Quad Jam celebrated its 30th Anniversary on April 24, 2010. Manhattanville’s largest tradition provided the usual: food, fun, games, and music. During the day, students showcased their talents whether it was with their bands, their dance teams, or an instrument. If you weren’t a performer you were not left out. Alumni and current undergraduates alike, came together and partook in various games and activities such as rock-climbing, a food-eating contest, moon-bouncing, and just simply enjoying the beautiful day out on Manhattanville’s signature Quad. After a long day of fun, students enjoyed a BBQ out on the Quad while dancing to their favorite music and patiently awaiting the main event. This year there were two headliners prepared to perform. Both rapper Fabolous and ska punk band Reel Big Fish, took over the stage with amazing performances. During an interview with the lead singer of Reel Big Fish Aaron Asher Barrett, when asked what’s the first thing that goes through his mind when he gets on stage, “oh my gosh my mic stand is too high,” he replied laughingly. Being apart of the band since it came into existence in 1991, Barrett explained as long as the crowd is pumped, there is no reason to be nervous, “we just go out there and do what we love to do,” he said. That’s exactly what the headliners did. Reel Big Fish after they performed their set, came back out by popular demand with an encore performance. The fun didn’t stop there. After the two big concerts, and the half an hour fireworks display students topped off the night with an after party held in the cafeteria. With such an amazing event filled with fun, friends, and food, we all can hold these memories in our hearts and minds, and use them as a reminder of what a great school Manhattanville College truly is.

Dear Manhattanville Students, Faculty, and Staff,

First and foremost, I would like to extend many thanks on behalf of the Right World View members and myself, to all those who supported Player’s Guild and Right World View’s Masquerade Ball. It was a great learning experience and all the money was donated to the Marissa Pagli Fund.

Also, Right World View would like to extend a huge congratulations
to Manhattanville’s graduating class of 2010. We wish you success and much happiness in all of your future endeavors. Right World View looks forward to putting out our first issue in the Fall 2010 semester with our new and improved Mission Statement.

Thank you for your patience and continuous support. Please don’t hesitate to submit any personal work to Right World View as we are always searching for new talent. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. All the support is greatly appreciated and we here at Right World View look forward to continuing to provide you with a world-class paper! Happy Reading! Have a fun and safe summer!

Sincerely,
Monique Hardy
Editor-in-Chief

We’ve made it! The semester has come to an end and summer vacation has begun. After a semester of ups and downs, it is time to sit back and ENJOY. Enjoy, the weather, rain or shine, enjoy the time with your friends and family, maybe even enjoy a good book that you wanted the time to do so. However, don’t get too relaxed. Make this a productive smmer as well. Use this summer vacation as a time to plot out your future goals and plans, to save, and to get ahead of the game. A productive but still relaxing summer will make it alot easier to get back into the swing of things in the Fall. Whatever the case may be, whether you are working, traveling, or just hanging out with friends, enjoy it because you deserve it! CONGRATS on another school year completed and CONGRATS to our 2010 graduates!

If I were to ask whether women and men are equal here at Manhattanville, most students’ first response would be yes. “Of course,” they would say, “women and men have the same rights.” They would point to the fact that women are predominant at Manhattanville, with a ratio of 60% female students versus 40% male students. Men and women have the possibility to study the same subjects, join the same clubs, and participate in the same activities. There are no structural restrictions for women at Manhattanville. On paper at least there is total equality between men and women. Yet if you scratch below the surface, these general facts don’t take into account the full reality.

After spending two years at college, it is quite clear that men and women do not possess the same rights in regards to their sexual behavior. The prevailing attitude is that men are entitled to and even respected for displaying a casual attitude to sex and objectifying women in the process. They are the dominant species on campus, particularly if they play on a sports team, and they get away with irresponsible sexual behavior. In fact, they are often applauded for that behavior. In this regard, there is no equality between men and women at Manhattanville.

