Yale Pinup Calendar Parody Mocks Ivy League Stereotypes

Pinup Calendars featuring college students as models are the rage these days, and it was only a matter of time until the fad hit the Ivy League.

Sure enough, two New Haven entrepreneurs have come up with a calendar they call "The Daughters of Yale" with a different Eli belle for each month of the year. But unlike its more serious counterparts at other colleges, this calendar is actually a parody, zeroing in on stereotypes of Ivy students and poking fun at pinup calendars in general.

Amy Rothman, a former cook at Yale Law School, said yesterday that she and Douglas Becker, a recent graduate of the college, decided to do the calendar because they were "amazed at the stereotype figures we saw sitting in the Yale dining halls."

Some of the "looks" featured in the calendar include "punk rocker," "California Golden Girl," "preppy," and "athletic female jock" (pictured at right).

Although the calendar--which recently went on sale in Boston. New York City and throughout Connecticut--was intended to make people laugh, Rothman and Becker have received angry complaints from several feminist groups at Yale.

Rothman and Becker solicited their models directly from the undergraduate class, and Rothman said, "once they saw the light that the calendar was to be taken in, most people we approached agreed to take the role."

Elaine Rosell, who appeared in the calendar as a golden girl, said she didn't think the pictures were sexist, and felt instead that they mocked sexist pinups.

Nevertheless, Rothman said she and Becker are considering a similar project at Harvard, but this time focusing on stereotypical men. "Men are much easier to do because you don't get accused of being sexist."