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| College culture? An alcohol-fueled frenzy of sexual harassment | College culture? An alcohol-fueled frenzy of sexual harassment |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| It's freshman year. I'm at a new student orientation party at the University of Pennsylvania, wondering what exactly is in my cup. "Jungle juice", I'm told, as if that should explain things. I make out the words "everclear" and "blackout drunk" over the din of awful house music blasting from the expensive-looking speakers in some fraternity house. I have no idea what's going on, and neither do many of my fellow classmates, which doesn't stop them from passing out drunk. | It's freshman year. I'm at a new student orientation party at the University of Pennsylvania, wondering what exactly is in my cup. "Jungle juice", I'm told, as if that should explain things. I make out the words "everclear" and "blackout drunk" over the din of awful house music blasting from the expensive-looking speakers in some fraternity house. I have no idea what's going on, and neither do many of my fellow classmates, which doesn't stop them from passing out drunk. |
| I stayed for an hour or so – enough time to get asked, in the tradition of great cliches, if I were a lesbian, a prude, or a slut. Enough time to see multiple strangers pair off in dark corners, trying and failing to stand up straight. | |
| From expensive bottles of vodka to nonexistent conversation, to black lights and vomit, this was an idea of fun that I hoped wouldn't cross over to all sectors of campus life – though I eventually found out that it did. Swap out vodka for beer, or cheap nameless grain liquor, fraternity houses for bars or clubs, and this scene was replicated over and over for four years. | From expensive bottles of vodka to nonexistent conversation, to black lights and vomit, this was an idea of fun that I hoped wouldn't cross over to all sectors of campus life – though I eventually found out that it did. Swap out vodka for beer, or cheap nameless grain liquor, fraternity houses for bars or clubs, and this scene was replicated over and over for four years. |
| For an elite few at Penn, that night was fairly typical, including the confusion felt. A friend I wouldn't meet for another three years was raped that night, at that party, probably in the room I stood in for all of 60 minutes. That was not too unusual an occurrence either. | For an elite few at Penn, that night was fairly typical, including the confusion felt. A friend I wouldn't meet for another three years was raped that night, at that party, probably in the room I stood in for all of 60 minutes. That was not too unusual an occurrence either. |
| There's been much said about a recent New York Times article on women having sex at American colleges. | There's been much said about a recent New York Times article on women having sex at American colleges. |
| "It's not representative!" "It's too accurate!" "It's not news!" "It's old news!" | "It's not representative!" "It's too accurate!" "It's not news!" "It's old news!" |
| The reporter chose my alma mater for her exploration of college-age women's sexuality, and her findings indicate that women were leaning into their careers and opting out of long-term romantic entanglements, for which they didn't have the time, in favor of fleeting sexual encounters. In short, they were "hooking up". | The reporter chose my alma mater for her exploration of college-age women's sexuality, and her findings indicate that women were leaning into their careers and opting out of long-term romantic entanglements, for which they didn't have the time, in favor of fleeting sexual encounters. In short, they were "hooking up". |
| I have since graduated, but some of the observations made in Kate Taylor's article rang an unfortunate bell, one I hear loudly tolling – even 100 miles and two years away from campus. That hook-up culture is now rampant is no surprise to me or anyone else who's graduated from college in the last 25 years. But women, Taylor tells us, are the driving force behind hooking up in 2013, a product of a generation of women facing "broader opportunities" than ever before. | I have since graduated, but some of the observations made in Kate Taylor's article rang an unfortunate bell, one I hear loudly tolling – even 100 miles and two years away from campus. That hook-up culture is now rampant is no surprise to me or anyone else who's graduated from college in the last 25 years. But women, Taylor tells us, are the driving force behind hooking up in 2013, a product of a generation of women facing "broader opportunities" than ever before. |
| But this assertion of women's agency in sexual encounters doesn't sound quite right. How are we to interpret the fact that, despite their insistence on being sexually liberated, the women Taylor featured wouldn't let their names (or number of sexual partners) be printed? Evidently, they still feared unwelcome repercussions from their touted sexual liberation. | But this assertion of women's agency in sexual encounters doesn't sound quite right. How are we to interpret the fact that, despite their insistence on being sexually liberated, the women Taylor featured wouldn't let their names (or number of sexual partners) be printed? Evidently, they still feared unwelcome repercussions from their touted sexual liberation. |
| Yes, I did know women who explored sexually and enjoyed their hook-up experiences – however fleeting. But sentences such as: "Women said universally that hook-ups could not exist without alcohol, because they were for the most part too uncomfortable to pair off with men they did not know well without being drunk," or "In general, she said, she thought that guys at Penn controlled the hook-up culture" sound more like the university life I knew. | Yes, I did know women who explored sexually and enjoyed their hook-up experiences – however fleeting. But sentences such as: "Women said universally that hook-ups could not exist without alcohol, because they were for the most part too uncomfortable to pair off with men they did not know well without being drunk," or "In general, she said, she thought that guys at Penn controlled the hook-up culture" sound more like the university life I knew. |
| So-called "hook-up culture" never was about women taking control. Instead, it always seemed to me a by-product of an institutionally destructive "college culture", one that hurts women and whose effects can still be felt years after graduation. | So-called "hook-up culture" never was about women taking control. Instead, it always seemed to me a by-product of an institutionally destructive "college culture", one that hurts women and whose effects can still be felt years after graduation. |
| College culture is a nebulous term, one defined divergently along racial, socio-economic, religious and geographic lines – lines that, on a campus like Penn's, still hold incredible sway. I'm aware that my experiences are not necessarily representative of 8,000 other undergraduates', but anecdotally, looking back, I can't think of a single woman who spoke of exclusively positive experiences on campus. | College culture is a nebulous term, one defined divergently along racial, socio-economic, religious and geographic lines – lines that, on a campus like Penn's, still hold incredible sway. I'm aware that my experiences are not necessarily representative of 8,000 other undergraduates', but anecdotally, looking back, I can't think of a single woman who spoke of exclusively positive experiences on campus. |
