Earlier this week, the New York Times printed an article about the challenge that women face finding a single man in college. The article argued that women were disadvantaged in college, because far more women were entering college compared to men.  The article specifically focused on UNC, where the female to male ratio is approximately 60-40.

I’ve heard these complaints from straight female friends on countless occasions. The New York Times article attributes this gender gap to several reasons. Women tend to have higher grades and are more qualified students in high school, and men are more likely to drop out once they get to college. Once the first year class arrives at college, other problems arise. Some of the men are in relationships, and some, as one of my friends would argue, “are just gross.” As a result, you have a large number of women competing to date with a small number of eligible men.

One factor contributing to a lack of eligible men for women to date is that surprise… some men want to date men. The New York Times failed to account for any gay population at UNC. There is a joke amongst students at UNC that the main reason that women have such a hard time finding a date is that so many men are gay. Intrigued that The New York Times failed to mention this point, I decided to run an informal poll amongst my friends to see what percentage of men they thought were gay at UNC. Some of the responses are below:

“FAR above the national average.”

“I think it could easily be 40…”

“30%. I think that as one of the more progressive schools in the south the school attracts lgbtiq people. They think that our progressive climate will be more accepting.”

“Coming from the Midwest, I used to think about 90%! But when I realized the difference in demeanor and style, maybe 10-15%?”

“A LOT… A LOT”

While there is no formal polling done on the number of gay men at UNC, it is likely to be a significant number. It’s unfortunate that the NYT article failed to mention the gay population as a reason that straight women at UNC can’t find men. If we assume that just 20% of men at UNC are gay (the average of my informal responses, and a number that could be accurate based on my experience) that means that instead of 40%, we are looking at 32% of the population being available to single straight women to date, not including men who are in relationships.

In many ways, it may seem trivial to complain that gay men were ignored in this article. Regardless, the majority of people at UNC are straight, so doesn’t this idea speak to the dominant culture? In actuality, ignoring and silencing a minority culture is dangerous. The article implies that everyone at UNC is heterosexual and that everyone is looking to find an opposite sex partner to date. A moderate person who doesn’t care about gay rights and reads this article has no reason to reevaluate their views. Let’s say that this hypothetical person has no gay friends, and their closest exposure to gay men is watching a couple episodes of Will and Grace. By no fault of their own, they live in a world that does not expose them to sexual minorities. This article reinforces the views they have, and fails to depict the reality of experiences of college students at UNC by ignoring gay students. Journalists and the media should not ignore minority groups. For too long, minorities have been made invisible by a culture which fails to tell their stories. We live in a diverse world, and to assume that every female at UNC is

Straight
Goes out to bars on the weekend
Desperately wants to find a man

Does as much disservice to women as it does to assume all men at UNC are straight.

Cross Posted at BlueNC