To the editor:

I find myself perturbed by your choice of the headlining article.

Its appeal revolves around two key components: shock factor and superficiality. By making this article the headline you are projecting to me, as a reader, that the issues you find important, as a messenger of the news, are those only concerned with the most trivial, stereotypical aspects of college life: partying, drugs, social life and, most importantly, sex.

I understand the appeal of this article: it is controversial and relevant. However, I cannot respect the glorification of systematic objectification. Phrases such as “grew tired of rating females” are not something that should be thrown around casually. I don’t understand why I am supposed to respect people who aim to quantify the idea of attraction, because they can’t understand why it isn’t only physical. I don’t see how it is possible to simplify human connections into a formula. I also don’t see why it is necessary.

Moreover, I find the website counterproductive. Isn’t the point of college to try out new things and carve our own experiences? I don’t see how this website is improving our community. I don’t see its usefulness. I see a stolen algorithm, an uninspired idea and a relatively big ego from two guys who seem to think that they’ve “figured out college.” You can’t define fun. You can’t define attraction, whether sexual or romantic. You only know it when you experience it.

I also find the article and the website offensive to me as a woman. While I am aware that the site is organized around more than just rating females, I cannot ignore that the references made in this article to attraction or “easiness” are primarily geared toward females/female organizations. The mere fact that there is a category of “easiest” is disgusting. If a male is interested in finding out which sorority is “easiest,” doesn’t that make him “easy?” It is a completely backwards concept in such a modern, accepting sexual culture.

I also want to draw attention to the unhealthy amount of emphasis it puts on sex. Is there a need to include categories such as: Which school has the most sex? Or: What bars are you most likely to hook up at? Questions like these create unrealistic expectations — setting sex as a goal. It’s almost as if sex is presented as a trophy you are given after a long drunken night of spitting out lines you heard on “Jersey Shore” or an enticing factor when deciding which school to join.

We are better than this. Just because our school has been receiving horrible press, doesn’t mean we have to present ourselves as vapid partiers. I know there is so much more to the members of Pipe Dream, the founders of RankBU and the student body than just rating girls, getting fucked up and judging people.

Caitlin M. Powers
BU Junior