You don’t know what sexy is. Sexy is not degrading yourself to the point of dancing like a stripper in order for some fraternity brother to ogle you for a few minutes. Sexy is not furthering sorority stereotypes and being catty with other girls to win the fleeting approval of men.
Yet, Sigma Chi’s annual Derby Days Airbands event seems define sexiness in this demeaning manner.
We totally understand individuals voluntarily participate in this event (except for those who are pressured by their “sisters” to take part despite their unwillingness).
Furthermore, we acknowledge that grinding and dirty dancing can be fun.
We like to break it down every once in a while. But this event is literally girls trying out-slut each other for male approval.
That is a totally different story.
We also recognize that this is a significant fundraising event that garners a lot of support for Sigma Chi’s national philanthropy, Brenner’s Children’s Hospital.
In the past five years, they have raised over 80,000 dollars for a worthy cause.
However, we take issue with the troubling implications of Airbands and the perverted attention-getting obsession the event advocates.
Her Campus recently ran a story explaining what is supposedly so appealing about Airbands (“Girls Gone Wild, Airbands Style,” April 17).
The article argued that Airbands was actually empowering because “feeling like a sexy chick is awesome.” In addition, the writer claimed that Airbands was not degrading because “girls…are admittedly, selfish creatures who want to feel as hot as we know we are!”
Lastly, the article really moved feminism forward when it stated, “Feeling superior to other girls doesn’t hurt, either. And, as the ultimate victors, we are untouchable!”
So, wait. Bitchiness, cattiness, vulgar dance moves – these qualities are what constitutes sexy?
This is a fundamental perversion of the definition of sexiness.
Feeling sexy should come from self-confidence, assurance in your abilities as well as your intelligence, and yes, beauty. But beauty is actual beauty only when you are not in a context that demands you be ogled by men while shaking your ass in their face.
Sexuality is an important part of being a woman, but we have a problem by how Airbands defines it. Furthermore, women are already known as the sex that can’t get along with each other. This event encourages girls to resent each other and put others down based on extraordinarily petty evaluations.
You can’t say that the girls at Airbands didn’t look at other girls and tell themselves that they looked hotter in their black spandex hotpants and pinnies.
The Her Campus article looks at these “girl fights” as positive, declaring “As the night goes on, the ladies increase their catty sentiments. And they love it.”
According to what this article and what Airbands represents to them, sexiness comes from “outslutting” and defeating other girls in a contest of who can perform the most vulgar moves.
What a better way to represent our sex than to dance like a bimbo and put down your fellow (wo)man.
Way to express solidarity as a gender.
We understand that women are regularly degraded in our contemporary society, in the media and popular culture.
However, the women that participated in Airbands are all smart enough to get into this school.
They should be showing off their intellectual ability rather than their “hot” bodies.
This begs the question of what you “win” by participating in this event. Bragging rights for being the “hottest” sorority? Cool. That won’t make guys like you more. And if it does, it will only last one night.
What about this event is empowering for women? This is pitting girls against each other, all the while being judged by a handful of men.
Airbands takes away all agency and power from the girls performing.
If you want to dance provocatively, more power to you. If you want to dance for money, that’s fine and a personal choice.
But don’t do it because you want the two-second approval of some fraternity.
And definitely don’t say it’s empowering.
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