Any girl on campus who has ventured outside of the cozy and safe confines of her dorm and entered the strange and thrilling world of boy’s dorms has noticed some strong distinctions between the two environments. Many of these distinctions are part of the sexist double standard between girls and boys dorms on campus. Girl’s dorms are expected to be tame and well-behaved convents, while boy’s dorms are expected to be rowdy, party-filled caves. Here are 5 of the most common double standards between girls and boys dorms.
1. Alcohol
The minute you walk through the door of a boy’s dorm room on a Friday or Saturday night you will be greeted with the sight of beer cans, liquor bottles, and Solo cups. The contraband is left out in the open with little concern for the possibility of an RA or AR witnessing the scene. In a girls dorm, if hall staff gets the smallest whiff of alcohol, write-ups will be administered.
2. Parietals
Parietals in girl’s dorms are strict hours of the day that regulate visits from members of the opposite sex. In boys dorms parietals are just strong suggestions that are encouraged to be broken. When caught breaking parietals, the offense is often handled by each party’s respective hall staff, in which punishments serve as another source of inequality.
3. Punishments
Punishments in boy’s dorms are based on a strike system, which varies slightly from dorm to dorm. For each infraction boys receive a strike up until they reach the maximum number of strikes and their punishment is then elevated. Girl’s dorms on the other hand work on the warning system. For her first infraction a girl will receive a warning and for her second infraction her punishment will be serious. These systems scare girls into following the rules, while boys continue to disregard them.
4. Parties
The sound of loud music and drunken singing can often be heard echoing from the windows of boy’s dorms during the weekend. Girls are encouraged to keep the volume of their music to a minimum as to not alert an RA to an event that may include the ungodly presence of underage drinkers. Parties in girl’s dorms are largely unheard of on Notre Dame’s campus due to the fear of being caught.
5. RAs
Every night around ten o’clock, the sound of jingling keys can be heard ringing through female residence halls on campus. This ringing alerts residents that rounds are being made and any poor behavior should be put on hold. In male residence halls this sound cannot be heard until well after parietals. In girl’s dorms RA’s wait in the lobby to ensure that girls are not returning intoxicated and to ensure that boys are not leaving too late. In boy’s dorms RA’s stay in their rooms hoping they do not see anything they would be required to report.
In general, girls are held to a higher standard than boys on campus. These double standards enforce outdated expectations of boys to be loud and rambunctious, while girls must remain quiet and demure. Girls want to have just as much fun as boys do and they should not be treated more harshly for doing so.
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