September 9, 1985 · Cavalier Daily

Calendar Girls Not Seen As Typical

This letter to the editor objects to Pi Kappa Alpha's "The Girls of UVA" calendar on the grounds that the calendar's purported depiction of "typical" UVA women does not reflect the diversity of individual women at the University.

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1985-09-09 - Calendar Girls Not Seen As Typical.pdf
Subject
Creator
Luis Alvarez, Jr.
Source
Cavalier Daily
Publisher
Cavalier Daily
Date
1985-09-09
Text
Calendar Girls Not Seen As Typical
It offends my sensibilities to read of the intentions underlying the circulation of Pi Kappa Alpha's "The Girls of UVA” calendar (The Cavalier Daily 3, 1985). While the interest of gaining advance publicity is dismissible as a clever self-help rush device, I find it more distressing that Carla Gray — Phi Mu's Vice President – passes the calendar off as a vehicle "to show pretty, typical U.Va. sorority girls." Typical? Carla, where were you born, anyway? On the infield of Churchill Downs?
However harmful or harmless the calendar turns out to be, if Carla's sentiment is the “typical” one behind it, then we should all withdraw from Virginia by default of bigotry, if not prejudice. Carla's comment, and Pi Kappa Alpha's calendar, are purblind products of "traditional' Virginia sympathies that are long dated and contrary to the fact of the diverse composition of our student body. Both products are crimes insofar as they impose images and definitions of what is “typical" at Virginia, where indeed no such absolute pertains – especially in 1986. And perhaps most tragically, both products predispose first-year women and other potential rushees to adopt a closed attitude and appearance that they believe is the "true” measure of admission to Virginia sororities – to the disrepute of Virginia's sorority system and the dismaying homogenization of each woman who enters rush as an individual.
Luis Alvarez Jr.
LAW I
Tags
Date Added January 4, 2017
Date Modifed December 9, 2017
Collection Cavalier Daily: articles about gender discrimination

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