Primal Scream: Another Unfortunate Harvard Tradition

I've enjoyed walking through Harvard Yard since I first stepped on campus in the summer between my junior and senior years in high school.  Harvard freshmen are fortunate enough to live right in the Yard, among the fearless squirrels and the busloads of tourists.  When I walk through the Yard, I find myself in awe of the surrounding buildings, of the people who must have walked these paths before my time (seven US presidents among other notable figures).  I walk past the John Harvard statue, where people snap pictures of their family members rubbing John Harvard's foot (oh, if they only knew what drunk students do to that statue at night!).

I see my freshman dorm, Massachusetts Hall, where members of the Continental Army were quartered during the Revolutionary War and where the University President now keeps his offices (I was one of the "golden boys and girls" who lived there, although I'm not sure how fitting the title is for all of Mass Hall's dwellers).  Simply put, walking through the Yard serves as a reminder to me of how blessed I am to be at such an institution like Harvard.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that I won't be walking through the Yard tonight.  And why not, you ask?  It's a little thing called Primal Scream.  You can imagine what something called Primal Scream would be like--Harvard students screaming at the top of their lungs in order to release pent-up energy after being cooped up in the library for so long.  It's a long-standing tradition, although I must admit that I don't know its exact history.  Nope, that's not why I won't be there--I enjoy letting out a little scream, expressing my frustration about the looming exam period, just like everyone else does.  It's just that . . .

Apparently Harvard students thought screaming loudly was much too innocent and much too good-natured, so they turned it into something drastically different.  The night before finals every semester, which is tonight for the Fall 2005 semester, students go in droves to Harvard Yard to do one of two things: 1) run around the Yard completely naked or 2) watch everyone else running around the Yard completely naked. 

Yes, completely naked.  I kid you not.  Ok, ok, most of them do wear shoes because is it the winter and no one wants frostbitten toes.  But no shirts, no pants, nothing covering their most private of parts.  Students use the nearby dormitories as dressing (or undressing rooms) and then quickly run out into the crowd and jog a couple laps around Harvard Yard.  The very same Harvard Yard that has been the walking ground for innumerable brilliant minds, history-makers, life-changers . . . and we turn it into a nudist camp?

I try to understand the allure of running Primal Scream.  I suppose it could be exhilirating.  People who run it want liberation, they want to do something bold and daring (although I think the bolder move in today's world would be to cover up).

But then it's impossible to ignore the hundreds of people gathering around to watch, the cameras flashing, the videocameras recording.  Sure, I'd be embarrassed if someone saw me naked, especially someone I knew, like the guy who sat next to me in my German class all semester or the girl who lives next door to me.  Now imagine, what with the Internet and all, how many millions of people could have access to these photos and footage.  Creepy, right?

A friend of mine told me today that she plans to run because she can't think of any reasons not to.  Well, I sure can think of many.  I can elaborate more in the comments section, but I'd like you Mod readers to list all the reasons why YOU think my friend shouldn't run Primal Scream.  Maybe with your help I'll be able to stop one more person from shedding her clothes and her decency.

Comments

[Dean]

Meghan,

If your friend can't think of a reason not to do this on her own, I doubt any you could provide would persuade her.

Does she care that explaining this to her future husband and children might be difficult? I don't know.

The only argument I can imagine mattering, and I admit this is fraught with problems, is if you said she shouldn't do it because you would be hurt and disappointed in her.

How would she respond?

[Wendy Shalit]

Wow, this is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Of course, there is always modesty and wanting to preserve your inherent dignity as a human being, but who believes in that anymore? So here are my reasons, for those who don't have any "hang-ups":

--Objectification: people you don't want looking at your naked tush ogling you as a sex object. (Especially a drunk nerdy guy.)

--Sexual Harassment: people you don't want touching your tush doing so. (It happened too much at the Princeton Nude Olympics and sadly, they had to end this glorious tradition).

-- Rejectification: Worst of all, people assessing your naked body and NOT seeing you as a sex object.

--Mod Blogification: fear that we will blog about you on ModestyZone.

-- Facebookification: fear that your genitalia will end up prominently featured in the Harvard Facebook.

[Dean]

Wendy,

Those are all good reasons from my point of view, but I wonder if that isn't because I'm predisposed to not expose.

For someone who says she can't think of any reasons not to do this, I'm not sure if those things would be persuasive. I mean, can anyone considering participating in a mass streaking event not have considered all the consequences?

