So what exactly do you guys do?
The Alternative is basically a network of students who—like girls—just wanna have fun.1 We typically throw one big social a month and then provide guidelines for members who want to throw their own parties on other weeks. We encourage every Alternative member who can to throw at least one party a semester, and we go out of our way to make sure those parties are both fun and respectful.
What makes an Alternative Party different?
An Alternative Party is different in two main ways: First, there is no expectation or pressure to hookup, and second, we don’t treat alcohol as simply a disposable means to get drunk. Along with a specific set of guidelines that every party host follows, we also post these rules at every Alternative Party.
Your Mission Statement mentions “pluralistic ignorance,” what the heck is that?
The Emperor has no clothes!! Pluralistic ignorance is a situation in which a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but incorrectly assume that most others accept it, and therefore go along with it. This is what happens in Hans Christian Andersen’s story about the emperor’s new clothes, i.e. everyone privately thinks the emperor has no clothes, but because they incorrectly assume that everyone else sees his clothes, they just go with it.
On college campuses, pluralistic ignorance is a well-documented issue when it comes to alcohol use and sex.2 That is, students often believe that their peers are much more comfortable with excessive drinking and casual sex than they really are, and this leads to a social culture that leaves many dissatisfied.
Okay, okay, this sounds pretty interesting, how do I get involved?
The easiest way to get involved is to sign up for our listserv and to come to one of our monthly socials. Besides posting on our listserv, we try to update this website and our Facebook page with the details for every social as they come up. Hope to see you around!
- Lauper, Cyndi, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” in She’s So Unusual (New York: The Record Plant, 1983).
- For just two such studies, check out:
- Prentice, D. A., & Miller, D. T. “Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: Some consequences of misperceiving the social norm.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64, no. 2 (1993): 243-256.
- Lambert, Tracy A., Arnold S. Kahn, and Kevin J. Apple. “Pluralistic Ignorance and Hooking up.” The Journal of Sex Research 40, no. 2 (2003): 129-33.