Boys in New Hampshire

This weekend I went to visit my friend Jen at her college in New Hampshire. It is a small school, nothing like USC, so I was really excited to go. I loved everything about it, except what really stood out to me was how different the social interactions between boys and girls were. About half of her good friends had boyfriends at the school. They would hang around with us and wait on these girls hand and foot. At USC, none of my friends have boyfriends at school. The freshman boys that I have met here are not ready for any kind of relationship at all. At Jen's school the boys have a completely different attitude. Instead of wanting to go crazy and try to get with as many girls as possible, it is much more appealing for them to pick one girl and focus on her.

At first this really confused me, but after a while I got used to it. It really enforced the idea that gender is a construct of society. A hegemonic form of masculinity at USC is a guy who "gets with" a ton of girls, since the Greek system creates an environment where the boys are housed separate from the girls and big parties make it hard to get to know people on a more personal level. At this school there is a much smaller social scene and everyone quickly knows everyone. Since there are less people it is a much more intimate place where relationships are more likely to occur. Therefore, its considered masculine to have a girlfriend because it means that you are "getting with" someone but not making it awkward by "getting with" everyone at the small school.

-Elle