While reading Whitney Beckett's self-denigrating article "What Lies Between The Hookup and The Marriage?," the phrase "speak for yourself" came rushing to mind.
None of her claims give women credit for having lives outside of dating and marriage, much less minds of their own. Dating "woes" aside, her ideas perpetuate the double standard of sexual transgression by claiming that girls who participate in hooking up are essentially giving in to male advances, rather than to their own personal desires. Furthermore, she places fraternities, all of them white, at the summit of social life, thereby placing sororities on their knees, other social outlets notwithstanding.
Where marriage is concerned, Beckett's claims about marriage imply that all women are dying to be married soon. Beckett never gives women credit for having other priorities to attend to that would inevitably delay the traditional path to commitment, such as study abroad/future travels, money, enjoyment of single life or I don't know, a college degree.
In her search for middle ground, Beckett presents dating rituals as intrinsically "normal". However, some women might find some of these rituals superficial, contrived or even boring. While she may articulate the views of some students, Beckett is not the universal voice and therefore her generalizations should be explicitly placed into question, if not dismissed.
Aprelle Neal
Trinity '05
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