Scene and Heard: FM Attend Sex Weekend

After the resounding success of the now annual Harvard Sex Week, Sexual Health Education & Advocacy Throughout Harvard College, the organizers behind the event, decided that conversations about Sex should not be limited to the fall semester. Hence, Harvard’s first annual Sex Weekend; Not an average weekend for the most social of undergrads, but rather a weekend-long series of discussion about all things related to the topics of sex and gender on Harvard’s campus. FM took a look at two events on opposite sides of the gender discussion spectrum: bros and feminists.

7 p.m. Friday, Sever 113: BRO: Examining Masculinity in College“

Where are the bros?” asked moderator Christopher H. Gilbert, Prevention Specialist at the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. A panel-style conversation examining the “bro” and the meaning of masculinity in college seemed to be almost completely devoid of audience members sporting snapbacks, lax pinneys or colorful Vineyard Vines apparel. While this conversation lacked the stereotypical bro perspective from both the audience and the panel itself, it still managed to incorporate opinions from students involved in activities spanning from final clubs and fraternities to dance companies and theatre organizations.

Gilbert began the conversation by asking what it means, exactly, to be a bro. Is it merely a clothing image? Perhaps a more laid back attitude, one that does not “pay as much attention to day-to-day trivialities,” as Seena Khosravi ’13, a member of Sigma Chi and resident of Eliot House suggested.  Or is it more?  Some members of the panel, including Khosravi, posited that bro connections may represent “less deeply emotional friendships,” surface-level relationships that are simply less meaningful.  In addition, taglines like “bros before hoes” and images of white, upper-middleclass, and heterosexual students came to many of the panelists’ minds while discussing the characterization of the conventional bro.

Jonathan K. Stevens ’14, a member of the Consent Assault Awareness & Relationship Educators and President of the Fox final club, offered a different perspective on laid back broism. He suggested that while friendships among self-described “bros” can take many, sometimes negative, forms, “it can also sometimes allow for more comfortable, easy, and hands-off conversations and relationships.”

The panel also considered the role and meaning of masculinity at Harvard. Many panel members stated a belief that projecting confidence is essential to presenting a more masculine identity. Others suggested that masculinity is a trait that can be turned on and off depending on the social setting. With all of these mixed definitions of masculinity and brohood, perhaps it is best to remember, as Corey N. Rosenberg ’13 suggested in response to a question inquiring about the most effective means of breaking into bro culture barriers, that, in the end, “bros are people too.”

7 p.m. Saturday Sever 113: Fish Without Bicycles: A Forum on the Practice of Feminism and Relationships.

Multicolored packaged condoms and vibrators lay casually beside Insominia Cookies and cans of Coke as just over twenty participants chose scattered seats in Sever 113 for “Fish Without Bicycles.” It is a baffling event title for those unaware of its referent. Taken from the quote “a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle,” the phrase makes the case for female independence, suggesting that men are superfluous to women’s needs.

Three Harvard freshmen, Brian W. Ventura, Lisette A. Candia-Diaz and Keyanna Y. Wigglesworth, led forum-style discussions with the audience on different intersections between feminism, relationships, and sex. Ventura and Wigglesworth both began with personal anecdotes about proclaiming their feminism to their parents, setting a precedent for introspection and intimacy that maximized the sparsely populated space.

Candia-Diaz took a difference approach to her forum, playing music clips from different mainstream songs—think “Candy Shop”—then asking participants to deconstruct and contextualize the lyrics. Who knew Nicki Minaj could add to the modern feminist discourse?

At times, the conversation became heated. When one participant described the importance of being a “gentleman” towards women, other members were quick to strike back, arguing that such behavior could actually be reductive and degrading. Despite such confrontation, the general tone remained supportive as conversations cycled back to analyzing the norms of courtship and the dangers of perceived romantic niceties like the man paying a restaurant bill.

As she ended her presentation, the final one of the night, Wigglesworth commented on the high level of rhetoric and thought employed at the event, saying, “You guys just gave me a lot of good ammo for my mom.” The night before, this same Sever classroom had looked at gender dynamics from the perspective of bros, but tonight it was the ladies who got the