Mr. Mav competition, or how much can you disrespect and undermine women? While the proceeds from Mr. Mav went to a good cause, the 17 Strong Foundation, the event itself was appalling, to say the least.
The competition is for male students who are affiliated with an organization on campus. Usually, guys from the fraternities on campus compete, but this year it was solely athletes. It is a good comedic break from studying and is a good chance to see someone you know make an absolute fool of themselves, but it’s a little disappointing to see the mockery that occurs.
The competition is divided into several categories which include: formal wear, pick-up lines, swimwear, talent, lip sync battle and either a dance off or Q & A. In typical Miss America or Miss Universe fashion, the contestants’ outfits are revealing, slimming, and accentuate their “best” feature.
By nature the Mr. Mav competition mimics pageant-like competitions for women, so the problem is already built in. Such female competitions are already degrading enough to women, so putting men in their place and the way that these men sexualize of the event only further increases the demeaning nature. As if the nature of the competition wasn’t bad enough, the nature of the men competing makes it ten times worse.
Most of the “formal wear” consisted of some type of tie, dress pant, shoes and no shirt. Swimwear consisted of, shockingly, even less clothing. While the clothing was almost too little too bare, the pick-up lines were even harder to suffer through. Lines varied from “I’ll give you the ‘D’ because you deserve it” to “I made you come with one finger. Imagine what I could do with three.”
Decent pick-up lines fell few and far between while offensive ones were a dime a dozen. At some of these lines, women, and even men, in the crowd looked at each other with their eyebrows raised in disapproval and shock at the sexist and degrading lines.
The guys competing wear extreme outfits and do extreme things, while drunk might I add, just to get praise from the “Woo Girls” in the crowd and to get ape-like hoops and hollers from their male peers. Clearly, the competition is more about solidifying a man’s place in society than it is actually competing.
In other words, Mr. Mav, for the competitors, is about defining homosocial relationships between themselves and their peers. Mr. Mav is about showing that you’re a man, even if that entails constantly blurring the boundaries between hetero and homosexuality. By walking across the stage in a speedo or a woman’s swimsuit and flexing your muscles proves that you’re a man, or in some way, it’s supposed to prove that you’re a man.
There is no problem with proving your manhood until things get inappropriate and offensive. I’m sure that if the shoe was on the other foot and women wore raunchy swimsuits and formal wear, told degrading pick-up lines, and sexualized the entire the event the same way that the men do, the event would be deemed too inappropriate. Staff and students would say that these women have no self-respect and need to be more modest. Why do we not hold our male and female students to the same standards?
I attend the competition to give my money to a good cause and to get a laugh and a break from the stresses of the spring semester. I don’t need a guy to show off his body and blow a kiss to the crowd. I don’t need a man to flash his muscles and blow a kiss, or take off his shirt and throw it at grabby hands while “Pony” plays through the speakers.
Mr. Mav shouldn’t be about who can get drunk enough to do the dumbest thing; it’s about showing off real talents and your true self. The most real performance of the night was the poem read by Trey about his football and his friend who was shot in Denver. It is performances such as this that bring back the roots of the competition, and it is the seriousness and the comedy that drive the crowd to this event. Regardless of what competitors think, the sexualization of this event is unnecessary and blatantly rude.
