the moralists refer to their many journeys to this web site. Of course, it was only to read the articles! And Chuck, button your lip! Women have every right to express their views in academia! They were not created to walk silently two steps behind you with downcast eyes! This isn’t your church!

John F. DeFelice, Associate Professor of History at University of Maine at Presque Isle, at 2:25 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Histrionic

Could it be as simple as some faculty or staff are also histrionic, and just find ways to draw attention to themselves...look at the other photos in her album....she seems to be affluent, well cared for, and admired.

karl, Dr., at 2:30 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Hoosier Prof

So explain for us again the connection between lounging topless on a bed and civil rights. I watched my Dad take a beating for marching in a civil rights parade when I was a boy. I’m not seeing how this peep show relates to civil rights.

karl, at 2:40 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Dull Diane and Her Mates

So an unseemly and inarticulate female professor announces that her students [sic] want more of her after class..... and poses topless......makes wild and unsubstantiated insinuations about rape and truth-telling........ and her supporters go ballistic when someone dares to point out that Diane is a huge joke and a farce.

If anyone doubted that intellectual degeneracy has descended over higher education, one need look no further than Diane Blaine and her edgy, humorless defenders.

Every posting seems to confirm and reaffirm that. Don’t hold back now!

Chuck, at 3:10 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Ad hominem strikes again, or another hijacked IHE discussion

Karl, if you don’t understand how blogging and civil rights are connected, I suggest you go to the websites of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union to understand the free speech issues that Blaine’s actions have raised. There are any number of cases out there where people have been fired for doing less than Blaine.

Let’s try again, Chuck. Now you have extended your personal attacks beyond Blaine to everyone else in on this conversation who disagree with you. So you do what anti-feminists have done for eons: you label feminists (usually women) as “edgy,” “humorless,” “unseemly.” And “Karl” added “histrionic” – that’s a gem.

Feminists are not humorless, we just don’t share YOUR sense of humor. Nonetheless, I will defend your right to it and I DON’T expect you to button your lip. Just stop attacking those of us who disagree with you and learn instead to engage in respectful debate. You might even like it, and I’ll certainly respect YOU more.

Hoosier Prof, at 4:15 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Sex sells

Perhaps IHE should skip the journalistic charade, get honest about it, and just run daily “Page 3″ girlie pics. Reporting that the “claim of ‘concern’ about the photos ... seems dubious, as Blaine said she hasn’t heard from any of her colleagues or the university about it” is a big red flag that everything that follows is much ado about nothing but the titillation of seeing a pair of exposed breasts.

Murdochvius, at 8:55 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Civil Rights?

“let’s get back to the real discussion, which is about personal responsibility, academic and civil rights.”

I missed the “civil rights” part here. What does this woman’s exhibitionism have to do with civil rights?

JBM, at 8:55 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Civil Rights II

Free speech is not a civil rights issue unless you contend she is being deprived of her constitutional rights because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin.

I see no evidence of that.

JBM, at 8:55 pm EDT on May 10, 2006

Teachers accusations

What the forum seems to have forgotten is that this teacher holds the view that any date rapes on campus are the responsibility of every man jack of you present thereupon.

That’s as barbaric an attitude as the popes of old who incarcerated star gazer Gallieao who hypothesized the world was round.

The feminization of certain American campus’s is to the detriment of civilization and human progress. This recalcitrant teacher has not only lost her students support but has exposed her own lack of integrity. As Chuck so succinctly put... she should button her lip!

Howard J. Powers, Student of humans’ foibles at University of Life, at 6:05 am EDT on May 11, 2006

Chuck is the only individual with the slightest bit of sense on this thread. What have we come to? Since when did it become acceptable for an academic proffesional to refer his/her students to pornographic photos of themselves, all the while hiding behind the deceitful guise of political expression and art? For those of you who remain unwaveringly in support of this degenerate, I ask you to consider what your response would be if this individual had been male, and the photos had been of his penis. He would have instantly been banded a pervert—as he rightly should. This women is nothing more.

Aaron, at 8:40 am EDT on May 11, 2006

You’re right that the principal issues are not about civil rights but about first amendment rights. But based on the amount of sexism that has raised its ugly head in this discussion, I hope Blaine has a good handle on her civil rights as well. As for the rest of you, take a good American Government 101 course.

Hoosier Prof, at 8:40 am EDT on May 11, 2006

The More Things Change ...

Many years ago I was a subscriber to Playboy ... oh yes, for the articles, of course.

My, my ... I never imagined I’d cite the same rationale for “subscribing” to InsideHigherEd.

RWH

RWH, at 9:15 am EDT on May 11, 2006

Give me a break. The photos of Dr. Blaine topless are not pornography and, not surprisingly, the focus of discussion gravitates to boobs. Did anyone read Dr. Blaine’s site? I admire her willingness to be HONEST and to be vunerable. As academics, we all (should) recognize that context is critical in the examination of any social phenomenom. To say that all men are responsible for rape within the context of discourse surrounding patriarchal “taken-for-granteds” is not meant literally! Also, if you read further into Dr. Blaine’s site you will find a humble seeking of wisdom and knowledge...someone who is interested in peace and human dignity.

