Bad girls. We’ve all encountered one. It’s the girl swinging on poles at the local bars or throwing a drink on another girl for looking at “her man.” They’re loud. They’re proud. They’re the life of the party. They have it all…right?
In today’s society, “bad girls” are often rewarded with reality T.V. shows and thousands of Twitter followers. Few stop to think about the consequences of BG habits for the millions of women who don’t make a living off countless reality spin-offs. Sure, it may seem fun to post a risqué video of yourself on YouTube, but how can behaviors like this affect the different areas of your life?
Social Life
If there’s one thing a bad girl craves, it’s attention. If you ever wonder why you see bad girls like Snooki and Natalie Nunn repeatedly, it’s because they’re using their connections to get all eyes on them. It’s pretty entertaining to watch a girl stand on a table to flash the crowd, or start a fight with anyone who crosses her path, but what about the friends of these girls? Several girls on campus admitted to severing close friendships because their friend’s partying habits became too much to deal with. What about guys? Doesn’t the yelling and table dancing make you look like an attractive, confident woman?
“I don’t find that type of thing to be very flattering or attractive,” said UI sophomore, Edward Washington. “That sort of thing comes off as being desperate; like they need to put on an act because they are not comfortable in their own skin. I would run away from a girl like that.”
Professional Life
As HC readers, you’re obviously educated, driven and on the road to a great career. This, however, does not exempt you from making mistakes. Whether you post a crude comment about an arch enemy online, or send sexy photos of yourself to a boyfriend, hitting the “send” button can be the difference between getting a dream internship or a big, fat rejection letter. Even if you decide to take down your content a couple of hours later, it could still be out there for the world to see. This winter, a 25-year-old English teacher at Jacksonville High School in Texas was forced to resign after “racy” photos of her were posted on Facebook. Julie Lilly, Chief Operating Officer at Lewis, Rice & Fingersh law firm in St. Louis, encourages applicants to be mindful of their social networking activities.
“It’s a little better for us because we’re looking at applicants from law school rather than undergraduate institutions, but we still want to see good judgment,” Lilly said. “If someone posts something inappropriate, or something that a client would find offensive, then that definitely makes a difference to us.”
Health
All of us have taken a health class at some point, and all of us have been lectured on the side effects of alcohol. While partying is fun and a great part of college life, it’s about time to seriously evaluate how hard you choose party. The Centers for Disease Control state that heavy drinking is considered to be an average of more than one drink per day for women. Binge drinking is an average of more than four during a single occasion. Most people have heard that excessive drinking can lead to cancer, liver or memory problems. It can also cause your blood vessels to enlarge (which make a very visible appearance on your face), or cause behaviors that can dramatically change your life. Collegedrinkingprevention.gov listed that as many as 100,000 students who reported being too drunk to remember whether they gave consent to sex. If that’s not frightening enough to shock you sober, what is?
Sources:
Edward Washington, College of LAS ’13 at the University of Illinois
http://www.ketknbc.com/news/jacksonville-teacher-resigns-after-inappropriate-pictures-were-put-online
Julie Lilly, Chief Operating Officer at Lewis, Rice & Fingersh
http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm
http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/statssummaries/snapshot.aspx