Of fuck lists and feminists

Here's something I stumbled on a couple of days ago: The Duke Fuck List.

In case you don't want to click on the link, it's a PowerPoint presentation made by a recent Duke graduate about the multiple sexual encounters she's had with 13 Duke athletes. It's quite a detailed list, wherein she breaks down the penis size, aggressiveness in bed, and overall attractiveness of the guys she's slept with.

She had initially forwarded it to two friends and thought that it would remain between the three of them. But as often happens to things shared over the Internet, the list quickly became viral and now everyone is either pissed, embarrassed, or really smug, depending on how they placed.

But what has been interesting to me has been the discussions about what this list means with regards to what it means to be a feminist.

When I first saw the list -- and got my laughter under control -- the first thought in my mind was "You go, girl1!" Why shouldn't a girl enjoy her sexuality and engage in consensual sex? And why shouldn't she objectify and rate their performance as well, since men have been doing that since forever?

And some of the disparaging stuff she says really would cut a man down to size (heh). For instance, she describes one guy's penis like this:

"That gorgeous, perfect body of his was supporting a penile structure so disproportionately small I had to take several deep breaths and force a smile before commencing the hookup session, lying every few minutes (when asked) about how he was 'the biggest I had ever seen'. Also, he came pretty damn quickly."

I thought all the negative comments would be from guys who would predictably call her a slut and a whore. So I was surprised that a lot of the commenters objecting were female, and that they were objecting about things I didn't even think about.

Take this comment, for example:

This is shitty because she is treating her male partners in the very way that we discourage the males to treat their women partners.

How the hell is degrading men a 'success' for feminism?"

And I have to admit that I honestly have not thought about feminism in that way, ever.

So, I wanted to ask you guys: Is this lady an enlightened and independent woman enjoying her sexuality? Or is she hurting the cause of feminists everywhere?

Tangentially related: I am never e-mailing anything personal to ANYBODY EVER AGAIN.

Also, also: I have copies of the slides unblurred and with the names not redacted. If anybody's interested.

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Additional information here

I was going to write about Tyler Clementi and the spate of gay suicides that happened in the United States as the main topic for discussion, but everybody else has been doing such a great job already that I'm just putting this up as another voice in the growing crowd.