College of Engineering sophomore Justin Doody, the creator of the controversial website RateBU.com that allows Boston University students to rank the attractiveness of their female classmates, defended himself and the site at a student meeting Wednesday night.
About 25 people debated RateBU at The Women’s Resource Center for a “Rate This!” discussion.
Doody remained defiant despite the majority of the crowd denouncing the premise of his site.
“You’re always going to be judged – it’s the culture we live in,” he said.
“[RateBU.com] fosters the conditions for women to be a specific target of objectification,” the WRC states on its site. “The website uniquely places individuals in a position to be judged solely on the criteria of physical attributes and attractiveness. Not only is this a faulty standard by which to judge an individual, it is specifically targeted towards a group of people: women.”
“The problem arises because there is no consent to put the pictures up,” said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Jennifer Kole.
Some attendees said safety is also a big concern.
“We were scared we would be looked at by random people we didn’t know – it’s a legitimate fear,” said CAS junior Lizzie Whetstone. “It pisses me off that we’re paying $50,000 to be in this environment. I’m pissed at Dean [of Students Kenneth] Elmore and the administration for not having the balls to put an end to this.”
Student Union members, some of whom also attended the WRC meeting, passed a resolution at their final meeting on Monday condemning RateBU.
“We think a website like this is not doing any good for the university,” said Union President Arthur Emma, a CAS senior. “If you have pride in your school, why wouldn’t you discontinue the website?”
No formal plans against Doody were made at the “Rate This!” discussion.
Students can join the site, which launched Friday, by using their BU email addresses. Once they confirm their username and password, they can log on and begin voting for who is “hotter.”
So far, 1.5 million votes have been cast on more than 800 women.
Doody remained anonymous until Sunday when an article by the online student magazine The Quad showed that he had indicated himself to be the site’s founder via Facebook posts on a friend’s wall.
Doody said he came up with the idea for RateBU.com after watching “The Social Network,” a film about Mark Zuckerberg’s journey to creating social networking site Facebook.
“The concept is the same as Zuckerberg’s FaceMash but executed in what I hope is a legal way,” he said. “It’s a gray area of the law.”
Like Zuckerberg, Doody has received an overwhelming amount of both negative and positive feedback for the website.
“I knew that there would be some negative feedback, but over 400 people like my site,” he said. “It’s grown so much faster than I’d expected.”
Doody said the site is “not meant to be malicious” and that he plans on adding male BU students to the site eventually.
“It wasn’t meant to be sexist at all,” he said. “There’s a very vocal minority, I just created a channel for it.”
However, though the site is popular, many students and members of the BU community said they find it offensive.
About 50 women have already asked Doody to remove their photos off the site, he said.
In addition, 30 people are members of the Facebook group “BU Students Against RateBU.com,” and 126 have signed an online petition looking to end the website.
College of Communication junior Nicole Rojas, founder of the RateBU.com protest group on Facebook, said she created the group because she thinks the website is sexist.
“As a woman at BU, I find it utterly disgusting that this site was put up,” she said. “As a women’s studies minor, I had to take action.”
However, some students found the site more entertaining than offensive.
“It’s just funny and entertaining,” said Miguel Valdez, a CAS freshman. “If you can see yourself, it means you’re hot, so why be mad?”
“It’s not offensive, it’s just funny,” added CAS freshman Alex Mecattaf.
School of Management freshman Sam Visser said the site is a “good idea” because it is “very addictive.”
Faculty members and administrators generally disapprove of the site.
“It’s depressing to me that young women, or any women, are ‘judged’ by others solely on the basis of their looks,” said women’s studies professor Barbara Gottfried. “I see from the website that the creator’s idea of equality is to objectify guys in the same way. But as I argue in my WS 340 class, while men have many ways of accessing power and expressing their power in the world, women have far fewer, especially from the perspective of a sexist society.”
Women’s studies assistant professor Carrie Preston also expressed concern over the site.
“I absolutely feel that posting photographs of women on a rating website without their consent is unethical and disrespectful,” she said. “It is further evidence of our damaging culture of beauty worship, and it indicates a troubling assumption that the images of women are available to be manipulated/posted by others.”
Elmore said although he is “disappointed that a site like this has that kind of power,” BU cannot take it down because it is an independent site.
“We try hard not to tell BU students what to do in cyber world,” he said in an interview with The Daily Free Press.