A classic example is a woman who sleeps with several men from the same sports team who comes to be considered a “slut,” or to put it in sports lingo, a “hockey puck.” She becomes an object for the team’s pleasure and later is often times mocked and teased.Yet, those same males, the ones who slept with the woman, are above reproach. They have the right to “share” the same woman between themselves without being looked down upon. All the fault lies with the woman and none with the men. They are looked up to, and she is looked down upon. Where is the social justice and equality in this equation?

Ironically, this demeaning attitude to women is not only ingrained in men but in women as well. Other women will also look down on the “hockey pucks,” claiming that these girls should know better than to put themselves in that kind of situation.

Men are entitled to be sexually promiscuous and women aren’t. This idea is accepted by the majority of society and by the majority of the students here at Manhattanville. Again, where is the equality?

It would be hard to call this patriarchal system fair. The point here isn’t to defend promiscuity, but if it’s wrong for a woman to be promiscuous it should be equally wrong for a man. Why doesn’t anyone turn the focus to the men and look down on them? Why is the finger always pointed towards the women? Why is she the irresponsible one and not the man? Why is the woman left to stand alone and be held accountable while the man is able to hide within the collective male pack and not take any individual accountability for his actions? If men and women had equal rights, these types of situations would not exist.

So what is to be done? Most people are aware of the situation, yet they do nothing to prevent it, falling right back into sexual patriarchy. Students should not just become aware of the situation, but start reacting. Change never comes about by waiting for someone else to change, but only when we ourselves change our attitude.

Let’s take a trip back in time forty years ago to the year 1970 and look at what the world was like back then. If we managed to accomplish this I’m sure all of us would be stunned to see how different things were and would be amazed at how people lived their lives. It’s certain that a majority of you reading this are picturing an age before the advent of the internet, when no computers, cell phones, or ipods existed- the Stone Age essentially. Well, technically you’re right, but this isn’t what I’m trying to get at. During this period when Disco was emerging and short shorts were all the rage, nature was being degraded to such a level that instead of saying “Mother Earth” Minnewaska Park people were sarcastically muttering “Mother-in-law filth”. This was a time when polluted rivers (one of which actually caught fire), smog filled skies tainted with lead from gasoline, and mass deforestation were commonplace. Eventually, when people began to have their fill of this corrupted world, there were talks about what could be done to improve it, and this is where Earth Day came in handy. A U.S. Senator had the brilliant idea of creating a holiday based on raising people’s environmental awareness; and the first Earth Day occurred on Apr. 22, 1970.

As we already know, this unusual holiday quickly took root and became highly successful, not because of religious or national events, but because of a global crisis. The world was put into peril by us through our thoughtless actions, and it was solely up to us to correct it. As the famous environmentalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau once noted: “What’s the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on.” Back before the “Green” movement gained momentum a house certainly wasn’t much use on account of the rampant pollution. But luckily through years and years of remediation the earth in many (but not all) respects has become much cleaner, mainly through newly implanted laws, recycling, and a myriad of other programs that transformed the earth from a cesspool into a more pristine place. Despite this cleanup, many problems still exist and a greater effort will be required in the future to correct it. And we must act quickly if we want to avoid having our cities and towns along the coast inundated, due to global warming. If we continue to journey down the path we’re on right now and keep increasing our environmental awareness however, it is almost certain our negative actions will be undone and destruction will be averted; but that’s assuming though that the world doesn’t end in 2012 first, so I guess we’ll just have to wait to see!

It’s pretty amazing though to think about how far we have come since the advent of Earth Day, and in the last ten years alone things have drastically changed. At the arrival of the millennium the word “green” was hardly heard anywhere, but now anytime the T.V. is turned on every commercial is using the word ten times in a minute. And within the last few months the packing of SunChips has been made out of plant-based material that’s completely biodegradeable.

