The Guilfordian

Issue date: 3/23/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Charlie Clay Students bare most at the Genderbend dance.

Media Credit: Charlie Clay

Media Credit: Charlie Clay

Dicks in boxes, men and women in drag, and scantily clad college girls dancing the night away - the Gender Bender 2007.

Similar to the Coming Out Ball in the fall, the Gender Bender exposes students to cross dressing and gives them the chance to wear something out-of-the-ordinary and to dance and be merry.

"The goal of the dance is to let go of gender stereotypes and also to make fun of them. It's to get people thinking about queer issues. Everyone comes, has a good time, eats some free food, and dances a little," said Pride vice president Ted Wilkinson, a senior.

This year, the Gender Bender took place on March 16 in the community center between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. At its peak, about 200 people attended. Open to all students and their guests, the dance has been a spring tradition at Guilford for several years and is organized by Pride.

Even though the dances have a "gender fuck" theme, according to facebook.com invitations, students are not required to cross-dress or otherwise violate gender norms. Rather, students are encouraged to "Just dress wild! The less clothes the better!"

At this year's Gender Bender, plenty of guys adorned themselves in dresses and skirts, and a bounty of girls dressed like guys, but there were also some other interestingly-clad individuals.

Two female students, junior Jamie Metrick and senior Kym Teslik, each donned men's clothing with gift boxes attached to their crotches, imitating the attire of the infamous Saturday Night Live sketch "Dick in a Box," in which Justin Timberlake and Andy Sanberg each sincerely offer their girlfriends "a gift real special."

Since the dance was held the day before Saint Patrick's Day, attendee Clark Doherty dressed as a leprechaun. He sported green underwear, green knee socks, a shamrock tie, and a furry green hat.

"I enjoyed the creative attire," said first-year Megan Fair.

Senior Sylvia Belmont said, "My favorite costume was Matthew Steere's gay Spartan costume. He wore a leopard print cape and pranced around the dance floor. It was fabulous."

Nick Smith, a sophomore, dressed as a cowboy, simply wearing skin-tight '80s-style bathing shorts, boots, and a hat. Jenee Gossen, a junior, dressed as a French maid.

The night was what many would consider scandalous.

"I had fun. People were grinding hard, wearing close to nothing. It looked like people were having sex; I'm not gonna lie," said first-year Timothy Lindberg.

Although many students said that they enjoyed themselves, others said that they felt uncomfortable with the overtly sexual atmosphere. A few students said that, for them, the only pleasant thing about the dance was the snack bar.

One down side of the dance this year was that some people behaved poorly and trashed the community center.

"Some kids tried to steal the chips that were out for everybody … The cookie tray was stolen at one point. It was believed that someone set off a stink bomb … There was a broken beer bottle in the bathroom that had been shattered everywhere that we had to clean up. We've never had it that rowdy before," said Wilkinson.

In reference to this, Pride president Kym Teslik said, "It wasn't fair to my officers. It shows that people can't be appreciative of what others have worked really hard to put together."

Gossen said, "I'm really sad that some attendees this year were trying to ruin it for everyone else."

However, Teslik and Wilkinson agreed that the Gender Bender 2007 was definitely a success overall.

Teslik said, "We want people to have a safe and accepting place free of gender norms, where attendees can do what they want for a night. Even though some people might be uncomfortable with cross-dressing, individuals who want to cross-dress aren't necessarily comfortable on a day-to-day basis, so they need an outlet."

It certainly seemed that the Gender Bender afforded students this opportunity, and provided some form of outlet for gay, straight, transgender, and questioning students alike.

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