Weintraub and Schiff: A week to question non-conformity
By Rachel Schiff and Seth Weintraub
Guest Columnist
Published Monday, November 9, 2009
http://www.yaledailynews.com/opinion/guest-columns/2009/11/09/weintraub-and-schiff-week-question-non-conformity/ (http://www.yaledailynews.com/opinion/guest-columns/2009/11/09/weintraub-and-schiff-week-question-non-conformity/)
In a recent runoff to elect a representative to the Mr. Yale competition, one of the residential colleges elected a female contestant. The Yale College Council, confused by this turn of events, initially disqualified the contestant from the competition. Upon further consideration, however, the group reinstated her. The YCC's e-mail readmitting her into the Mr. Yale competition stated that, while Mr. Yale has previously been "a competition of all males because the idea of having a female pageant was received by many as objectifying the female body," they were glad she had "expressed interest in competing and very much respect that [she is] against being defined by conventional standards of gender."
The YCC and this contestant have all taken steps that the Yale campus, and society in general, are also beginning to take. Their conversation is symbolic of the larger dialogue around the nation about the importance and significance of one's gender at a time when some are claiming we live in a "post-gender world."