The question if find interesting here is : What counts as a good reason to young women in this kind of situation?

My sense is that only an immediate, direct, negative effect on an important personal relationship counts as a good reason.

It seems to me that she must have an impression that participating in this kind of event promises rewards. Otherwise she wouldn't even consider it.

To be persuasive any reason not to would have to provide a reward she would see as more valuable. I'm not sure what that would be.

Any thoughts anyone?

[Lori]

Googlification: Future in-laws, employers, the creepy guy next door, and others who will loom large in your life googling your name and finding a nude photo.

If your friend still wants to indulge in this foolishness, maybe she could wear not only shoes, but a mask or a bag over her head. If you can't be good, at least be careful.

[Jayme]

Not to sound overly feminist... but this sounds like an event created out of the mind of some overly sexualized male. It's not like you can just walk up to a girl in the hallway and ask her to take her clothes off, why not distort a traditional event and persuade students it is harmless and fun, like sex portrayed by mainstream media.

Self-respect seems to be a major issue here. I agree that there is probably not much you could do to convince your friend not to strip naked in front of hundreds of strangers and/or perverts and thanks to the internet, possibly millions. I have a friend who decided to strip naked at a club in a contest with other girls. With her clothes she also gave away any dignity and self-respect she had managed to hold onto. Would I have been able to convince this friend to keep her clothes on? Not likely. She suffers from a chronic self-insecurity, and being a beautiful girl, sexual attention is the only way she thinks she has affirmation. This is in fact a chronic problem in most females that are pronounced in different ways.

I love Wendy's reasons, especially "Rejectification". When it is all said and done with, does it add any true value to life?

Perhaps if we made decisions not based on the negative "what could it hurt" and instead based on the positive "what does it add", we would make better decisions.

[Dismayed by Harvard]

Meghan,

It might be good to remind your friend that this is the day and age of digital images and digital video. She could find her naked image the star of a "girls gone wild" video, after one of her classmates sells his "home video" to the producers of that trash.

Even more likely, your friend, and the other girls, could also find themselves the star of someone else's "facebook". And she will never be able to retract the humiliated image of herself running across campus screaming in her birthday suit as it gets emailed around campus, and then around town.

She should not be surprised if her digital image gets spammed around the country -- people will start laughing at the foolish Harvard girls when the forwarded email arrives in their corporate inbox--and there is a good chance the image will have her name attached.

Believe me, I know this possibility to be very true and likely. Once I received images from an acquaintance of mine who thought the inappropriate images of girls at a high school prom were funny. I thought it was porn, and tragically so---I bet those girls had no idea someone was taking digital images for the intent of forwarding them!! The email was packed with images had been forwarded many times--I looked at the number of corporations on the many distribution lists --premiere telecommunications companies, premiere investment firms, consumer products, insurance companies, law firms, etc. Your friend might regret her enormous gaping lack of judgment when she finds her picture was the laughing stock of unimpressive men and women who have nothing better to do but forward sorry images to a wide distribution list.

And on that distribution list, might be companies she actually wants to work for someday.

But mostly, as your classmates emerge from their dorms encumbered by stress to scream loudly in their birthday suits, I wonder if they have any real idea what stress is. A young woman, with children, struggling to raise her kids well, while living in low income housing, in a violent community, working long hours, trying to cram in some education on the side--if she even has an ounce of a chance for education. The Harvard students are privileged, and in some cases overly so. They should count their blessings, keep their clothes on, and get back to work.

[spudmomof6]

Would your young friend ever want to give potential political opponents that kind of ammunition? Ted Kennedy would be apoplectic! Generally, we all assume that young men and women away from the supervision of their parents will engage in immature behavior that they will regret as adults. However, in this age of camera phones and blogs, I would have to advise my children to assume that they are being recorded at any public event.

[Victor Lectus]

Meghan –

I read your blog and had a flash-back to Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in. Five year-old Edith Ann, a regular Lily Tomlin character, was being punished. She sat in her over-sized rocking chair and explained why:

"Momma didn't tell me NOT to paint the cat...so I did!"

As I though about your friend and the challenge of disproving a negative - that NOT running around naked is NOT a bad thing - I remembered Edith Ann, and that even though some things are so obviously destined to turn out poorly, you need to account for them anyway. So some questions for your friend to consider:

Will this make her more popular? Is this an esteem issue?

