Student Thoughts: Themed parties perpetuate gender inequality

Gabrielle Garcia / Contributing writer

opinion@fiusm.com

After recently coming across professor Donna Freita’s book, “Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America’s College Campuses,” I couldn’t help but recognize several themes she discusses. Toward the latter part of her book, Freita discusses themed parties on college campuses. This topic not only seemed relevant to me based off my personal experiences with such parties but also through my own studies of gender dynamics and double-standards.

Themed parties have been an ongoing trend for decades on college campuses, even spreading to high-school students. In her book, Freita mentions that themed parties are often campus tradition and so attract plenty of attention. Whether it’s the excitement of dressing up or meeting with friends, these themed parties might initially seem harmless. From luaus to celebrating decades and everything in between, themed parties may seem fun and exciting – if only it were that simple.

Too often, themed parties are advertised with gender-derogatory names. A partygoer can expect to find costume names divided by gender lines, such as “CEO” and “Corporate Hoe,” “Lifeguard” and “Sexy Surfer,” “Workout Bro” and “Aerobic Hoe,” among many others. These parties blatantly present young women as sex objects, and party organizers, mostly men, instruct women to dress in overly revealing clothing to depict themselves as a stereotype – sexual toys at the service of males. Men, on the other hand, always dress in either professional garb or in macho outfits that cement their male-dominant stereotype. But perhaps the most disturbing aspect of it all is that women themselves continue to participate in these parties – often with the blessing of their parents and peers.

Because themed parties are so popular, and because there is lack of education regarding the complexities of gender roles, many people absent-mindedly organize or attend these with virtually no concept of the harmful stereotypes they are perpetuating. As a result, the bandwagon only gets larger, making the behavior more and more acceptable.

To accompany my friends in high-school, I once attended a themed party titled “GI Joes and Army Hoes.” At the party, the boys wore black t-shirts with either jeans or cargo pants, while the girls wore short-shorts and tank tops. Another trend I noticed came after the party. Social media posts of the party often featured a boy and a girl posing with a caption reinforcing girls as “Hoes” and boys as “GI Joes.” The common theme is that males were the subjects and girls were the objects.

Themed parties based on gender-stereotyping and their participants make women submissive by dictating the way they should dress, and even the way they should behave. Without even realizing this, young women who plan to attend these parties surrender themselves to the role. Meanwhile men remain “superior” and often brag about it on social media or among their peers. As Freita says in her book that, by their design, these themed parties call on women to play the role as sexually suggestive and even sexually submissive.

Of course, not all themed parties are negative. On the contrary, such parties are a fun way to keep busy and socialize, especially on large college campuses. But fun events don’t have to rely on archaic and traditionally negative stereotypes of genders. Gender is a complex and ever-evolving concept, which we are only beginning to understand. Although gender stereotypes do exist, attaching such characteristics to gender will only weaken our common search for global gender equality. And to those who have participated in these themed parties, do not feel shame or regret. Instead, learn from the experience to become more conscious of gender dynamics.