After Class, Skimpy Equality

The article "After Class, Skimpy Equality" highlights a very serious problem in gender equality in the college social setting. There is a larger issue here than just woman feeling objectified; that is that one in four women will be sexually assaulted in college. I think the reasons for such a staggering statistic go far beyond the campus walls however. I think that male privilege combined with fewer men going to college creates an perceived demand for men. Men don't learn to objectify women in college, they are taught to their entire lives. 

Many of the men discussed in the article are from fraternities. This gives them power over those who want access to the services provided by frats to the student body; parties and beer. To gain the acceptance of those men in such organizations men will attempt to impress by degrading women in attempt to assert their own manhood. This alone would not have caused such a widespread problem if it were not for an increasing shortage of college educated men*. This may not seem like a problem at elite institutions like Princeton, but the shortage of any college education in men makes an Ivy league degree that much more valuable. This increase in perceived value allows fraternity men to ask more of men and women seeking the services that they provide to the college community. 

I think women should be allowed to live their lives in the way that they want and I believe the article has a very negative view of the women who participate in the male dominated culture of campus parties. These are not dumb women, they are students at Ivy league schools and so their decisions should not be treated like those of children. They are in college, how they choose to live their lives during their four years as undergraduates will probably not resemble how they live their lives once they graduate and start pursuing their careers. If there is anything that the woman's and LGBT movements have taught us is that how people choose to live their lives is their business and we cannot show them the"correct" path. 

*http://tinyurl.com/yj8s7cu