The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1 - 53

Hollywood & College Women

currency that allows or prevents them
from gaining access to campus space,
including the sexual imaginations
of the men around them. Often
sequences, these ﬁlms show women
learning and perfecting the hypersexualized image of femininity.

as experimental, but ultimately unacceptable,
behaviors for college women because they take
them away from men.

Importance of Body Image
In all of the ﬁlms, the women's physical appearance is paramount. Women's bodies act
as social currency that allows or prevents
them from gaining access to campus space,
including the sexual imaginations of the men
around them. Often illustrated with the use of
makeover sequences, these ﬁlms show women
learning and perfecting the hyper-sexualized
image of femininity. All the ﬁlms stressed
the importance of externally deﬁned beauty,
especially as it pertains to body weight, often
through transitions as characters go from the
outcast ugly duckling to an acceptable campus
woman as a result of weight loss, the addition
of makeup, and/or the subtraction of clothing.
While the focus on body image arises in
all of these ﬁlms, SW and HB provide the
most consistent references and illustrations.

Throughout SW, Sydney's nemesis, Rachel
Witchburn, constantly brings up the issue of
physical appearance as the reason to include
or marginalize other women on campus.
During sorority recruitment, Rachel tells the
other members of her sorority to "target cute
pledges" and avoid "fat losers." She also "reassigns" one of the current sorority members
to kitchen duty during recruitment because
"that's what you get when you gain 20 pounds
of breakup weight over the summer." Rachel
reinforces her focus on body image by visually examining each new pledge, offering each
woman speciﬁc actions they must take such as
plucking their eyebrows.
Between the images of the Playboy
bunnies, Shelley's personal body obsession,
and the desire of the Zetas (the sorority under
Shelley's inﬂuence) to learn to be more like
her, the focus on physical appearance also
comes to dominate HB. A bleached blonde
and aspiring centerfold, Shelley exudes physical sexuality in almost everything she does
on and off campus. With her bikinis and fake
breasts, Shelley sets out to remake both the
members of the Zeta House and their dwelling into people and a place that visually appeal
to outsiders-especially men. As she declares,
Shelley works to make "them the hottest girls
on campus" by having these women change
their hair, don makeup, and learn that "dressing sexy is all about skimplifying." The clear
message offered here is that women need to
change their physical appearance to attract and
appeal to men at any cost.

Hazing and Female-on-Female Bullying
While higher education administrators recognize that hazing is not limited to social
Greek organizations (Allen & Madden, 2012),
53

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1