I know some may consider this blasphemous, but I do not follow Old Row on Instagram. Though it seems like a harmless comedy account, it’s hard to deny that its content is aspirational for many college students, or at least indicative of what college should be like.
College is a period of exploration and freedom, which inherently are not bad things. From the safety of our phones, walking in the Grove between classes, we can laugh at people falling over in a bar. The people who appear on this account have agency as to whether or not they are on it. People often submit videos and pictures. Old Row has taken down posts when people asked.
However, it’s hard to deny that headless forms of bikini-clad women on coolers are overt sexualization and, depending on whether or not those photos were submitted by their own volition, it’s objectifying. Vanessa Grigoriadis, a journalist and author of the book Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus, said, “We need more honesty that there is a sexualized culture, that girls are participating in it, but that they deserve to be able to participate in it without being assaulted.”
Scrolling through videos of vulnerable girls stumbling in the dark alongside headless bikini photos on accounts like Girls on Game Day and Old Row leads to a sense of dehumanization and — as a female college student who doesn’t want to stay in my dorm every day — fear. Going out is never a fully enjoyable experience for me because I grew up surrounded by cultural norms that say I would likely deserve whatever happens to me, no matter what I do or wear.
Old Row reminds me of, at the very least, the viral embarrassment that these photos lead to, and at the very worst, what happens when the camera turns off and people look the other way while someone gets taken advantage of. Chanel Miller went out one night, was incapacitated, in a state like what you might see in “comedy videos” on Old Row, and ended with an experience that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Her assailant, Brock Turner, got only three months in jail. Turner was allowed to walk away from his college decisions, but Chanel did not have that privilege and was forced to carry the burden of his.
We have agency in what content we consume and which social media accounts we follow, and, though I’m all about having the freedom to define your own college experience, some women don’t have that luxury. One wrong outfit or relationship status leads to society putting the blame on that woman’s character. Old Row perpetuates dangerous “boys will be boys” behavior and highlights toxic attitudes that we allow to persist within our campus. A culture where vulnerable women become a laughing stock leads to bystanders blaming survivors for their own actions, which is not a laughing matter. We never lose a party at Ole Miss, but we must be aware that there are people who lose at our expense.
Katie Dames is a junior international studies major from St. Louis, Missouri.
