It’s Not All in the Name

Is the Harvard man so marketable a commodity that women are willing to pay for the opportunity to meet one? The creators of the new dating website DateHarvardSq are counting on it. The website allows what it describes as “discerning women” to see five profiles of Harvard men each week after paying for a subscription. If the women happen to be drawn to any Harvard men in particular, they can then initiate personal contact. Harvard men are offered an even better deal: They pay nothing to sign up and can reply only to women who strike their interest. But while the dating website claims to offer a valuable service to the men and women it serves, DateHarvardSq degrades both groups via its reductionist premise.

DateHarvardSq promotes serious inequities between the sexes, with the most obvious degradation occurring at females’ expenses. First, women must pay a fee for membership while men can sign up for free, making the men precious commodities and women worth a dime a dozen. Second, the website touts Harvard men but not Harvard women. Although DateHarvardSq claims it is forming similar sites for discerning men and same sex couples, the fact that the men’s website was released first reinforces old beliefs that the Harvard name goes further for men than it does for women. More destructively, the website reinforces the idea that education and intelligence are more attractive qualities in a man than in a woman. Presumably, the creators of DateHarvardSq were not seeking to belittle the women they claim to be serving. Instead, their actions can be seen, in part, as a reflection on society as a whole: It was probably a natural instinct to release a website for Harvard men, and the creators likely saw little wrong with it. Still, the mere existence of the website does nothing to fight against the stereotype that a man’s education is worth more than a woman’s.

Perhaps less obvious is the way the website objectifies men. On DateHarvardSq, men are valued because of their affiliation with Harvard rather than for their unique qualities. Although there are many important traits that have nothing do with one’s university—such as one’s determination or passion for one’s partner—this site reinforces the idea that a name-brand university is a man’s most important trait.

In truth, many Harvard men will eventually find true love in countless different ways. The success of their relationships, however, stems from some connection beyond a Harvard degree and the appreciation of it. Both Harvard men and the women interested in them should know that they are worth more than DateHarvardSq indicates.