Dear National Junior Classical League, Don’t Have Children Dress Up Like Galatea & Pygmalion at Your Convention
Trivializing rape is dangerous and unethical. Sexual assault cosplay has no place in education.
Last week, I came across an activity that involved matching Jupiter’s disguises to his “lucky lady.” Sex-by-deceit is considered rape in many states, but in secondary Classics, it’s the subject of a fun Valentine’s Day activity. When Alice Sebold wrote Lucky, a memoir about her sexual assault and the aftermath, this is not what she had in mind. She was told she was lucky to be alive, but many survivors of sexual assault will attest that sexual assault is so traumatic that being alive often feels like a burden.
That kind of activity is a symptom of a larger, destructive culture in secondary Classics supported by the American Classical Leage (ACL), the professional organization for high school Latin teachers. Just last night, I was reading the most recent issue of the ACL Newsletter and came across an advertisement for the 2020 National Junior Classical League convention. The theme for this year’s costume contest for couples is Pygmalion and Galatea, a story that features nonconsensual sexual contact and misogyny.
In Ovid’s version of the myth, Pygmalion creates a statue out of ivory and then prays to Venus that he would be able to have a woman just like his creation. Pygmalion presents a voiceless object as his ideal woman:
‘Si, di, dare cuncta potestis,
sit coniunx, opto,’ non ausus ‘eburnea virgo’
dicere, Pygmalion ‘similis mea,’ dixit, ‘eburnae.’‘If the gods can give all things,
I choose that my wife be’ — Pygmalion did not dare
say ‘ivory girl’ — ‘similar to the ivory.’
Later, Pygmalion initiates sexual contact with the statute and she eventually comes to life. When she becomes human, Galatea, who is so objectified that she is unnamed, responds to his sexual contact is shame (erubuit). Even awake, she is not a willing partner. Ovid’s own word choice makes that clear. Ovid’s choice of erubuit makes sense in the context of his myth, but also in the context of this kind of violation. There is no way to distort this episode into a consensual, romantic encounter.
Many women, men, and children have woken up to the horrifying realization that they are being sexually assaulted. An unconscious person cannot consent to sex. (The Rape and Incest National Network lists unconsciousness as a factor that makes consent impossible: “Was the person sleeping, strangulated, or suffering from physical trauma?”) The consequences of this brand of abuse and violence are life-ruining. Ovid’s myth reflects the reality of many victims of sexual violence who have been silenced, objectified, and used for sexual gratification.
Is it asking too much that we have a basic understanding of the material we teach and convey those materials with integrity?
How is the pairing of Pygmalion and Galatea an appropriate theme for a couples costume contest? (And how was Persephone and Hades appropriate in 2018?) What message does this send to children? Is this scenario romantic? Is it cute? Is it funny? Absolutely not, a fact that should be clear to people involved in teaching Classics to high school students. We have access to more than Internet memes and popular culture receptions when it comes to ancient Greco-Roman mythology. We have the original texts. And, we should be able to read them in the original language.
It requires a tremendous privilege and, frankly, cruelty to reduce this myth to a costume contest for children. If the people who chose this theme and accept it uncritically have not been harmed by this kind of sexual violence, they should not assume that everyone is so lucky. It is unethical and irresponsible to use the platform of the ACL/NJCL to trivialize rape and misogyny in this way. NJCL chose this theme and operates under the auspices of ACL, which ran a color advertisement featuring details of the costume contest in its newsletter. None of this is OK.
But is it really a surprise that ACL/NJCL would reduce rape to cosplay? After all, this is the same organization that hosted slave auctions at its national convention decades after fraternities had enough sense to stop, allowed them under their brand through 2019, and did not condemn them until there was significant public pressure. (And, they still have not apologized for the extensive harm and trauma these events caused, instead framing them as “insensitive” and “culturally offensive.”) A recent skit held at an NJCL convention and posted to the official NJCL YouTube account featured a person dressed in orange, joking about being an “ex-con.” Incarceration is not a laughing matter either. These choices are not small mistakes, lapses in judgment, or differences of opinion. They are violent.
To adults in high school Classics: Stop being a bystander. Rape and enslavement are not funny.
In what world are rape and slavery sources of fun and entertainment? And, in what world do adults tolerate this travesty? How many clubs are actively preparing their Pygmalion and Galatea costumes right now? Who read about this theme and said nothing? Probably many of the same adults who were present at slave auctions that took place through the 2000s and considered them good fun or who were mildly uncomfortable but didn’t want to call into question the judgment of volunteers.
Teachers cannot be sure that their students will not be exposed to this exploitation of hardship and oppression for laughs at NJCL events. Is the assumption that Latin students are so privileged and insulated from any form of oppression that they can laugh at oppression and suffering of others?
To adults in high school Classics: Stop being a bystander. Rape and enslavement are not funny. This culture has been enabled by generations of teachers who defer to the ACL, JCL, and NLE, assuming their representations of Classics are an appropriate standard for the field. They are not. There are alternatives to distorting and exploiting Classics in such a dangerous way. And, there are alternatives to passive acceptance of slavery-as-entertainment and assault-as-cosplay. Since our content involves rape, enslavement, and other forms of violence, if we are not comfortable representing these topics ethically, we need to find a different subject to teach or become informed about ways of conveying this information in a way that does not harm students and perpetuate the worst features of our society.
Defensive readers complicit in this culture often respond with some variation of “So we cannot read Ovid any more?” If that is your reaction to this, let me be clear: The problem is not Ovid. The problem is a modern distortion of Ovid that uses his myths a vehicle to promote rape and rape culture. Ovid captures the horrors of sexual violence fairly well. If your preferred reception of Ovid is rape-as-a-joke, don’t do impose that on children in the guise of education.
This problem is not insignificant, and it has real-world consequences. In today’s world, white supremacist ideology deploy Classics for harm, often borrowing the same distortions we normalize every day. Ethical Latin teachers need to be activists. Bystanding, ignoring, normalizing, excusing, diverting, and defending are all habits and behaviors that support this toxic culture.
Update 3: Indiana, North Carolina, Colorado, and Ohio are not using this theme. Texas is sticking with the theme because students might have started preparing their costumes.
Update 2: NJCL has a second option to their costume contest, which apparently had been announced in their own newsletter earlier this month. This option does not address the kinds of concerns I have expressed and others who reached out after the theme was announced in the fall.
Update 1: The NJCL costume theme is also used at the state-level at conventions throughout the school year. Indiana and at least one other state opted to choose their own theme, recognizing that Pygmalion and Galatea was problematic. So, many students in states that did not choose their own theme have already participated in this costume contest. Since contests are scored, delegations are at a disadvantage in terms of points if they do not participate in the NJCL theme. It would be nice if these kinds of costumes were banned, but instead there is an actual incentive to participate because the costumes are part of a larger competition.