Will this make her more attractive to boys? If so, do you really WANT be more attractive to that type of boy?

Will this help her GPA? How about if she gets sick just before exams?

Does she have a good lawyer to sue the distributor of "Harvard Gone Wild"? If not, will there be decent residuals?

Does she normally run the Yard naked? If not, then why start now? (Note: “Because everyone else is ” is an excuse, not an answer)

Can she imagine ANY situation in the next 30 years that this action could come back to haunt her? If “No”, did she see ANY of the Alito hearings?

How will her family feel when (not if) she shows up on the Internet in the buff?

There’s just no upside here. Remember the warning label on the Do-It-Yourself-Exorcism kit: "What you DON'T know can hurt you a WHOLE lot".

Best of luck and don’t catch cold!

[Susan]

The first thought that came to my mind was, in this day and age of digital everything, and the ease and speed of downloading and uploading pictures to the internet, dimes to dollars, someone she doesn't want is going to see pictures of her screaming naked through Harvard Yard.

Ask her how she'll explain it to her parents when (not if) they see her running naked through the university they're spending so much money to send her to.

[Schelau]

I'd also like to know what happened to the law and things like "indecent exposure?" I thought being naked in public was against the law. Why does our law enforcement allow things like this happen in public???

I once was at a sports bar with some girlfriends innocently eating pizza and watching a hockey game, when some Rugby players came in to celebrate their victory. One of the guys on the team scored his first goal - so the tradition was for him to get naked, drink beer from a horn, and run around naked. I kept my eyes averted, and was very upset. It was the middle of the day ~ who's to say there aren't kids in sports bars with parents at times...I wish I had the courage at that time to lodge a complaint with the police.

It saddens me that nudity is now considered a sport in public.

Rock on Modesty Revolution!

[L.B.]

I really can't take the righteous path here...I did streak in college, and I don't regret it. It was in the middle of the night, with a small groups of people, very few people around, and no news media. (This was before digital cameras and cell phone cameras became ubiquitous, too.)

The problem is that whenever a woman removes her clothes in public, for whatever reason, she is objectified. Men are not. If your friend is okay with the idea of being reduced to a few body parts for the benefit of spectators, then there's not much you can say to dissuade her.

[Liz Neville]

Meghan-- I think that your friend is actually getting a thrill out of the idea and will probably not be talked out of it. The group aspect of this idiot undertaking makes it seem strangely "safe", and semi-anonymous. But as Victor above rightly points out, "everyone is doing it" is a silly excuse and certainly not a good reason.

Even so, I hope you snap her out of it.

[sunnyday]

My little dog, Sabrina, does something weird from time to time. It sprints from one end of the garage to the other repeatedly -- and it's not even chasing anything -- until apparently getting tired of it and then stops. Once in a while I hear Sabrina dashing around the garage and I think in amusement, "There she goes again playing her stupid game!"

Meghan, I was reminded of Sabrina when you wrote about the "improvised" Primal Scream. Those who take part in it sure act like 4-legged animals (even if they carry out the tradition on 2 legs). Does your friend really want to behave like a dog (my dog in particular)?

Oh, and L.B., though women's objectification is much more obvious, that's not to say that men are not objectified. When a man is shirtless in public (except when in the proper place, like the beach or by the pool), it's easier for me to think of him as an object rather than a human being.

[Meghan Grizzle]

Wow, thanks to all of you for your suggestions! Unfortunately, I was not able to talk to my friend today, but I'm hoping she didn't go through with it. Primal Scream is probably over and done with by now (I wouldn't know; I spent the night hanging out with friends from Christian Fellowship!). I'm thinking that record numbers of people probably ran, since it's more than 50 degrees outside right now. Which is an amazing thing in itself--50 degrees in January in _Boston_? I'll be sure to post the Harvard Crimson link on Monday morning for you all to read about it. I'm sure there will be a front-page picture of people as well, with random objects covering their

One thing to mention--definitely more men run than women do. I'd say it's probably 4 or 5 men for every woman, but I could be wrong on that. Also, nudity is not allowed on the Facebook, but I'm sure people can get away with it for a few days before it's reported or noticed. I'll let you know if I see any photos up from Primal Scream.

Victor, I love what you said about the Alito hearings! People will put out all the stops to find a way to get someone in trouble or to block him from succeeding!

[newbie]

Putting male vs female objectification aside, its the Gumpification that counts; stupid is as stupid does irregardless of sex.

