Some may have noticed that a group of men were passing roses out to women passing by the St. Paul University Catholic Center on Library Mall. These individuals were taking part in a small campaign being spearheaded by Badger Catholic, a spirituality and faith organization on campus according to their website, called Roses in Library Mall.
Perhaps Badger Catholic had good intentions with this, but it was nonetheless a deeply inherently sexist, backwards and utterly ridiculous effort on their part. According to the event’s Facebook page, the goal was to offer Badgers “another viewpoint on love!” Roses were sold to men who would add notes to them with messages to give to passing women telling them they have “inherent dignity and beauty.”
What Badger Catholic offers though is a reminder to the UW-Madison community that sexism and patriarchal social expectations are alive and well in our society and even well educated people can still adhere to such ideas.
The assertion by Badger Catholic with this campaign is 1) only men have the authority to tell women they have dignity and beauty, they offer no opportunity for women to decide this for themselves 2) it ignores that not all people base their definition of dignity and beauty in the same way as Badger Catholic 3) it works to reinforce gender roles and the expectation that all sex is heterosexual while ignoring female sexuality.
This is a beautiful example of the sexual politics that has turned so many people against the Catholic Church. It reminds us that there are still plenty of people who are more concerned with telling others how they should have sex than making real change in the world. It strips away people’s right to choose for themselves and define dignity and beauty for themselves. Thank you Badger Catholic, because without this we would have forgotten that unless a straight, white man tells us with a rose, we don’t have any inherent dignity or beauty.
When the event was first posted it was clearly intended to be a direct rebuttal to the annual condom rose campaign sponsored by Sex Out Loud, UW-Madison’s peer-to-peer sexual health resource according to their website, which corresponds with National Condom Week. The event description named names referring directly to the campaign by Sex Out Loud. That has since been removed. This exhibits a level of pettiness that makes me question the maturity of the organization.
And as much as Badger Catholic might want to disagree, there is a lot of dignity in condom usage. It shows we care about the health and well-being of our partners and ourselves. And there is a lot of beauty in consensual and judgment-free sex. It allows people to lower their barriers, embrace others and themselves, be confident and find pleasure and express passion in a new way.
Thus I must thank Badger Catholic for making a blatantly sexist and patronizing statement to the public, which is easily ruining the reputation of Catholicism on our campus.
This effort by Badger Catholic is incredibly frustrating. As a Catholic it drives me crazy that all too often people like those at Badger Catholic are the faces of my faith in the larger community. It drives me nuts that liberal Catholics like myself, most members of my family and the very Catholic community I grew up a part of in Chicago are ignored because the members of Badger Catholic feel patronizing and archaic views are more important to promote than the more beautiful sides of the Church: charity, caring for the poor, music and art and education.
I was thrilled to see what has been happening in the Vatican this year. Pope Francis I managed to infuse the hierarchy of the Church with a needed breath of new life. He promotes many of the things many Catholics wish to see: charity and good deeds unto others. He has made it clear that Catholics must stop their preaching about sexual ethics and refocus their efforts on making sure that all people are being cared for and that good is done in the world.
So, thank you again Badger Catholic, for doing the exact opposite and restricting yourselves to a view of the world that is more in line with blind and bigoted members of the hierarchy who are losing sway as we open up to new ideas in our society, while ignoring the much more applaud worthy message of Pope Francis.
If you really want to let people know that they have inherent dignity and beauty, go out and feed the poor, house the homeless, do good in our community and get campus involved and engaged in a positive way rather than negative meddling.
And if this must be about men telling women they have dignity and beauty, don’t make it about sex. Next time, write notes like: We believe you should have real power in the Vatican. We are sorry you can’t walk down the street without fear. We are sorry that we will make more money this year than you, even though we do the same work. We are sorry that women hold up half the sky, but they’re only given half the credit.
Michael Podgers is a member of Sex Out Loud, but writes opinions independently for The Daily Cardinal. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
