Three college students from Duke University have been accused of raping an exotic dancer at a wild Frat party. They held her down, beat her, choked her, then raped and sodomized her (innocent until proven guilty, or whatever). After the party, one of the students emailed his buddies. He promised that next bash, they’d kill the stripper. Then they’d skin her. The students were white, arrogant, and wealthy. The young girl was black. They told her, "Thank your grandpa for my cotton shirt,” as she gave them a lap dance.
As tempting as it might be, this isn’t a story of bubbling-up century-old racism. This isn’t a story of good-ol’ southern boys, echoes of their Plantation past. No. These young men are Northeastern, born and bred. They’re Abercrombie poster children of a not-so-bygone era, white SUVs, wild Frat parties, and Lacrosse bailiwicks withstanding.
More accurately, this is a story of masculinity unchecked by virtue. This is a story of entitlement and socially dignified violence, of sport ethics gone wild. These men are athletes: taught to be warriors, taught to win with aggression and taught to observe not a code of conduct universally extended, but of “battlefield honor” -- to take no prisoners, to be unified in victory and solitary in defeat. The team’s one black member and only Durham native will not describe the events in question. The mores precipitated in a group of athletes are not based on rationality, but on brute strength and high testosterone levels. Authority, quite tersely, is measured in bicep size. The group, trained to kill, withers towards barbarism if not also taught to respect and to honor. The Duke Lacrosse team had free reign over the campus.
Not all men are reckless slobs. However, (dare I suggest) tropisms towards aggression and masculine vindication are not relegated to the sports’ fields alone – but are existent in society at large. The eternal wisdom of “don’t ask, don’t tell” translates to these athletes as “win on the lacrosse field at any price,” and to our soldiers as “win on the battlefield at any price,” and to our corporations as “turn a profit at any price.” Win and fuck all collateral damage in the process.
We see a tacit acceptance of reckless and domineering masculinity on our sports' fields, because we have an acceptance of reckless and domineering masculinity all throughout society. These are the white, rich, entitled children of today that are the white, rich, and entitled Enron executives of tomorrow.
We must not sacrifice prudence on the cross of passion and aggression and victory and masculinity: “boys will be boys” should not erect a framework that legitimizes “boys will be brutes” and “men will be monsters.” As a society, we must not purchase an identity at the cost of civility. Justice must be served within the context of the problem, teaming and pervasive as it is.
Have we sold our collective soul to sports?
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