Dear Mr. Mullen ("Be a man," Feb. 9),
While you may not be the type of man to use conditioner or be in touch with your emotions, don't expect that you are all that is man. While I agree with you and Mr. Metz in regarding Siegfried's "Day of Man" as a very honorable day, I must side with Mr. Metz in his fears about what exactly Notre Dame men think it means to be a man. I have never been a man, so I cannot guarantee I know exactly what I am talking about, but it seems you have no problems assuming you know what us women want to date. I have known quite a few men in my day, and not all of them are "to a certain standard of masculinity." At least, they don't abide by your standard of masculinity. I have known men to cry, use conditioner and they still have had quite a few girls chasing after them.
As for your thoughts about Fr. Sorin and Corby, I am sure both men wore coats in the winter. Their statues are also wearing robes, and Fr. Sorin's has a hat, thus even the statues are aware of the weather. As for your comment about Stonehenge, I like how you neglect to mention the brave women who are also being honored in that memorial.
Again I don't want to take anything away from "Day of Man," in fact I enjoy seeing them outside of DeBartolo and dropping the last of my week's change into their cups. Yet, if you are going to assume that girls only want to date the tough-weathered men, you are wrong, sir. And in fact, it is phallocentric and discriminatory to assume that all those with X and Y chromosomes must be held to the same standard of manhood.
Good Luck on Valentine's Day,
Christine Fagan
junior
Farley Hall
Feb. 9
