“All the single ladies now put your hands up…,” the DJ plays Beyonce’s hit, and it seems the perfect song. The view of the Koch café floor from the balcony is obscured by writhing mass of girls. Valentine’s Day dance attendee Alex Smith ’12 noted, “For the first half an hour there literally was not a boy in sight.”
Despite only returning to coeducation in 1989, last year Deerfield admitted more girls than boys. Secondary schools and colleges nation-wide are showing signs of gender imbalance. Although there are more men than woman from the ages 17 to 25 in the United States, women currently make up 58 percent of college students.
Many colleges that used to be predominately male have now made a complete reverse. At the University of North Carolina, and the State University of New York women now outnumber men two to one.
“There is something empowering about being at a school with more girls than boys but I guess it gets to the point where I would just want a boyfriend,” said Assistant Dean of Students Amie Creagh.
Else Sharp ’10 noticed the effects that the imbalance has had on her social life. “Dating has definitely changed since I was a freshman. Now, it is like, ‘I’m single, so who am I going to go for?’ I have to do all the planning.”
Some think the plethora of girls puts the boys at a huge advantage and allows them to play the field with high results. At bars in Chapel Hill, North Carolina it is a common site to see five girls out with one boy. A female student at University of Georgia affirmed that, “If a guy is not getting what he wants, he can quickly and abruptly go to the next one, because there are so many of us (single girls).” However, Tommy Walker ’12 argues that “a good socializer will always be successful in playing the field no matter how many single girls.”
At universities all over the country the female population is finding it challenging to acquire a date Friday night due to the new found female tilt.
Women who are experiencing this situation sometimes feel the need to dress provocatively, throw themselves at guys, and fight against each other. But Walker has doubts as to whether this conduct at Deerfield is due to the gender imbalance. “This new behavior doesn’t have anything to do with the skewed ratio— it is simply a part of the society we enter into when we come to a school like this.”
Tori Dewey ’12 suggested that juniors and seniors may have an even harder time finding a partner for parietals. “Boys naturally want to ‘date down,’ and now that the freshman class has more girls it has given them more opportunities. So I’d say it is a bit of a struggle for some of the older girls to find dates.”