Currently I am almost out of undergrad and I am completely terrified. I am obsessed with my hipster college and cannot imagine what it will be like to be in a world where people don’t drink tea 24/7 and give me 3 hour super deep play analyses after all of my play readings. My school has been my own , a female dominated home. My school is 75%(ish?) female and therefore I almost feel like I go to an all girls school with a few random foreign exchange students aka men.
Going to a school with so many women has been incredibly interesting and not at all like I’d expect. My mom warned me about the perils of a female dominated environment and I was slightly terrified little girls with fangs would bite me as soon as I got to college. But mainly it has been pretty supportive. I feel comfortable with women anyway and love being able to rant about my period at mostly any time of the day. I also love being able to write plays with all women and having way too many talented and ferocious actors to pick from.
The hardest part of this” all girl land” has been the hetero dating scene. There are hardly any men, so suddenly garden gnome random guys become the new Chad Michael Murray; any guy who can walk suddenly has a large sexy target on his back. This makes for an unprecedented amount of competition and a feeling that if you start to have a crush, you have to go for it before some other hipster gets in there first. There is also a major hook-up culture that can leave a lot of people feeling used. It seems like a lot of girls can get stuck not pursuing what they really want and just hooking up because that seems like the only option. The dating scene can be incredibly discouraging for woman and can make us feel as if we are disposable. I personally have struggled with some body image issues, and the constant arrogance from certain guys on campus was incredibly difficult to swallow.
I will miss this little hipster haven. I will miss seeing so many women I feel like I’m in a radical feminist commune. I will miss going braless and looking like a hobo for days on end and not caring. I will miss the feeling that anyone whose anyone understands feminist theory. But I will not miss odd and awkward hookup culture and guys that are too cocky for their own good.
