FUCHS: Stop enforcing ratios at parties
Column: Questioning Jules
With Halloween having just ended and one of the biggest partying weekends being behind us, there are a lot of bigger issues to be noted in partying culture.
Today, the burning issue on the table: ratios and why they are absolutely disgusting, sexist and unacceptable in 2021. Admittedly, I have never been a huge partier, so I am already biased coming into this article being someone who is not a fan of the party scene.
Being more introverted, I find college-esque parties to be an environment I am not comfortable in which is one of the main reasons I am not a party person. Aside from being put into a completely uncomfortable setting for me, I hate the sexist implications that college parties have.
Being, as mentioned, a non-partier, there are a lot of terms I am unfamiliar with. One of which, I was fortunate enough to learn from overhearing some first-year students talking on the phone.
“Ratio” was brought up quite a few times, and the part of me that likes to only think the best in people assumed naturally they were probably talking about a recipe or even — crazy as it might be — math. I had never heard this term being used so casually, so I thought nothing of it. Then, the term kept coming up. And as one might, I chose to resort to my loyal Snapchat friends and ask if anyone could clear up my confusion on the term.
I was disgusted and ashamed when I learned that the term “ratio” actually refers to the number of women to men that are at a party and is a tactic to make sure that more women than men are at a party.
While every college man at a party may not be looking to just objectify and sexualize women at a party, every man who enforces the “ratio” is a problem. Men might find it easier to find someone to date or hook up with by giving themselves a higher pool of college-age women to surround themselves with.
Ratios also make it harder for people to relax and have fun at parties. What makes it even worse is that guys who want to enter a fraternity party but can not fulfill the ratio are required to pay for their entrance for every missing girl.
When men enforce the ratio policy, they make the parties they throw about sex and not about having fun or even celebrating something. Having a higher ratio of women than men plays into the heterosexual agenda of sexualizing college-age women at parties and giving themselves easier access to more women.
This is disgusting and puts women in danger and completely sexualizes them. A lot of sexual assault and harassment women face comes from these parties where they are immediately sexualized and given priority to enter just for being women.
In the end, it is perfectly okay to have fun in whichever way you deem fit. It is also a woman’s choice to enter a party with a “ratio” policy or not, but this policy is completely unnecessary and dangerous.
Julia Fuchs is a School of Arts and Sciences senior majoring in history and anthropology and minoring in French and archaeology. Her column, "Questioning Jules," runs on alternate Wednesdays.
*Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.
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