| From my friend who was raped at that "typical" Penn party, to the myriad others who were similarly subjected to sexual violence; to respected professors dismissing shared thoughts with a casual "thanks for that, sweetheart" in a room full of male peers; to grievous double standards when it came to sororities' and fraternities' respective rights and privileges; to disillusionment with our female university president's indifference to women's efforts on campus; to being labeled a lesbian-prude-slut for not hooking up … every female student had a story, and most of them weren't pretty. | From my friend who was raped at that "typical" Penn party, to the myriad others who were similarly subjected to sexual violence; to respected professors dismissing shared thoughts with a casual "thanks for that, sweetheart" in a room full of male peers; to grievous double standards when it came to sororities' and fraternities' respective rights and privileges; to disillusionment with our female university president's indifference to women's efforts on campus; to being labeled a lesbian-prude-slut for not hooking up … every female student had a story, and most of them weren't pretty. |
| Through various women's groups I was involved with on campus, I interacted with hundreds of different women: gay, straight, Catholic, black, poor, wealthy, white and more. And in our conversations, whether structured or informal, we kept coming back to the same issue: women rarely felt "safe" on campus – safe from familial, academic and peer pressures, safe walking home alone from a party at the other end of campus, safe from the dreaded email circular with an unflattering and compromising image, safe from friends' judgment. Statistically, one in four college women will survive rape or attempted rape. This is the "culture" we should be looking at more closely. | Through various women's groups I was involved with on campus, I interacted with hundreds of different women: gay, straight, Catholic, black, poor, wealthy, white and more. And in our conversations, whether structured or informal, we kept coming back to the same issue: women rarely felt "safe" on campus – safe from familial, academic and peer pressures, safe walking home alone from a party at the other end of campus, safe from the dreaded email circular with an unflattering and compromising image, safe from friends' judgment. Statistically, one in four college women will survive rape or attempted rape. This is the "culture" we should be looking at more closely. |
| As a fellow female alum recently put it: | As a fellow female alum recently put it: |
| Penn structurally allows violence against women in the way it trumpets its best forms of social life and hierarchies as the only option for girls looking to meet people. | Penn structurally allows violence against women in the way it trumpets its best forms of social life and hierarchies as the only option for girls looking to meet people. |
| That's only more true when that option involves alcohol. Penn, like many, if not most, other universities in America, has a drinking problem. A binge drinking and drugs problem. Alcohol was very loosely regulated on campus. Despite local liquor stores' stringent inspection of fake IDs, alcohol was everywhere; university employees often looked the other way; and the pressure to drink was rampant. | That's only more true when that option involves alcohol. Penn, like many, if not most, other universities in America, has a drinking problem. A binge drinking and drugs problem. Alcohol was very loosely regulated on campus. Despite local liquor stores' stringent inspection of fake IDs, alcohol was everywhere; university employees often looked the other way; and the pressure to drink was rampant. |
| Alcohol is not the root of all damaging behavior, and it would be stupid and absurd to outlaw drinking at college. But a lack of regulation clearly has an impact on sexual behaviors and campus hook-up culture, at Penn and elsewhere. We know that alcohol impacts the prevalence of sexual violence, but alcohol isn't the only element in this damaging "college culture"; nor is sexual violence its only consequence. | Alcohol is not the root of all damaging behavior, and it would be stupid and absurd to outlaw drinking at college. But a lack of regulation clearly has an impact on sexual behaviors and campus hook-up culture, at Penn and elsewhere. We know that alcohol impacts the prevalence of sexual violence, but alcohol isn't the only element in this damaging "college culture"; nor is sexual violence its only consequence. |
| Penn has the perfect storm that combines masculine entitlement (especially, the moneyed sons of Wall Street types, raised to "achieve or else") with a lack of infrastructural support. (Penn's counselling services are meager, as were preventative sexual violence educational programs.) It was this bad combination that negatively impacted men's treatment of women – and women's willingness to accept it. Women I know who were brimming with confidence in their freshman year, ended up engaging in sexual behaviors which many now deeply regret. These same women are still reeling from destroyed self-esteem. Many of us attribute that to the college culture and the fact that men control hook-up culture. | Penn has the perfect storm that combines masculine entitlement (especially, the moneyed sons of Wall Street types, raised to "achieve or else") with a lack of infrastructural support. (Penn's counselling services are meager, as were preventative sexual violence educational programs.) It was this bad combination that negatively impacted men's treatment of women – and women's willingness to accept it. Women I know who were brimming with confidence in their freshman year, ended up engaging in sexual behaviors which many now deeply regret. These same women are still reeling from destroyed self-esteem. Many of us attribute that to the college culture and the fact that men control hook-up culture. |
| According to Taylor's New York Times article, Penn has announced it is forming a commission to investigate the impact of alcohol and drug use on campus, with a particular focus on sexual violence. That's a welcome first step. But Penn shouldn't be limiting its review to drugs and alcohol on its own campus alone; it should also investigate the systemic sanctioning of dangerous behaviors and academia's structural sexism. If it really wants to change "college culture", that is. | According to Taylor's New York Times article, Penn has announced it is forming a commission to investigate the impact of alcohol and drug use on campus, with a particular focus on sexual violence. That's a welcome first step. But Penn shouldn't be limiting its review to drugs and alcohol on its own campus alone; it should also investigate the systemic sanctioning of dangerous behaviors and academia's structural sexism. If it really wants to change "college culture", that is. |