Don’t get distracted. The 24 Syracuse University women that grace the pages of the 2005 College View calendar are lookin’ hot – but that doesn’t make it cool.

Ignore the booty shorts, the cleavage and the flowing hair. People will tell you not to judge, that everyone involved knew what they were getting into. That’s probably true – and it only makes things worse.

Flip through the 12 months of photos and try to figure it out. The models and the creators are all mature, educated and independent – but they’re playing into every negative stereotype in the book.

The girls in the pin-up are wrapped in various states of embrace, wearing swimsuits, angel costumes and Santa Claus hats, depending on the season. And at the end, the three SU guys that created the calendar have their own photo – of course, they’re striking their best ‘pimpin’ it’ pose.

So it’s fun for a few minutes, but what does it say about us? We like to objectify women, dress them up for the occasion, make sure they’re showing enough leg to impress all the boys. And the guys have to eat it up, constantly questing for dominance (and mackin’ it to some hoes in the process).

But wait, it’s college, and everyone is cool with it. Many students, even if they wouldn’t buy or pose for the calendar, don’t care at all.

‘You don’t have to buy it; you don’t have to look at it,’ said Ashley Kuly, a junior design/tech major. ‘But there is a market for it.’

That’s a reasonable response, of course, and Ashley said she understood all the calendar’s flaws. But there’s a market for a lot of things that are unhealthy and dangerous – and to write it off as ‘what the kids want’ stoops to the lowest common denominator.

And whether it’s a few months or a few years away, all of us will eventually have to become ‘real people.’ When that happens, our experience at SU is intended to guide us in the right direction, not give us a backward view of women’s rights and their role in society.

But don’t lose too much sleep. The calendar is more of an anomaly than a gauge of Syracuse culture. The women I talked to said they wouldn’t have posed, and the guys seem to understand why, even if they disagree.

‘If I was going to get money for getting naked,’ senior religion and ethics major Mike Nichols said with a finger-snap, ‘sign me up.’

Let’s hope there’s no photo shoot any time soon.

ROB HOWARD IS THE EDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE DAILY ORANGE. E-MAIL HIM AT ROHO@DAILYORANGE.COM.

Published on February 2, 2005 at 12:00 pm