We Need To Break Up With The Phrase ​'Walk Of Shame'

It only took a quick visit to the Public Safety office for me to realize that the entire campus is being surveilled twenty-four hours a day, seven days of the week. Essentially, you can track anyone who enters the building from the moment they step through the gate to the moment they leave campus.

There's no doubt that this makes me feel safe as a resident of Fordham. However, I couldn't help but think about how many times the cameras--as well as the Public Safety workers--have seen me walking back to my dorm from across campus in the clothes I was wearing from the night before.

This made me think about the whole concept of the "walk of shame" in general. I remember learning what this term meant when I watched 21 Jump Street when I was fifteen years old. Why the hell do we call it a "walk of shame"? I want to know who coined this phrase so I could call them out.

This phrase really bothers me. First of all, not everybody who spends the night in another room is automatically sleeping with whoever lives there; sometimes you just don't feel like walking back to your room all the way across campus in the middle of the night, so you crash at a friend's place. So, the assumption that these treks are always after some type of sexual encounter is bogus.

Second of all, it's possible to be in a relationship and not feel the need to jump each other's bones constantly. My favorite nights with my boyfriend are the ones where we cuddle and watch cheesy romantic comedies on Netflix. Sometimes I'll doze off in the middle of watching a movie. Why should I get up and walk all the way across campus at three in the morning in the dark when there's a perfectly fine bed I can sleep in that I'm laying on right now?

Third, and most importantly: how is it anyone's business where I spend the night? As long as I'm safely making my way to one part of campus to the other, people don't need to worry about where I sleep. The last time I checked, sleepovers aren't a crime.

You have no idea where I'm walking from. I could just as easily be walking from my female best friend's dorm as my boyfriends. Maybe my best friend needed a night with the girls because on top of being stressed with school, she's having boy troubles. Or maybe I'm coming from my boyfriend's apartment because it was our anniversary and we decided to (gasp!) watch a movie after dinner and fall asleep together.

Honestly, girls (and guys) should embrace the walks back to their place after spending the night. Oh, and the next time you see a girl with smeared mascara walking barefoot while holding a shoe in each hand, don't be so quick to judge; not all sleepovers are as steamy as you think.