October 20th, 2010 by 
As you may have heard in recent news, Karen Owen, a recent Duke University graduate, has been called everything from a ‘Feminist Hero,’ to the ‘Most Hated Woman in America,’ for her 42-page powerpoint: “An Education Beyond the Classroom: Excelling in the Realm of Horizontal Academics,” in which she gives intimate details of her sexual experiences with other Duke University alumnae.
Personally, I don’t think she deserves either title, and I think the question we should really be asking is: Would this even be an international news worthy topic if Karen Owen were a man?
Basically, I think we shouldn’t really care about Karen Owen and here’s why…
1). Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right, But Two Negatives Equals a Positive…
In the Daily Mail article, “An essay in shame: How top university student’s spoof thesis rating sex with 13 men became web sensation,” the author states that Owen’s actions are unforgiveable because: ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right.’
True, but I also understand where Owen is coming from when she says she’s ‘just doing what the fraternity guys do.’
Being American, and having been in a sorority myself, I witnessed frat guys acting the way Owen did (having no respect for their sexual partners privacy, etc) all the time.
The only difference was when they did it, it was just ‘normal, frat boy’ behaviour, but when Owen did it, it made international news headlines.
2).Hasn’t Anyone Watched Sex and the City? Women talk about sex too…
As the women’s website Jezebel states: ‘Here’s another reminder that women can be as aggressive, or acquisitive about sex as men can.’
The controversy surrounding Belle du Jour is an example of this.
In this day and age, when women have proved they are just as smart as men, and just as capable of handling ‘men’s’ jobs, why is it still so shocking to hear about women who have sex like one?
(Especially in cases like Belle du Jour and Karen Owen, where the women are clearly well-educated and intelligent… we expect these women to behave in a more ‘modest’ way- which brings me to my next point…)
3). Not all women are modest…
Internet ethics expert, Donna Rice Hughes says (in reference to the Owen scandal): ‘Where is the modesty? My generation wouldn’t have dreamt about sharing sexual exploits- even in private.”
Yes, and times change, that’s not necessarily a bad thing… The way Owen went about it was all wrong, but it raises an important point: no one thinks twice when men talk about sex openly, but many think women doing the same thing is ‘unladylike.’
4). Some people think Karen Owen is a horrible person, but I think she just has too much spare time…
Much of the media has demonised Owen for her actions, but maybe rather than hating her, we should really feel sorry for her…
What kind of a person would want to write a mock thesis, or create a 42-page powerpoint presentation just for ‘fun’ anyway?
5).‘Privacy is no longer a social norm…’
No one should exploit people’s privacy in the way Owen did (male or female)…
But her biggest mistake wasn’t the fact that she had sex ‘like a man,’ or even that she talked about it with her 3 closest friends the way a man would.
Her biggest mistake was making a powerpoint and emailing it to them (and trusting them not to click the forward button…)
It’s much more surprising to me that someone who’s clearly intelligent, wouldn’t be aware that this could come back to haunt her…
We have all been warned of the dangers of putting too much personal information on the internet.
Which also leads to questions of whether any of this was on purpose (consciously or unconsciously) on her part-
To me it doesn’t make much difference… Either way Owen must face the consequences her actions will most definitely have on her future.
Is her behaviour forgiveable? Does she deserve her ‘Most Hated Woman in America Title’?
Or would we even be talking about this if Owen were a man?
Let me know your thoughts…