[Nancy Rodriguez]

This summer my daughters (one is a senior in high school and the other is 12) and I visited several colleges in Boston, including Harvard. The Harvard student who led out tour was quite friendly and vivacious but didn't exactly dress to impress- she was wearing an incredibly tight t-shirt with cut outs and extremely low cut jeans. During the tour she made a point of mentioning the following: 1) the "primal scream" and what fun it is for everyone to "let out steam" by running around naked ; 2) the great sexual awareness magazine "The H Bomb" and how cool it was that one of her friends was on the staff; and 3) that Widener Library had every copy of Playboy ever published and that another friend had done his thesis on how Playboy affected the civil rights movie "and even got to interview the first black Playmate". When the tour was over, I asked the girls what they thought and, in unison, they said "Foul"! (The eldest promptly crossed Harvard off her list.)

[Meghan Grizzle]

Nancy, tell your girls that there's no need to cross Harvard off the list! There are decent people here! And the more people like your daughters who come to Harvard, the better it will become. Sure, it's tough being a pioneer, but it's worth it . . .

Also, it doesn't seem that the Crimson reported on Primal Scream. Or at least not yet. During finals it only prints on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and today is a holiday--we'll see. I will post it as soon (or if) I see it.

[Isaac Laquedem]

If I recall rightly, when I entered the Big H nearly 30 years ago the Yard had Howl Night before exams -- anyone who wanted showed up and howled -- but it hadn't been named "Primal Scream" and no one undressed for it. (And with the temperature a nippy 5 degrees F, the thought probably didn't occur to anyone.)

If the moral and philosophical arguments don't dissuade someone from streaking through the Yard, how about the strictly economic? The only sanctioned mixed-sex group nudity that I can recall was at the Adams House swimming pool (now, alas, a theater). Clothing was optional most hours, and about half the users swam nude. But they swam nude only in front of other swimmers, many of whom were also nude, not in front of passers-by or curious spectators. The pool rarely had more than six or eight people That is to say, most of the people who saw them were making the same commitment. But the people streaking through the Yard are being seen by a great number of people who aren't making the same sacrifice themselves -- their audience isn't putting any chips in the pot.

The other thought that occurred to me is that 30 years ago the gender ratio at Harvard was about 60-40 men, and now it's about 50-50. When there were 3 men to every 2 women, women didn't need to impress men; men needed to impress women. At 50-50 perhaps more women feel the (in my view misguided) need to show that they're daring, adventurous, or what-have-you to get the attention of their male classmates, and strip for that reason. It's not a sign of progress.

[Female Harvardian]

Hi all,

As a female Harvardian with generally conservative leanings who is a major fan of and frequent participant in Primal Scream, I feel I must defend it:

Primal Scream is not about sex. I have run the Scream many times and have never felt ogled by any of the other participants. In fact, once I found myself at the starting line next to a male friend and we made every effort to pretend we didn't see each other, much less "look at" each other. And I have certainly never been inappropriately touched. (If you want to be ogled and inappropriately touched, go to a Harvard party, but that's a different story.) I have never found myself on the Internet, and actually very few people bring cameras.

As for the implications in a future political/business career, I don't think they're actually that great. I firmly believe that the vast majority of Americans don't have a problem with fun, non-sexual hedonism, especially when it takes place in the collegiate realm. Heck, Bill Clinton got away with smoking marijuana in college. And I'm going to venture a guess that a huge number of Americans have streaked in their lives (as many have smoked pot) and understand that a few youthful instances of it do not demonstrate lack of character.

Maybe I've just been lucky in my experiences with the Scream. But I find it to be an exhilarating, fun experience where all you really see is a mass of skin rushing by -- fat, skinny, white, black, Asian -- and no one pauses long enough to ogle each other's genitalia.

[Meghan Grizzle]

Perhaps then you've never stood back and watched it! When you're viewing it, trust me, it's a whole different ballgame!

If what you say is right--many Americans are okay with fun, non-sexual hedonism--then I say that's one of the things wrong with America! I don't have a problem with fun, but hedonism? What exactly do you mean by that?

[won't be following that lemming]

Now, thanks to "female harvardian" the primal scream just sounds like a bunch of naked people, screaming, flailing their arms and running like a bunch of cultural lemmings. I don't think real lemmings look up either as they scamper to their unfortunate end.

[A possible employer?]

To female harvardian: It seems you probably haven't been responsible for making a good hiring decision at a successful company, large or small?

