Misguided Dance Promotion

On Saturday night, the Mather House Committee held “Decadenza”—a House dance in the spirit of the Roman Empire’s wild orgies. A party with an orgy theme is a welcome addition to the Harvard social scene. Unfortunately, the Mather HoCo advertisements for Decadenza tainted the event by including the slogan “Freshman Girls Free” as a marketing ploy and advertising tactic.

Offering first-year women free admission to a Roman-style wild orgy party and calling them “vestal virgins” perpetuates the notion of the first-year girl as a commodity and novelty. The prevalent conception that first-year women are easy sexual targets for upperclass men is already a problem at Harvard; Decandenza’s advertisement only exacerbates this problem.

Specifically targeting first-year women for free or discounted admission to a social event essentially amounts to invidious and subtle discrimination, and it is unacceptable on the Harvard campus. Singling out first-year women for different treatment from other undergraduates can only lead to negative consequences in the long run. It is particularly troubling that the Mather HoCo, an official University group, was responsible for organizing and hosting this event.

It didn’t help that this type of advertising, possibly meant to be humorous, is unoriginal in addition to being offensive. Dance clubs and bars often use admission fee discrimination to attract young women—offering ladies’ nights, which can be tied to age restrictions that admit younger women while requiring that men be older. Mather House is no nightclub; it could at least come up with its own advertising tactics to raise money.

The Decadenza dance is over, but it serves as a reminder of the unfair way first-year women are often treated as sexual objects in the Harvard social scene. Parties—especially those run by University groups—should refrain from using the trite and sleazy marketing scheme of offering discounted admission to first-year women. Of all Harvard’s students, first-year women are already frequent targets of harassment; singling them out and objectifying them at a House dance only reinforces a damaging stereotype.