However, he added, “Sites like this get their power from people going on to them and using them. [RateBU] is a site filled entirely of user generated content.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
Just a note- There are over 200 people in the facebook group protesting the site, not 30. There are 30 people on the facebook page, which was just started last night at 1 am in an effort to get the word out to more people, as the facebook group makes this difficult.
Also, this article doesn’t quote some of the people who were at the meeting who expressed feelings of fear, sexual harassment, and deep frustration with the site. I know some of these people may have not wanted to be quoted because of problems they have already had with the site, but I think it is important that there are people who have deleted their facebook accounts, gone to judicial affairs, and feel that this has created an unsafe living environment for them.
I know there are a lot of BU students, on twitter and facebook, who are saying “what’s the big deal?” or “there are way more important things to discuss.’ Yes, maybe in the worldwide scheme of things wikileaks and DADT are more important. But there are people right here on your campus hurting and in fear because of this, and trivializing their concerns is just contributing to the problem. Yes, this website is user-generateed and I would discourage anyone from adding their friends to it. But this problem is not going to be solved until this site is shut down pending significant changes to the approval process for pictures, ensuring that only people who want to be on the site are on there.
Also, there has been a lot of press about this, and a lot of people have complained about how bad BU looks in all of this. I too am concerned about this, and I would encourage you to think about how the media coverage could be turned back positively if BU students have a unified front against this site, and proclaim that this does NOT represent the BU we all know, and we will not allow our fellow students to be treated in this way.
I hope you realize that by “spreading the world” you are likely strengthening the sites support group rather than hindering its expansion. The more press it gets the more popular it will become regardless of whether or not its positive–any press is good press. Remember the fourloko craze a couple months ago? How all the negative coverage made it increasingly popular until the state banned it? its the same thing except that there is nothing illegal about so BU and MA cannot do anything about it.
“It’s depressing to me that young women, or any women, are ‘judged’ by others solely on the basis of their looks,” said women’s studies professor Barbara Gottfried. “I see from the website that the creator’s idea of equality is to objectify guys in the same way. But as I argue in my WS 340 class, while men have many ways of accessing power and expressing their power in the world, women have far fewer, especially from the perspective of a sexist society.”
I don’t quite understand her argument, can someone please elaborate? She states Doody’s idea of equality (Both men and women objectified in the same way) but she fails to elaborate on hers?
I want to clarify the use of my quotes in this article. Although I am frustrated with the administrations inaction, I know it is not the cause of any one person, specifically Dean Elmore. I am more frustrated that sites like this exist and have allowed people to express their misogyny with the click of a button. Last nights meeting, which was attended by over 50 people, re-energized my hope in the students at BU and proved that they care about issues and are willing to take a role in our community to change this destructive behavior. I encourage anyone who opposes RateBU to join the group on facebook and to visit the Women’s Resource Center for support or to become involved in actively fighting this website on our campus.
The right way to classify this website is “stupid.” It’s far less about chauvinism or objectifying women than it is a plain old useless idea. Not to mention, it’s merely a derivation from existing programs and web pages, including the now-defunct “buttercouple.com” and other online tournament-style vote systems, so it isn’t novel, either.
To say, “you’re always going to be judged – it’s the culture we live in” is to do absolutely nothing for yourself or society. It’s an empty statement that reflects the very mindstate that got our society to this greedy, self-centered, and judgmental place. Rather than adding to the problem, the time and effort spent on RateBU could have been spent on an equally-compelling, but more intelligent application of Doody’s skills. It’s a shame.
I can’t speak for all men, but I’m pretty sure I speak for more than Doody can on this topic. RateBU is a useless, problem-continuing idea that makes the entire community look and feel badly. I urge Doody to take his efforts to a more intelligent and productive area. Something he and his peers can be proud of.
Hahaha… his name is Doody.
You could easily do something like this on Facebook, Friendster or your own blog. If you want to be upset about something, how about the obscene rise of tuition costs, textbook costs, and some of the lackluster professors? Oh wait, you’re just a bunch of kids who instead of studying are looking for something to complain about. Maybe you can say ‘RateBU caused me to fail my ecom final’
And yes, I went to BU, and I wish a site like this existed back then. 😉
Hi Saeed –Thanks for the question. Here’s the rest of what I emailed to Sydney Shea [the author of the article]:
In other words, to judge men on their looks is demeaning, but neither men nor women take it very seriously, nor does it usually close down possibilities for them. But judging women on their looks is still the dominant paradigm for assessing women, thus it’s much more destructive and limiting to do so.
its so cute you girls are taking action
Lizzie,
Kenneth Elmore is the dean of students at BU. He is the person primarily responsible for ensuring that students act in accordance with BU’s ethical code of conduct. It is not acceptable within BU’s or any university’s standard of behavior to sexually harass and degrade fellow students. This is the only purpose of this web site.