Your judgement about career impact is, at best, askew. If you are so confident about the success of your nakedness and its lack of impact on hiring can you please "come out" and provide your name?

I'm sure my coworkers and I would like to route your above comment with your resume--I can guarantee, quite a few of us will get a great laugh about your tendencies to enjoy the wind blowing against your birthday suit. And I don't think you'll mind that we'll find your naked running and fuzzy logic hilarious since you are not the least afraid of ogling, and apparently not too afraid of cameras. But in the end, we'll have a hard time taking you seriously on the job.

Or when that interview time comes, will you say something like Clinton did when he said, "I didn't inhale." And will your remark to us hiring managers be, "I ran fast and didn't look up." ?

Good luck to you.

[Female Harvardian]

To my "possible employer,"
Ha, of course I won't post my name. It is not as if I would _tell_ my future employers about such events as Primal Scream. In fact, I think it is extremely unlikely they would ever find out about it (or see pictures -- certainly any pictures of me that may be out there would not have my name attached to them for easy Google searching or anything like that -- I don't wear a nametag when I do it!). I'm not going to bring it up in my interview! As for running for political office or something like that, I feel that there are things in most people's past, including my own, that are worse than a harmless tradition in which thousands of students engage each year. Besides, I would never run for public office -- I do not need people digging into my life to see what dirt they can find. _That_ would be immodest, to have everything one has ever done exposed to the world (and certainly we have all done "bad" things at some point or another).

To answer your original question, though -- yes sir/ma'am, I have hired people to work for me before, and I didn't stalk their lives to see what they had been up to before applying. I simply looked at their resumes, called their references, listened to their interview answers, etc. I feel that that's pretty standard procedure. Besides, if I found out a potential employee did something like this, it obviously would not bother me very much (nor do I think it would bother most people, as I would venture to guess that the majority of Americans have engaged in some form of streaking anyway). I would think that this potential employee had a sense of humor and fun, at least!

Finally, in reply to Meghan's comment re: hedonism, I mean it in exactly the way it is defined on dictionary.com: Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses. I feel there can't be anything wrong with pleasuring the senses, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. I'm not some sort of crazy advocate of hedonism in general (for example, on my final exam this morning I wrote a scathing critique of drug use in the 60s) but I have never heard a good argument for why me being naked and running around hurts the adults who choose to be there.

[An observer]

Hard to believe her confidence when she won't post her name.

[Ken]

The night before finals every semester, which is tonight for the Fall 2005 semester, students go in droves to Harvard Yard to do one of two things: 1) run around the Yard completely naked or 2) watch everyone else running around the Yard completely naked.

Uh, shouldn't they call it "Primal Streak" instead of "Primal Scream"?

When my JC got streaked back in '74 (the height of Streaking), I found out a few things about this strange tribal custom/Stupid People Trick:
1) Streakers scream when they streak.
2) Streakers often wear Groucho glasses, Unknown Comic head-bags, hat and high scarves, or similar disguises. (Probably as a defense camera shots coming back to haunt them; when watching a streak, you are NOT looking at the faces.)
3) Successful streaks are fast, usually measured in seconds, so the inital shock doesn't wear off and bring the cameras out.
4) Successful streakers had a pre-set escape route and a pre-positioned getaway vehicle and driver.

[Carlos]

Good story.I like it.

[concerned father of freshman girl]

I told my dentist today that my lovely young daughter is a freshman at Harvard this year. He said congratulations and go google primal scream.

I did and I can only hope she has the common sense to be a spectator at most.. If she is smart enough to get into Harvard then she should have enough sense to watch, point and laugh. She can scream too if that helps, but she better be fully clothed...

Honey, if I see you on utube I may be screaming at you.

Love dad..

[Outraged Graduate Student]

I just witnessed last night Primal Scream 2008. I couldn't believe that these Harvard students, the most privileged students in the country, would run around naked in front of hundreds of expectators with cameras and video. One girl was so drunk that she passed out naked and fell on the cold, muddy floor. She had to be picked up by a group of clothed by-standers after her two naked girlfriends ran and left her. She was carried naked in the arms of strangers across the street to the Harvard hospital. How could Harvard permit this to occur in their campus? They are subjecting young minds who are susceptible to peer-pressure, alcohol, and drugs (voluntarily and involuntarily), to something that has the potential to affect their psychologial and professional well-being.