It’s almost unimaginable to think where we’ll be a decade from now. Who knows, we could be eating our meals off of edible plates made from vegetables. I’m sure Homer Simpson would have a field day with this- an all you can eat buffet of dinnerware…. hmm but on second thought maybe not, considering it would be healthy, I suppose it would have to be smothered in butter first.

Regardless of what new techniques we implement, it’s a certainty that we’ll have changed a great deal- hopefully for the better. Things may constantly change, as they always do, but this will not happen if we don’t change ourselves first.

This holiday which was celebrated for the first time forty years ago has helped us along. Today, here at Manhattanville the college offers a little known degree in Environmental Studies. And while most people tend to stay away from courses that deal with environmental science in the fear that they’re too hard; believe me, as long as you make a conscious effort to learn and understand the fundamentals of ecology and sustainability, you will not only find yourself receiving good grades, but you will look at the world in a different way, and will realize it’s not all about consumption and modernization. As an Environmental Studies major, I strongly advise each student to take at least one course that teaches about some sort of environmental policy. However, if you really are against taking a science class, I still highly recommend increasing your awareness either by joining some club that relates to it, one such being ACT on campus, or simply just by spending some time outdoors. Why not take a hike? There are plenty of places to go around Westchester and if you’re really daring you may feel compelled to do a section of the 2,179 mile long Appalachian Trail which stretches from Georgia to Maine, and can be reached in less than an hour from here. The point I’m trying to make is that you should do something to help make the environmental situations at hand known and cared about. The smallest of things can make a big difference, just like Earth Day. In the beginning it was paid little attention to, but now look at it. So in conclusion, if we truly want to make an effective change, we have to first shift our attitudes and actions in order to obtain it- and that’s what this holiday preaches.

Something to think about: “If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.” -Thoreau

The evolutionary stages of capitalism in developing and developed countries have brought cultural and institutional changes. Maria Mies’ Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale analyzes how early forms of patriarchy created the sexual division of labor, the basis of the subordinate place of women, that includes current forms of societal and situational violence against women in the 21st century.

According to Mies, the origins of capitalist patriarchy began during the 15th century, when as many as six million women were murdered under the guise of “witch-hunts” and prosecuted by a new set of masculine laws and lawyers. Following closely on the eradication of matriarchal “natural healers” came the development of male-run modern medicine. Patriarchal decisions over women’s bodies became the norm, as women’s knowledge of healing from nature was suppressed and ignored, and nature became as dominated as women. Colonization of the white man onto foreign lands gave them a new level of power over less industrialized cultures. Black women and men were then exploited under white men, and white women were colonized into the role of ‘the housewife.’ Through quick-spreading control, male supremacy established its rule over the rest of society during the 19th century.

Violence, and especially violence against women, is structurally engrained within the overbearing, widespread umbrella of patriarchy. Violence has the ability to take many different forms, as shown in documentaries such as Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly and Bill Moyer’s Consuming Images. Both films explained how women endure pressure under constant media images, which portray their socially expected behavior and appearances. These messages define the norms and stereotypes that women are expected to follow. Choice, liberation, and freedom all disappear when the patriarchal structure controls and dictates the choices that women should make in order to become accepted. This form of violence against women is certainly not as obvious as physical violence, yet it involves a subtle level of male control and female oppression. By ‘indirectly’ subordinating women through coercive means such as the media and public images, male and female relationships as friends or lovers, are (re) defined and women’s individual freedom is compromised.

Patriarchy is created from a set of structural, dominant and subordinate relationships. Female empowerment and women’s freedom are at risk under such a system; how can women truly be liberated without complete gender equality? Following the rules of a patriarchal system, the freedom is a false liberation. In order for a woman to experience this level of ‘empowerment’ within male-run institutions, she usually has developed a false consciousness, and truly believes that she is individually free, as she is not able to see the chains that bind her. According to Marx and Engels, this idea of ‘consciousness’ is a social product of a human being’s social existence, and can manifest as clarity or detachment. In the documentary The Price of Pleasure, women were presented as experiencing personal achievement male-run project that encourages female stripping, nudity and pornography, for the enjoyment of the ‘male gaze’ — a constant part of a woman’s life. When women have been so deeply indoctrinated with patriarchy, they experience the highest levels of male domination not as imprisonment, but as the norm and ‘freedom.’

