The Infamous “Walk of Shame”

With an apartment overlooking Bogue Street, I really get to see the best of the best when it comes to happenings around campus.  When Thursday night approaches, Cedar Village is a front row seat to thirsty collegiette’s getting a head start on their weekends: adorned in pencil skirts, high heels and not too much else.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love dressing up as much as the next girl but the night’s cute and sexy outfit can mean big problems for the next morning.  As soon as the sun begins to rise, and the realization of what happened the night before hits, every girl starts to make their way back home, ergo what we like to call the walk of shame.

Like calling girls names for hooking up with guys or judging them for drinking “too much,” the walk of shame is one of those things for which girls are looked down upon while guys are rewarded with high-fives and fist-bumps.

Now, I have to admit, I am guilty of passing judgment once or twice on that girl walking down Grand River with her stilettos in hand and hair in utter chaos.  But recently after leaving my boyfriend’s one morning, I became particularly aware and self-conscious of what others thought of my ensemble.  We went out the night before with friends and staying at his place just made more sense instead of heading home alone at two in the morning.  

Obviously more convenient at the time, but without the proper planning, my trip home in the morning proved very awkward; I wore a pair of his baggy sweats and a grungy t-shirt.  At breakfast, I was pretty sure that the parents of the baby girl in the booth next to us were quietly praying that their little girl would never grow up to look like me: a hung-over disarray.  To anyone who saw me, I must have been the definition of the walk-of-shame, nobody knew I was with my boyfriend, for all they knew I could have just had a drunken one-night-stand with some guy I met at the bar.

That’s the real problem with judging the girl walking down the street the next morning: you never really know what her night consisted of.  She could be walking home from her boyfriend’s, or maybe she just crashed on her best friend’s couch.  I’m not saying that there aren’t those girls who are partaking in the stigma and shamefully walking home, but so what?  A guy walking home in last night’s clothes would never get the same judgment – besides maybe on Halloween.  You can’t help but judge the guy walking home as a banana or Aladdin, but that’s beside the point.  The stereotype is just confirmed here, a girl is called a “slut” but a guy is praised for “getting some.”

I guess there isn’t really anything you can do to prevent others from judging you as you walk home but there are a few things you can do to limit them.  First of all, if you know you’re not going to make it home that night bring a change of clothes to wherever you’re staying.  Second, if you are going home with a guy unexpectedly, make sure he’s willing to drive you home or walk with you in the morning- that will also say something about his character.  Third, simply don’t care what anybody thinks.  It’s more than likely that your night was more fun and they’re jealous that they had to spend the evening finishing that 10 page paper.