Radio, blog response to 'Bromance' article shameful

The Issue: Heights article subject of local radio and Web coverage

What we think: Wanton commentary was beyond hateful

On Tuesday, the popular "Dennis and Callahan Morning Show" on WEEI, a Boston-based sports radio station, spent 15 minutes of airtime reading and discussing an article from the Feb. 2 edition of The Heights titled "Isn't it Bromantic?" The article quoted several heterosexual Boston College male undergraduates who said that they enjoy committed, platonic relationships with male friends. It would be easy to classify the majority of the comments made as homophobic and indicative of a lack of sensitivity on the part of those who made them, but there are also some more disturbing issues that we would like to address.

The commentators made a number of derisive comments about students who they specifically named on air. They asserted that the students are in fact homosexual and that the friendships they share with other men are not as they say. At one point, the commentator referenced a particular student, and, upon reading his name, said, "If that's not gay, I don't know what is."

The hosts also made disturbing remarks about the nature of masculinity and of male friendship. The examples they provided of acceptable male activities invariably involved sporting events, drinking, and strippers.

It seems fairly obvious to say that there are more types of men than those one will find in the local Hooters. By arguing that only certain activities are suitable for real men, the commentators presented themselves as shallow and unthinking. Apparently, having a conversation, sharing interests outside the arena, or engaging in thought are not activities that real men do with one another.

The commentators also mocked the belief that women prefer men who have meaningful and complex relationships with other men. This cheapens the relationship between the sexes. Their derision asserts that women should only be interested in men who like women with large breasts, men who drink cheap beer, speak in monosyllables, and whose greatest ambition in life is to achieve fantasy football hegemony. By doing this, the hosts pandered to a lowest common denominator view of masculinity which was subsequently demonstrated by a series of listeners who called in with vulgar commentary.

The hosts also insulted BC students as a body, referring to them as being of the "chronic suck-up variety." What schools, we must ask, do they find both acceptably masculine and adequately of the not-suck-up variety? Surely it is no school in the top 50, none of the liberal arts schools, none with unranked sports teams, and none where students may share meaningful friendships with their classmates (the definition of a collegiate atmosphere).

Even more disconcerting were the malicious and contemptible comments made by BC alumni who posted anonymously on a well-known local sports blog and on bcheights.com. It is especially disheartening to see that the values instilled by the University were discarded after graduation, and we hope that their views are not reflective of the current BC student body.

While the anonymity that the Internet and perceived barrier of the radio booth might encourage such remarks, we hope these individuals remember that the students they insulted on these public airwaves are real people with families, friends, and aspirations for the future.

Finally, we would like to exhort two groups in their efforts. First, to note that not all of the men on the show seemed to feel the same way and that a few gave feeble resistance to those who spoke loudest. We encourage these others to speak more loudly and eloquently in support of their convictions next time.

Also, we encourage the GLC and other student groups on campus who work to dispel the ignorance surrounding homosexuality and other issues of sexuality and gender. We ask them to take a renewed spirit of commitment from this unfortunate incident. As we can see, when one type of relationship is threatened, all others are as well; in this case, it was a couple of our own who were very publicly affected.