Historically, as Mies argues, the subordination of women occurred through housewifization and the exploitation of female biological reproductive capabilities. Colonialism, modern science and the witch-hunts were all gendered, creating the first forms of capitalist patriarchy. This created the idea of the active male and passive female in real-life practices. To clearly see this process, one must see the progression to patriarchy in a general way, instead of through a personal lens. The greater structure, patriarchy, inflicts confinement and imprisonment on women, but also on men. Since it was men centuries ago who created this structure of inequality, it is not always seen that, through that creation, men also imprisoned themselves under strict expectations of masculinity and stereotypes of their relationships with women. Even when one has a consciousness of morals within the system, s/he cannot transcend the rules of the structure (patriarchy), as it is too powerful. It is similar to a worker who lives in a capitalist society and is structurally confined under capitalism, but he still must work and function under that oppression in order to succeed. He of course has choices within that system, but if he has a desire to work outside of that capitalism, he will find that it is not an easily obtainable option or choice. This absence of choice is the key to understanding consciousness and false consciousness within a patriarchal system. Simultaneously, men take the position as guards, and women take the position of prisoners, except the guard is also the prisoner within the greater penal system, as he also lives under restrictions and expectations. Hope in transforming patriarchy into an egalitarian system lies in Hegel’s philosophy that it is the slave who can develop a higher consciousness than the master, as the slave lives in his oppression constantly and has a developed understanding of the situation. This creates conditions for revolution and group consciousness, such as the women’s movement, and the civil rights movement.

Mies writes about rape as an act of male power, domination and assertion over women, and also as a physical act over women with a goal of making a statement to other men. In these ways, women are used as an object (commodity) and then disposed of after use. Rape creates a dominant/subordinate relationship within a patriarchal society made up of greater levels of domination and subordination. This type of abuse is common in countries such as impoverished India, which is an economic structure of sexual segregation, but as the incidence of statistic of rape or attempted rape is one in five women in the U.S., it is clear that the strict class system and monetary issues in India are not defining reasons for this phenomenon.

Indian women are bound by their families’ dignity and worth, visible in dowry struggles and murders. In-laws have the right to extract a monetary dowry from their new daughter and her family, except in many instances there is very little money to take, which leads to anger and physical violence against the woman. This harassment and abuse stems from a greater patrilocal, traditionally rooted marriage institution that is supported by families and police officials. This has manifested into a cultural norm of violence against women, which continues to add to the main factors in the oppression, subordination and exploitation of women. The socially constructed and historically produced situation of women versus men embodies the analogy of product and owner. Even after the ‘abolishment’ of slavery, this set of relationships is clear in modern America and impoverished Indian villages.

The Price of Pleasure takes domination and sexual violence against women and researches it in another form: pornography. It systematically connects porn with domestic and sexual abuse, such as rape. Many women, such as those in Girls Gone Wild, view pornography as a liberating experience, as they feel proud and confident enough to flaunt their physical assets in return for compensation, publicity and acceptance from men. In that sense, they think of their position within porn as being one of control, a transcendence of patriarchal subordination. Other women make a career within the porn industry because they have no other options. Without a high level education or resources, it has become extremely difficult (for women) to acquire a well-paying job, not to mention any job. Women are easily accepted, and in many cases forced due to limited options, into the sex industry.

