Confession: I've been less diligent about blogging because I lost hope that I had even the slightest chance of winning the scholarship. And all this time I thought I was above being motivated by money. :idk: BUT...I'll do my best to get back at it. If I win the scholarship, that would be icing on the cake. I really do just enjoy sharing a sociological perspective in a really accessible and interactive way.
Whew! That's out of the way. Moving on. I suppose I could pick out a lot of things about college dorms that would be sociologically interesting, but I want to focus on gender for a minute. In the field of sociology, gender is commonly understood as a social construction. We create cultural definitions of what behaviors are are to be attached to sexual identification and then socialize children into gender-specific norms. Note the difference between sex and gender. Sex is biological, gender is not. Now if we understand gender as essentially a social construction, then what can we say about being male or female? Are males and females basically the same? Or are they fundamentally different? Are the differences that may be exhibited solely the result of socialization or do biology and psychology create inevitable differences? Most assuredly, these questions won't be answered on this blog. They've been debated for years and continue to be debated vigorously.
It's becoming popular on college campuses, where open-mindedness is the order of the day, to believe that males and females are basically the same. That may or may not be true. What I find interesting is the fact that males and females are still separated in college dorms. Yes, they may reside in the same building, and occasionally on the same floor, but a male and a female are never roommates in a dorm room! Now, I'm not suggesting that they ever should be. BUT...deep down, college administrators must actually believe that males and females are fundamentally different in a way that would make it best if they didn't live together. If they don't believe that, then something is amiss.
What do you make of this situation??
i think that maybe they dont want to make the parents of the students uncomfertable. i mean im sure they are still worried about students having sex with each other all the time
~ <3 Breanne <3 ~
I wouldn't be very opposed to sharing a room with another guy, as long as boundaries were set... I usually get along better with guys than other girls anyway.
but the way our co-ed dorms were set up, it was 2 rooms sharing a bathroom. I wouldn't be too excited about sharing a bathroom with one or more guys. I mean, sharing with 3 other girls was bad enough. ;-)
I also harbor no delusions about winning this scholarship. I'm ok with that. I'm going to grad school and have a stafford loan to look forward to if all else fails.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/sawaboof
"...There is a crushing guilt that comes with being a Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is always the crushing guilt."
-30 Rock-
I see this as being a heterocentric decision based on the idea that if a biological male and a biological female are placed in the same room, they will spend all of their time screwing and will consequently fail their classes and be scarred for life. Obviously straight people are always attracted to each other and gay/bi people don't exist.
T.k.
Ahhhh, heterocentrism. Interesting point!
You can find it anywhere if you look hard enough. : D
And, um, thank you.
T.k.
So now females have to be seperated from females, and males from males in order to please the gay/bi population of students that want to succeed in school? I am sorry, some percentages of straight people to homosexual people on a college campus would be interesting to see right now.
As for co-ed dorms, it'd be like automatic pairing. A lot of people get the idea in their head that when they go to a four year college, they'll find their one true love and often times they do. I think if you put one decent man and woman together in a dorm for 2,3,4 however many years, your pretty much pairing them up as they go.
Come on let their be a little struggle and searching going on for your "Soulmate"!!!
Their's my two cents,
luv, Monica
No, I wasn't suggesting that at all. I think we should be able to stay with whomever we'd like, regardless of gender. My comments regarding the LGBT community were there to mock the assumption that placing a man and a woman in a room together automatically means twu wuv.
As to statistics, no one knows for sure, though estimates are often cited as 1/10 in the general population.
You might be right about this under some circumstances, but I can't understand why you'd want someone to "struggle." What do you think they would gain?
T.k.
T.K, thanks for contributing to this discussion! I wonder how many people, if given the option, would choose a roommate of the opposite sex. Would anybody out there rather have a roommate of a different sex? Sound off!
You make an interesting point about automatically "coupling" people in the dorms. That could happen! Although...the two would have to share similar values, have compatible personalities, and be attracted to each other. It would be interesting to see how many couples resulted from something like that. Luckily, we are not permitted to do human experiments like that! What a mess we'd make. Thanks for stopping by, Monica!
Think of all the extra funding colleges and universities would have if they got into the matchmaking game! eHarmony is like 40 bucks a match or something.
Hmmm....
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I think gender-neutral housing on campus is wonderful, provided people have a choice about living co-ed or not.
Personally I live with two girls and a guy. The guy and one of the girls and myself also all happen to be gay. XD My school's also working on having gender-neutral housing for freshmen next year (I'm living with a guy because one of our roommates moved out, so we had an extra room and specifically requested him).
Personally I think there are no fundamental differences between men and women, except a different reproductive system - everything else is instilled by society. Will be blogging about that soon. :)
Frankly, I prefer to at least live on a floor that is all females. If It was in a house and I had my own room that would be a different situation. But if I'm going to take a shower, I really don't want to pass any guys while I'm in a bathrobe. Also, it gets me away from the boy/girl drama at least a little.
Like what you've read? Well, then here's more:
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711
The way the dorms and apartments at my school were set up was each suite had its own bathroom. So, I could have from no to three other roommates, who didn't necessarily share a bedroom with me, and I'd share a bathroom with them. There was only two floors that were not really co-ed; one was the nursing floor (because there wasn't too many guys in the nursing school), and the other was the girls-only floor.
But, your post made me laugh, because I stayed in the dorms at the NYU School of Medicine (not connected to the undergraduate campus) last year, and they had both co-ed floors, and co-ed bathrooms. You got an individual bedroom on the floor, and there was a community bathroom, complete with shower stalls and toilets (and I think the first stall was a urinal, but I'm not sure), and a community kitchen for people to share. It was a little awkward when I went in there to take a shower.
~C
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Yeah my dorms have community bathrooms. Each room has 1-3 people.
Like what you've read? Well, then here's more:
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711
the only time I would share a room, any room with a guy...who is not my brother, or my father, cousin/uncle, you know...family.
Is Muslim another subset or part of being Black ? I want to go home where they don't look at me as if I am an alien from outer space...come to destroy, to torture their planet.