Dear Kevin,
You finally noticed me!
Sweater vest after sweater vest, peasant skirt after peasant skirt, for three years I have endeavored to arrest your attention. Knowing you desire a woman with class, I have routinely dined at South on Friday nights wearing an assortment of beige shoulder-padded blazers, hoping to finally meet your gaze from across crowded tables of inappropriately dressed ladies-of-the-night. I wanted you to know I would not be doing anything fun that evening. I was yours: trustworthy and respectful. Alas, even such attempts proved futile. After two and a half years of counseling and taupe wardrobe changes, I can finally cope with the fact that only the real Hillary Clinton can make your fantasies come true.
However, even that epiphany could not deter me from my mission that is your pursuit. In admittedly a desperate act, I wore leggings as pants! After countless balled up pro-con lists accumulated in my bedroom's recycle bin, I finally decided upon the following evening's outfit. Bold. Risqué. Leggings as pants.
Why didn't you see me as a fertile woman with childbearing hips? With a wide-set pelvic structure that could provide you with countless male progeny? For that I blame you! How could you misinterpret my outfit, when every stitch of woolen tan fabric I've worn for you?
No, but really. While I agree that leggings are not pants, it is also true that leggings are not pants just like your reasoning is not reasonable. Your reasoning is that this girl should not have worn leggings as pants because (1) you no longer would consider pursuing her, and (2) because it sends the message that it's okay to disrespect her. You've just made a lot of assumptions there buddy. She's heterosexual. She wants to impress you. Every guy she meets is a potential mate. What she wears reflects her character. If she wears something deemed "risqué" by you, she's got bad self-esteem and lets men disrespect her. Newsflash: She didn't wake up in the morning, ask herself, "What can I wear that says, ‘Disrespect me,'" and then threw on some leggings.
The reason I write a response, Kevin, is that your attitude is a dangerous one to have. Sexual assault is a problem. And the fact that you, a self-declared, classy gentlemen, judges the integrity and intent of a woman by what she's wearing, does not bode well for the movement to stop sexual assault. "What was she wearing?" in any case, whether in South Dining Hall or Club Fever, is never reasonable reasoning.
Anne Spont
senior
off campus
Apr. 5
