Photo of the Day, November 6, 2009: Newburyport Night 1
Heroic MBTA Operator and Inspector Honored: Saved Woman's Life
Week Around the Ists, November 1–7
Sunday Happenings
Book It: Book Events November 8–14
It's a hot debate right now. The Somerville Journal posted pictures and video of the annual Tufts Naked Quad Run. The video and pictures are far from titillating. It's tush, tush, tush as far as they eye can see.
But some readers, including Tufts students who participated in the Naked Run, were aghast that the pictures emerged, the Herald reported. They argued that it was a private event. The Herald pointed out, though, that taxpayer-funded resources "help deal with drunken students."
The author, Auditi Guha, defended herself in the comments, saying that she was "open about taping and many students even posed naked for me for the photos and video…. I figure that a public event that drew huge crowds, where anyone can walk in or participate in, should be fair game."
Bostonist saw part of the face of one participant on the article's web page, and, in the comments, someone claiming to be that person made clear that she didn't consent. Agreed, that picture shouldn't have gone up because it would be easy to tell who she is, and, yeah, people are pervs sometimes. But one picture is a long-distance shot of students running, and unless you've seen those people naked before, you're not going to recognize them unless you know exactly what their butts look like. More after the jump!
Just the Tufts logo since they're camera-shy. Opinions in this post belong solely to this Bostonist. Head over to the Somerville Journal if you want to see the butts.
The Naked Run is an event that impacts Somerville and involves Somerville residents, for the cleanup at least, and they have every right to cover it. While some commenters accused Guha aiming for the lowest common denominator, the pictures are, in this Bostonist's opinion, not sensational or pervy. Pervy is if you are looking where you aren't supposed to look. Nor are the students doing anything particularly shameful. The Somerville Journal didn't present it as shameful or anything to be embarrassed about.
Dan Kennedy at Media Nation agrees that the pictures aren't gross, but he has a word of warning for the Somerville Journal: "Just because you can doesn't mean that you should." The Tufts runners who appeared on camera might also be feeling that way right about now. But their touchy reaction indicates that they are ashamed--and they shouldn't be. The students, their significant others, and their parents may find their behinds super-special and precious, but in the end, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, a tush is a tush is a tush.
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FYI, it's the Naked Quad Run, or NQR. The administration tried to change the tone a few years ago and changed the name to Nighttime Quad Reception...
Heh. Thank you. I put in the "Quad." I think I became way too interested in the "Naked" part.