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Six women who were among the subjects of a "scouting report" that made sexist and demeaning rankings of the physical attributes of the women's soccer team at Harvard University have answered back. The Harvard Crimson recently revealed a tradition of male soccer players compiling the report on members of the women's team. The women who were the subject of such a report -- after being asked to share their feelings privately -- published a letter to the Crimson with their reactions and their names.
"In all, we do not pity ourselves, nor do we ache most because of the personal nature of this attack," the letter says. "More than anything, we are frustrated that this is a reality that all women have faced in the past and will continue to face throughout their lives. We feel hopeless because men who are supposed to be our brothers degrade us like this. We are appalled that female athletes who are told to feel empowered and proud of their abilities are so regularly reduced to a physical appearance. We are distraught that mothers having daughters almost a half century after getting equal rights have to worry about men's entitlement to bodies that aren't theirs. We are concerned for the future, because we know that the only way we can truly move past this culture is for the very men who perpetrate it to stop it in its tracks."
