I recently attended a beautiful Darty on Lake Virginia a few weekends ago. The sun glistening on the water as college students wasted their Saturday socializing and having fun… could life get any better?
I was brought out of my tipsy mindset when I realized I had an audience of judgmental girls laughing and obviously talking about me at this Darty. It wasn’t the first time this had happened and I wasn’t the only victim in my friend group. It’s a horrible construct that women who party are trashy and should be embarrassed for drinking on the weekends.
I never drank in high school because I didn’t want to. I wanted to concentrate on my studies and I knew that I’d eventually have a time when I could go crazy- College! When I got to Rollins I fell in love with going out, praying that each week would go faster so I could get to Porch. But there was one icky feeling I couldn’t get rid of, and it wasn’t the taste of my loaded Corona coming back up the next morning. It was waking up and thinking, ‘Why did I get so drunk’, and ‘Did I embarrass myself?’ even when I hadn’t done anything wrong the night before. I’d feel regretful, and I felt like I was expected to feel this way. I knew that I always had an amazing night with my best friends and I was making memories that would last a lifetime, but I still couldn’t shake that constant sensation of judgment.
Once I thought more about this guilt, I started noticing that men did not have this issue. In fact, men are usually celebrated for how drunk they are able to get. It’s seen as funny and lighthearted, whereas women are filmed, judged, and laughed at in a demeaning manner. “She really needs to learn how to handle her alcohol”- we’ve all heard this before and been one to judge another girl for drinking way too much, but if that girl is minding her business and trying to have fun, why ruin that? Maybe she does know how to handle her alcohol and she had one too many this time. Women need each other to be supportive especially when it comes to situations where it’s easy to be taken advantage of.
So, after coming to this conclusion I started partying with a completely different mindset. At Rollins it’s super easy to get caught up in a snobby and money-oriented crowd’s opinions. College is a place that should be judgement free. We are all here to get our degree and have the best 4 years we can before entering the real world. College is a place you
should be partying, and judgmental 20 year olds shouldn’t ruin that! It’s not common to get to go out and make amazing drunk memories every Thursday as a 30 year old… so take advantage now! Partying in college expands your horizons and forces you to socialize with all different types of people.
So, Sunday morning, instead of feeling regretful, wake up laughing at the jerks you saw standing and judging while you were dancing your little heart out with all your friends.