How Does White Culture Equal Corruption of Drag Ball? 

To the Editor:

In response to the [April 20] letter written by [senior] Alison Cotterill entitled “Drag Ball is Another Culture Co-Opted by Whites,” I must admit I was left feeling a bit upset, confused and disturbed. 
I would like to start out by stating that it is very true that a number of problems with the state of the world in the past and present can be linked to the racist, sexist and culturally insensitive attitudes held by the white Western world. This is something I do not in any way deny, and these are problems which must be worked on. I also will note that there are some very troubling problems with Drag Ball and the way that some students view it as just a good party instead of an incredible social celebration of diversity. However, I do question the validity of an article that solely places the faults of Drag Ball upon white straight students. Especially, and this is very important, when the article in no way offers any legitimate explanation for these faults that are supposedly caused by white, straight students. 
Let us look at some examples. In the third paragraph of the first column, Cotterill writes, “It is a spectacle, entertainment, so that the straight white students can laugh at Lady Chablis, oblivious to the fact that they are the ones she is teasing. Last time I checked, a bunch of white straight girls getting off on screaming bitch at a black man in drag is not challenging gender, race, class or sexuality.” She may be right; screaming “bitch” is highly offensive. However, Lady Chablis himself prompted these statements. And the question is, was it really only white females who are screaming it? It should be made clear that a number of students, regardless of ethnicity, sexuality and gender, were screaming the word “bitch.” If the issue is that it is highly offensive that white girls were screaming this to a black drag queen, then this issue should have been raised and an explanation to why this is offensive should have been pointed out. 
The next question I have is why does the author believe that Drag Ball has become a spectacle that revolves around white straight students? If this is the case, and I believe the statement is highly contestable, the author gives no explanation as to how Drag Ball at Oberlin has become a spectacle solely for rich white straight people. She just gives off-handed remarks that this is what Drag Ball is geared to and then moves on. Cotterill does raise some interesting points about how Drag Ball may not have accomplished its goals of fighting the “misogynist, racist, classist and sexist homophobic bullshit.” But her outcries for a more politicized Drag Ball are rendered completely invalid when then she makes statements like the reason that the College decided not to get drag kings was “because they are not considered as much as a ‘spectacle’ to rich, white, straight people.” Again, if Cotterill could give us some sort of evidence that this is the case, in any way, I might be convinced. However, she gives no explanations to why white students are singled out in her letter whatsoever. 
This kind of attack was not only outrageous and insulting, but also completely lacks any intellectual argument whatsoever. The final paragraph does raise some good questions on how we can make Drag Ball lined with a more political presence and how to make trans awareness a more serious issue. My question to Cotterill is, how is it strictly the rich, white, straight students’ fault that Drag Ball has been transformed into this apolitical event? 
What worries me about the letter is that it appears that she is almost using this forum and the subject of Drag Ball to discuss with the readers of the Review her personal distaste for straight, white people in general. Again, she may have some valid statements, but in her letter, her words come off as reactionary and motivated by fear and hate. If someone is to write a letter of this nature, it must have valid arguments to back up the highly emotionally motivated feelings that they are displaying for the readers of the Oberlin Review to see. This is a point that I cannot stress enough. It appears to me sometimes that when reading letters to the Review that members of this school get up on their paper soap box and let forth with their problems with Oberlin in such emotional ferment that they completely forget to justify their feelings with substantiated evidence. This is something I cannot stress enough: when displaying feelings of such strong emotional content, one cannot forget to validate them with some sort of substantial evidence. Otherwise, these letters will run the risk of being read as completely invalid due to their prejudiced nature and the actual problems the authors are so upset about will be completely ignored. I feel that this is exactly the case with the aforementioned letter. Cotterill raises some good points about the degradation of Drag Ball, but because of her unsubstantiated blame upon rich, straight, white students, her whole argument becomes invalidated amongst a sea of hatred and paranoia that leaves the letter lacking substance and intellectual support the statements that she writes severely need.

–Aaron Dawson
College senior