Dean Elmore has failed to act forcefully to shut it down, which he has every tool at his disposal to do, first and foremost by disciplining the students running and participating in this site. He is instead engaging in academic hand wringing about free expression. He should be held accountable.
You should not apologize.
Lizzie,
Since you have a very legitimate fear of being seen by people you don’t know, I would advise you to never go out in public ever again. Nobody has ever commented on the level of your attractiveness as they passed by you on the street, nor will anyone ever start up a conversation with you at a bar, party, or any sort of social get-together because they think you are attractive. People only start talking to people with good personalities, which they can clearly discern from one look at you. Good luck in your quest to avoid being seen by people you don’t know.
As a female junior at BU, I think this site is hilarious. Justin is simply feeding the prevailing superficiality of BU’s campus.
My sole concern with this website is that people are posting photos of other people without their knowledge, some of which are clearly unflattering. This can be slightly embarrassing even though it’s partially people’s fault for making their photos available to the public, or supposed “friends,” on Facebook. In Justin’s defense, I’ve come to accept the website’s existence because there is nothing we can do about it. If people are going to live in such fear of having their photo be up there, put your own photo up before someone else inevitably does for you; you only have one shot. That’s my view on things. Either way, you’re going to end up on this site. Would you rather have it be a photo beyond your Facebook profile picture that you already allow the world to see freely? I honestly don’t see what the big deal besides having a bad photo of you up there. Thankfully, there’s no ranking system beyond the top 25 or comment boxes. If there was, then maybe this would be a more worthwhile discussion.
Also, these sexist comments don’t hold in reality. The website isn’t specific to females. There’s a boy version of rateBU that I’m sure BU girls have no problem with.
This guy is a Zuckerberg wannabe. Both egotistical aholes with a false sense of entitlement.
Alright guys and girls. By the end of the year, RateBU will be a relatively inactive site. The Internet is full of crazy things but, to me, RateBU is only as popular as it is because it’s so new and there’s so much press attention feeding it.
But, believe it or not, there is a sort of natural selection involved with the Internet. Hell, that idea is almost entirely what Digg bases itself on. The groundswell of consumer audiences coming together to make a decision that ultimately represents the opinion of the majority. The fact of the matter is, RateBU is so unoriginal and banal that it will not survive.
The Social Network did a great job setting the stage for the success of the website, and the press attention kept the buzz going. But the content of the website is so effing stupid that once those teeter out, the website is as good as dead. Remember ChatRoulette? Yeah, that was over pretty quick. The idea itself was good, but the content was so offensive (I’m talking about the penises) that the groundswell made an executive decision and its user base dropped by over 1.5 million in just 3 months.
The same will happen of RateBU.
I appreciate the work the WRC has done to defend women’s rights. But the best thing for us to do is just forget about this site. The press already had its run with it. The only thing keeping it alive is the amount of attention the BU community gives it.
Those that disagree with this site — good job. You started the wave of the soon-to-be majority and in no time flat everyone else will grow bored and follow suit. You know why? Cause the website just isn’t all that entertaining.
All interesting posts….I think the site is funny. It is really no different than the ‘Hot or Not” site from the early 2000s. Many of you were probably in Jr. High back then and your parents regulated your internet usage. This is not a new concept just a spinoff of a few different flavors or ideals; facebook, hot or not.
I remember when I was a freshman in college back in 2000 I use to pass my time during class by clicking ratings on hot or not web site. It was funny and a good way to pass through a boring class.
I think the real issue here is photographing individuals and their privacy. In the state of mass it is legal to take pictures in public as long as you are openly taking pictures…aka…not concealing a camera…etc. Now once those pictures are posted to the user community they are no longer owned by the person who posted the pictures.
Ownership transfers to the web site that maintains the content. The site operator/owner is the owner and it is this persons goodwill that allows the pictures to be removed from the site.
I think people need to be better educated on their rights and be aware when people are taking pictures…the responsibility lies with those posting images and those who allow their images to be taken. I think the creator of this site is profiting socially from a user generated community. He gave you folks the highway. He didn’t give you the vehicle or tell you where to drive…you drove yourself…welcome to the world of user developed communities…welcome to social networking.
So unoriginal! He clearly saw the Social Network and recreated what Zuckerberg made in like 1990.
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