Article Wellesley’s Statement My Response to Wellesley Hate Mail
My Rolling Stone article about the sexual culture at Wellesley College created a maelstrom of controversy. The Wellesley administration was in a furor and asked that people boycott the magazine—which resulted in newsstands selling out all over the Boston area. I start getting calls from movie producers and agents who wanted to buy the film rights. And I appeared on television to explain that I had all my quotes on tape.
But the best part was getting hate mail from Wellesley students. One letter reads:
Hello, Jay. I am a Wellesley “girl” that yearns for you to return to campus so I can drag you into my dorm room and screw you like a rabid dog – just as I screw all the little boys on campus. And when I’m done with them, I go for the bi-sexuals, and then the lesbians. And after sleeping with about 3000 members of the Wellesley College community, I work my magic the campus wildlife. Maybe my measures seem drastic, but my erotic life is so “highly charged” that its impossible to control my urges!Your article is just another example of the male fasciation and misconception of female sexuality. I understand that the concept of a women’s college is threatening to many men — we may, after all, be taking your jobs someday soon. But your subtle inferences did not go unnoticed. By titling your article as an expose behind the doors of the most élite women’s college in the nation, you attempt to invalidate Wellesley’s existence. You almost say, “Lookie lookie! Its an outstanding school, but the girls that go there are (literally) fucked up!” … Enough said. I am late for a meeting (wink wink) with my unattractive professor. Ashley
Few of the people who’d read my article argued it was inaccurate—just that I was despicable for putting it into print, focusing on Wellesley’s sexual culture rather than its academic radiance. “I am not saying that what you reported is not true, because it IS,” wrote one student in an e-mail to me. “What I am upset about is the presentation of facts. You blatantly leave out any sweet or endearing qualities of lesbian life.”
One Wellesley student was quoted in the Tufts Daily saying she thought I wrote the article as part of a conspiracy to take down Hillary Clinton. Another published an op-ed calling me, “The appropriately named Jay Dixit.”
Eventually, the furor died down. But the aftershocks still continue. Whenever I meet a woman who went to Wellesley, she always knows who I am. A few years ago, I googled myself and discovered that I was a character in the Wellesley Spring Review, the musical they put on. This is true: There was literally a character in the play whose name is Jay Dixit who was a Rolling Stone reporter. He was the villain.
Life at Wellesley continues, with a few changes. I read in the Boston Globe last year that they’re still having those naked parties, but last year, outside the party, they had a sign up that said: “Male guests must wear boxers or less. NO Rolling Stones reporters are allowed inside the door.”
See also: Other reactions to my article