Sweet College Party Culture (CPC). What do you think of? Most would say a great time full of friends, laughter, dancing, and the loud blasting music that causes the police to come and end a good time. I think of girls and guys dressed up in their party fits preparing to get 'lit' and 'die tonight' and most of all have a night to remember. One they probably won't remember because alcohol has a tendency of making things hazy. Let's not forget the infamous red cup. We love it. We love the college party culture because anything less then what we're use to isn't the college experience we left home for. Truth is, some kids pick their college because they're known to be 'party schools'.
I get it. I sometimes love it too. I like the rush. The chants of, "Take it to the head!". The feeling you get when everyone's loosened up, and having a good time. It's this carefree extravaganza that for some reason never gets old for some. After Wednesday, it isn't just a regular Thursday, it's Thirsty Thursday, and containers are filled to the brim with Jungle Juice. It's a special kind of juice. A cup too many can leave you staggering. It's almost scary how we drink cup by cup without any thought or idea about what the juice was mixed with. It's Thursday night, so there's no reason to think, it's time to have fun.
But lately, I've been thinking deeply about CPC. I've been staying in more and more. It isn't cause it's getting boring, but because I started looking at the dark side of it. There's this completely dark side of CPC that's almost scary. We're finishing handles of Hennessy bottles, Vodka, beer making deals and bets about who can drink the most. We laugh and make fun of others who throw up, and fall into bushes because they can't handle the amount of liquor they consumed. We drunkingly ignore the girl who's laying in bed, passed out, and a bit unresponsive. She's an easy target, but she isn't our problem because who told her to get that drunk?
The point is College Party Culture is great, but it isn't when things go left. People may think that I'm thinking way too deep, but the truth is, partying increases the incidence of rape among college students. It's almost sick to think, but some sexual assaulters think that if they're both drunk then their dirty deeds can be swept under the rug. Majority of the times it is.
College Party Culture gives the attacker leeway to interact with its victims. It's an open field to completely pick and choose who's drunk enough to assault. It's even easier when everyone in the party is drunk, and completely minding their business, having a good time. It's almost worst when drunk -you sees something off, but ignores it because you're way to drunk to get involved. The attack sometimes happens in a blink of an eye. No one knows what happened.
People are saying don't only blame Frats for the intense party culture associated with Sexual Assault but blame the Division One Athletic Program too. We love our football teams, but what we also love is the crazy tailgates and party's that come along with it. Football weekends are lined with parties, after parties, alcohol and rape. D1A football plays a big role in the social life of CPC according to Vice. These events causes sexual assault to increase by 28% between the ages of 17-24. What's even more crazier is how in home games sexual assault is raised by 41%.
No. I'm not saying get rid of D1 college football. I'm not saying remove the parties and the good time. What I'm trying to get at is that we should keep our eyes wide open, and help someone who's so intoxicated that they're unable to fend or take care of themselves. What I want to do is warn and make others realize that our College Party Culture has some great flaws in it that risks others their dignities, and sometimes our lives.
When is the right time to say enough is enough? When is the right time to decline a drug or a cup of jungle juice? When is the right time to just wake up and realize that life isn't a movie. That those kids jumping off building and using kegs are actors simply getting paid? That movies are just simply romanticizing a culture that has it dark sides. The question that's starting to haunt me is: How can we improve the culture without eliminating it?
Because real talk, College Party Culture found a way to be etched into every High School Senior and College student head like CPC + (insert your name)= the best part about college. After all this, including mine. I can't imagine college without the culture, but if it meant keeping people safe... what lengths would we go to?