Pornography has become a world where images that once were imaginative in fantasy, now have the possibility of becoming reality. Operating as a ten billion dollar industry, it is the perfect example of the evolution of the deviant morphing into the normative. The Price of Pleasure shows that the mainstream media legitimizes pornography through music videos, hosts such as Howard Stern and shows such as Cat House and The Girls Next Door. The latter an hour of programming that gives average Americans full access into the lives of Playboy bunnies. Thanks to porn actors such as Jenna Jamison who glamorize the life of porn, popular culture has grown to idealize these images. As Mies wrote, patriarchal capitalism brought with it the commodification and degradation of women, and Chyng Sun, director of The Price of Pleasure, clearly shows that this phenomenon culminates in pornography. Racist, sexist and offensive images in pornography run the risk of becoming the mainstream ideology.

The influx of women joining and appreciating porn shows a defeatist attitude that says: “if you can’t beat sexism, join it” so at least you can believe you have some control over your actions. As the documentary iterates, this huge industry is a product of society’s failure to question this profit-driven system. Images of women being dominated in sexually violent situations only feed women’s internalization of their subordinate place within society.

Maria Mies makes correlations between the evolving patriarchal capitalism in the 16th-17th centuries, the witch-hunts, and women’s self sacrifice in dowry wars and honor killings in present day India, and the sex industry. Along with women in the porn industry, these actions portray the internalization and acceptance of male rule in all areas of life. It brings about mental desensitization as to what is normal and abnormal in society, to tradition, family roles, and to one’s place in the system. In the USA, the profit-driven system of capitalism can only continue if the population accepts patriarchy. The the onslaught of advertising and media images portray the perfect capitalist woman’s expected actions and appearance, in order to groom and shape the female population into a collection of unconscious women. Women can challenge their subordinate position within capitalist patriarchy through a transformation of their collective consciousness.

a) Equal sexual rights
b) Right to women security guards
c) Right to have an area dedicated to women’s concerns, i.e. a women’s center
d) Right to enjoy a safe and secure campus environment
e) Right to enjoy freedom of expression in social settings; free from sexual harassment
f) Right not to be treated as a sex object or subject to racial stereotypes
g) All students should respect the female character of the college

“Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate
association with their oppressors.” Evelyn Cunningham

When I first received my acceptance letter to Manhattanville College I was ecstatic. It was my top choice and seemed like a great institution founded on strong morals and a dedication to social awareness and diversity. In fact Manhtanville’s mission is “To prepare students, through rigorous academic and co-curricular programs, for ethical and socially-responsible leadership in a global community.” My experiences at Manhattanville and the student life include working with various programs through the Duchesne Center even leading my own program Ladies Room, as well as being a member and holding the Public Relations chair of BSU (Black Student Union). I have been a resident all four years at Manhattanville and utilize all the facilities that the school provides. So what makes my experience standout you may ask? It is because I feel that I have experienced things differently being an African American female student. As a Sociology Major and African Studies Minor, as well as someone who was recently accepted into a Masters Program in Boston, MA to receive my MSW (Master of Social Work), studying race and the dynamic of people is something that truly intrigues me. As I have taken many courses about diversity and racism, I am fully aware that racism and stereotyping occurs everywhere in even the slightest forms and I would like to bring attention to the ways in which I feel it happens here on campus. My intention is to bring these issues to light so that we can correct them and become more educated and aware.

