Genderblind Housing: Men and Women in the Same Dorm Room
Image Via TeamSugar
In May 2009, a new trend in student housing was raising concern among parents and some students. Now, this trend has been implemented in about 50 schools across the country.
What is this trend? These 50 schools are now allowing men and women to live in the same dorm room.
This trend is called “genderblind” housing and was created to help students feel more comfortable with their living situation on college campuses. The original focus was for “gay, bisexual and transgender students who wanted to live with a member of the opposite sex,” according to the Washington Post.
However, many heterosexual students are taking advantage of the new rule and living with members of the opposite sex whom they are friends with or are romantically involved with.
It’s not just smaller schools implementing these new housing rules. Some larger schools that are allowing males and females to live together include Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University.
I lived in an all-girls dorm during my freshman year of college. Honestly, I can’t imagine living in a co-ed dorm. There were many days when my dorm-mates and I would spend the entire day in our pajamas; we wouldn’t have wanted guys to see us like that.
But I can also understand wanting to live with a member of the opposite gender if you aren’t comfortable with your own gender for one reason or another. It’s a sticky situation.
What do you think? Should men and women be allowed to live with each other in college dormitories? Or is that too risqué?