Gale, at 1:20 pm EDT on May 11, 2006

Gale, whatever else Blaine may be, she is certainly not humble.

AW Cunningham, at 3:55 pm EDT on May 11, 2006

She’s all dignity, alright

“Also, if you read further into Dr. Blaine’s site you will find a humble seeking of wisdom and knowledge...someone who is interested in peace and human dignity.”

Yep, she’s all wisdom, except for accusing innocent men of rapes committed by people they don’t even know. And yes, she’s all dignity, except for the senseless stripping to the waist exhibitionism.

Ms. Blaine needs to grow up already.

JBM, at 5:55 pm EDT on May 11, 2006

10 Minutes

Well, I suspect Blaine’s 10 minutes of fame will be up in a minute... neither she, nor her statements, are all that profound...

JP, at 7:25 pm EDT on May 11, 2006

On the flip side...

So if a few bad eggs don’t respect women’s right to decide if to have sex with them, why should I hold the whole football team accountable? Because I do. Because I hold every single male on this campus responsible. Because every single male on this campus has the responsibility for stopping rape. Every fraternity brother, every science major, every professor, every one of them. Because they all rape? Of course not. But because only men rape and only men can stop other men from raping.You seem to have forgotten the flip side of your declaration against the men of USC. You should hold every women on campus responsible for rape too. Why? Because the women who do not come forward to report an assault empower their attacker to do it again. Every woman who: has been confessed to, supported a friend, held a hand, cried with, spoke heatedly and angrily in denunciation and yet did nothing are responsible for the next attack. So what if you have been threatened? So what if you’ll be lambasted and ridiculed? So what if no one believes you? If you don’t come forward and start the process, your rapist is free to continue his spree with no repercussions.If men as a whole are responsible for what other men do and don’t do, then women as a whole are just as responsible for what women do and fail to do.

stobors, at 7:55 pm EDT on May 11, 2006

Stobars, you’ve touched on my original point. It is obscene and practically-speaking it is useless to believe that all men are responsible for any rape that may occur. If a man rapes a woman — which is an unconscionable act — then he must be held responsible, and not every single person who shares his general anatomical characteristics.

USC has upwards of 30,000 students. How can a sane person hold me, an individual man who personally knows no rapists, responsible for the crimes of other people?

Cardinal Martini, at 9:40 pm EDT on May 11, 2006

Diane Blaine and the victmization of mediocrity

Diane Blaine shows us anew that middle aged angst-ridden women can make fools of themselves, in the name of free speech or changing men’s behavior. Big yawn here.

The shrillness of Blaine’s earnest defenders confirms what Swift obseved: “it is impossible to reason someone out of a position that she was not reasoned into to begin with.”

It’s enough to make one a U. of Texas fan.

Chuck, at 9:40 pm EDT on May 11, 2006

hmmmmm

While I think the idea of blaming all men for rape because only men can stop rape is somewhat silly and patently wrong. I think this is born out by the numbers of females involved in the statutory rape of young boys... I suppose it is this professors right to say what she wishes. More importantly it is also her right to show off her boobs if she so chooses. Nothing at all wrong with presenting a more real woman partially clad. Personally I would rather see more real women in the nude than all the airbrushed models in the playboy universe.

TJ Turner, at 4:40 am EDT on May 12, 2006

“only men rape"??

This is a piece of propaganda that seems accepted without question yet there have been cases of woman raping other women and men. There is also an increasing realisation that sexual molestation is also perpetrated by women as well as men. And in reality some women do make false accusations and there are some males who should be locked up away from the whole community. The same can equally be said of the males as well.Lets leave the gender sterotypes and blame to one size and work on solving these problems and the circumstances that lead to them as people.

Steven, at 4:40 am EDT on May 12, 2006

The Real Blame

I suppose Dr. Blaine’s reasoning that all men are to blame for rape could be carried one step further. It is no secret that women do most of the parenting of our children so all women are to blame for raising rapists. Is that correct, Dr. Blaine? Argue amongst yourselves.

Jim, at 11:25 am EDT on May 12, 2006

good point

Jim makes a good point. I wonder if Ms. Blaine’s supporters on this message board will continue to belch out the “fight the phallocracy” feminist mantra or will they try to put her comments into perspective? Why stop with men in blanket accusations? Why not pass blame to the mothers? Why blame the rapists? — after all, personal responsibility was tossed out the window decades ago.

Jamie, at 2:30 pm EDT on May 12, 2006

Who says only men rape.

AS i recall, there were many cases in the past few years of women raping young boys that they had influence over. i agree that the professor has every right to speak her mind on the issue, but to say only men rape is very short sighted.

tim, at 6:45 pm EDT on May 12, 2006

Please. . .

Button-up that blouse teach. If that was a man exposing himself he would be called a pervert by all the fem-wackos, and this would have already been on CNN.

Pvt. Parts, at 4:35 am EDT on May 19, 2006

dr. droopey has a point!

ps she was on fox

chipper, at 4:40 am EDT on June 30, 2006

Diversity

It’s a blog. Not a national policy. I am glad the subject has motivated talk that should have us question if we are truly for diversity and freedom or that we should be governed by self-righteous hypocrites.

Andy Pandy, Prez at Black Men Who Care, at 4:40 am EDT on June 30, 2006

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