Manhattanville College provides an environment that enables me to communicate with people of all races and ethnicities. However, I have noticed the way in which some of my friends interact with me. It is the media’s stereotypes and portal of black women that affects their interaction. Whether they want me to make up “hip” handshakes or want me to teach them things that are depicted as being from the black community (how to dance, how to braid, etc., assuming that I myself know how to do these things, which I do not) nor would it be a surprise to hear my male White friends ask me to “drop it like its hot”, “shake what my mama gave me”, or usually twisting their hands up to mock gangs signs to which I do not belong . While this may seem as innocent fun, if we look deeper into the subject these are clear examples of how others value African American women and the influence and power of the media. The media teaches us through the many programs and many videos portrayed of African American women (yes rapped by black men, however owned by White men) that this is the way a women should be treated, whether she is a professional, student, mother, or whatever the case may be. What bothers me most is that it does not matter that I am a peer like anyone else, in the same classroom with the same professor, capable of the same challenges and achievements. However, because I am a Black women I am the one addressed as “yo” “Shorty” “ma”- not the Asian girl across the room or the Caucasian girl to the left of me. As a future social worker I feel that it is very important that we sit down and reflect upon our actions and analyze the root problem and how to bring about social change. As I have mentioned, this school prides itself on building ethical and socially-responsible leaders so I feel it is the responsibility of not only the college but the individuals to carry out this mission inside and outside of the classroom. The topics of race, stereotypes, and patriarchy are overwhelming but we all (including myself ) can begin with small gestures today. As my experiences here at Manhattanville comes to an end, and as I began my journey in the real world, I have worked hard for my achievements and will not allow any form of racial mockery to carry on. Do not call me “Shorty”, “baby girl”, or “ma”; address me as Latiaya Grooms, and address me with respect.

So picture yourself at a castle party (or East Room party to be a bit more up to date). You’re dancing with that cute guy from your Econ class. You decide to look past the fact he smells like alcohol and the stairwell in Tenney – we all know what that smells like – and hope he thinks you’re cute too. So you dance, you chat a little and you’re sure everything is going great, maybe you’ll even hang out sometime. Finally he takes a step closer, leans in as if to tell you a secret, strategically places his hand on your butt and says “So..uh…you wanna come by my room later?” He says this with a smirk, as if it’s a rhetorical question. If you were trying to seduce me with your creativity you failed. Get a new line buddy. What’s the big deal right? That’s standard procedure around here. But this interaction has become so common place that I have basically run out of sarcastic and witty ways to respond.

I’d like to ask the men on this campus how they would feel if we were dancing and I spontaneously grabbed their butt, and whispered in their ear “see you in my room in five.” Actually don’t answer that. Whatever happened to asking a girl out to lunch if you wanted to spend time with her? On a campus with a clear majority of women you would think things would be in their favor. Not so much. Let’s say you are invited to some guy’s room to hang out in a group and you decide to go. After all what else do you have to do on a Saturday night when the only other option is the bingo tournament going on in the pub? You aren’t in this guys room for longer than five minutes before you get the feeling you are in an episode of national geographic – except the rolls are switched. The females (which are the majority in the room) vie for the male’s attention. The three males in the room (odds are obviously in their favor) sit back relaxed and, well, take their pick. Of course the environment does not help; you are socializing in a Damman suite common room that fits about 5 and ½ people. If you so choose to venture into any of the doubles or the singles you have two choices: you can sit on the floor or the bed. It would seem that no one else in the room finds it weird to be sitting in some guy’s bed with the sheets rolled down and a dirty pair of boxers hanging from the mattress. I observe that an unsuspecting freshman has won the competition – or lost depending on your perspective and taking into consideration just exactly what she has won. She basks in the attention as her new drunken upperclassmen friend places his hand on her thigh and hands her another drink. Really it’s such a common scene that it took me a while to realize it’s not normal. After you graduate from Manhattanville lets say you meet someone nice in your office – is your first and only line really going to be “so..uh…you wanna come by my room later?” I think not. What is it about our environment and social dialogue (or lack there of) between males and females that calls for this type of interaction?

I realize that we are young and in college and that society tells us that means we are suppose to approach these four years in college as if they are simply an interval – an exception – to how we spend the rest of our lives. I beg to differ. I think there are ways that one can enjoy college (yes for the drinking and partying too) but still hold meaningful relationships and interactions with the opposite sex. I challenge the males on this campus to attempt a real conversation – in a venue that is not a castle party or their rooms – with a female on this campus. I challenge the females on this campus to come up with a never-been-used witty response to apply the next time a guy asks you to come back to his room and sit on his bed as substitution for real social interaction. If you come up with one, let me know.