Kevin Carty’s ’15 recent article in The Herald (“Brown and its hidden conservatism,” Jan. 25) makes the provocative claim that Brown is secretly much more conservative than one might think. One of Carty’s main points is that most Brown students, despite growing up in a two-parent household and benefiting from it, “shy away from asserting the importance of two-parent families because it smacks of the ‘family values’ agenda.” Carty calls Brown students’ unwillingness to “advocate two-parent homes” both “willfully ignorant” and “hypocritical.” There is an important point at stake within Carty’s first point: that Brown students should automatically champion a particular social structure because they were raised within it. As he puts it, “Why wouldn’t we advocate this structure if it has helped us so much?”
This claim is troublesome. Growing up in a two-parent home is a privilege — indeed, growing up in any home is a privilege. Contrary to Carty’s belief, I applaud Brown students for not merely advancing their personal experiences and thus effectively shaming people who grew up in a single-parent household by doing so. I actually believe that Brown students are being progressive by not blindly championing their own experiences, even if they have benefitted from them.
If Brown is conservative at all, it is not because most Brown students grew up with two parents in their home, but because of a stereotype that Brown students are “sexually liberated.” In reality, the supposed sexual progressiveness of Brown students should be examined more rigorously. For example, Carty takes for granted events and organizations such as the Naked Doughnut Run and FemSex. He says Brown is a sexually liberated space because activities and organizations like these exist, but I would argue that both activities should be more prominently discussed throughout campus. These institutions — unique to Brown — give the illusion of sexual liberalism, but in fact they may hint at a troubling conservatism that exists within Brown.
For starters, an activity like the Naked Doughnut Run cannot be lumped together with other “sexually liberating” organizations like FemSex or MSex. One of these is a quirky activity performed once a semester and the other two are serious organizations that allow students to enter a brave space in which they can talk about difficult issues relating to sexuality. To the general Brown population, the Naked Doughnut Run and organizations like FemSex and MSex are essentially equated as activities for those few people who openly talk about sex and are completely comfortable with their bodies — those who are sexually liberated. In fact, the latter organizations exist precisely because many Brown students come from conservative sexual backgrounds and want to become more comfortable in understanding and sharing their sexual experiences.
Indeed, Brown students are probably more likely to know the date and time of a naked party than to know what to do if they have their sexual boundaries violated. To me, this is the real hidden conservatism of Brown — many students are encouraged by peers to engage in sexual acts instead of discovering their sexual preferences to an extent that allows them to be comfortable with their bodies. I do not mean to disparage the positive experiences that one may have during a naked party or a similar sexualized event on campus. Nor do I mean to imply that one cannot engage in sexual activities without fully discovering all of the nuances of sexual desire. The potential to celebrate one’s sexuality through respectful and fun activities is a beautiful reality of our campus. I only mean to say that it may be unwise or even harmful to attend a party such as SexPowerGod without knowing how to make informed decisions about one’s body during the actual event. Many students come from sexually conservative backgrounds that make them afraid to talk even to their closest friends about sexuality. Their inability to do so can hinder their understanding of their own bodies and sometimes lead to harmful decision-making.
I challenge Carty’s assertion that Brown students are conservative merely because they benefited from living in a two-parent household. What I do think is reminiscent of a kind of conservatism is the ongoing struggle to understand and articulate one’s sexual experiences in order to make healthier sexual decisions.
Though some students may favor private discourse in discovering their sexual preferences, all students should know where to go if they want to engage in dialogue about important matters relating to sexual pleasure and health. I urge everyone to take advantage of Brown’s resources. Whether you want to be in a discussion-based workshop or you just want to know a quick fact about safer sex methods from a sexual health peer group, you are on the right campus to navigate these kinds of topics. Brown has a plethora of resources for a student population that is truly “liberal” — one that is unafraid to investigate and love their bodies and the bodies of others.
David Romero ’14 used to be conservative about topics regarding sexuality, but then he explored the awesome resources at Brown. He can be reached at david_romero@brown.edu.
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