Freshman Shaming, we all know what it is and we all do it. Let’s be honest here welcome week you see all the freshman walk in and your brain probably automatically says “she looks easy” or “she’s a slut”. We all do it, don’t even try to lie about it. Freshman shaming is the norm on college campuses. But, as a freshman it’s scary. Many freshmen have never experienced anything outside of their towns and under the watch of their parents. College is the place where they get freedom, but why do they have to go through such intense shaming. It’s almost as if the freshman shaming is a hazing ritual into the thing that it college.
But, why is freshman shaming so important to talk about? It’s important because slut-shaming is important to talk about. Like all like-minded feminist you think “hey let’s address slut-shaming on a bigger scale” but there is a systematic cycle that happens in college every time that a new class of doe-eyed freshman steps onto campus. But, freshman shaming not only happens with the upperclassmen but it happens with fellow freshman. During the first few weeks where everyone is getting to know each other many rumors and preconceived notions being passed from ear to ear like a game of telephone.
Freshman shaming can also get very scary. Sometimes a person can go too far with their words and break a freshman down. On top of moving from their homes and missing their families, freshman can feel the pressure of everyone around them to be something they’re not to fit it. Or if the freshman walks in with a reputation they can also feel the pressure from everyone to be the girl that they think she is. It can go from shaming to straight harassment in the blink of an eye. Freshman Shaming is an underrated part of rape culture that no one seems to talk about until it has gotten too far. Why can’t we start the conversation now? Does it always have to get too far for people to realize that this is something that actually goes on and it’s not something we should all just let go by under our noses?
We all do it but freshman shaming isn’t something that we should do. It’s rude, mean and sometimes even dangerous.