I’m at a frat party in college with my roommate and a friend. It’s my first one; I’ve avoided them up until this point because of their reputation, but I’ve decided to keep an open mind and go to at least one. We’ve arrived a bit early, so the some of the fraternity pledges are still setting up. As I’m standing on the balcony where the party is taking place, I hear one of the pledges say, “There’d better be enough hoes at this party.” Then, he yells to his friend, “Hey, go pick up the keg and some hoes!” I am immediately stunned by the implications of what this guy has just said. In his mind, are women material goods in the same vein as alcohol? Are we not human beings but simply objects to be “picked up” & moved around like cattle, used to improve the fraternity’s social standing? I stay there for another hour but feel extremely uncomfortable and even unsafe the entire time, wondering what the men at the party are thinking about me and the other women present.
