Jordin Sparks is responsible for the line “Why does love always feel like a battlefield?” In Haverfield House, my residence hall, we like to joke, “Why does love always feel like a Haverfield?”
Like the other 36 dorms on campus, ours is subject to the phenomenon known as “dormcest” and “floorcest.” Dormcest and floorcest are commonly defined as hooking up with someone in your dorm, or on your floor. Being in close quarters with the same people for an extended period of time will often result in romantic inclinations and interactions.
These hook ups are inevitable — you see your dorm-mates daily, eat with them, and hang out with them.
You might say engaging in dormcest and floorcest is the easy way out. Instead of having to trek across campus in the heat, snow or whatever Ohio’s weather throws at us, you can simply go downstairs, or down the hall to find your “comfort.”
Still, dormcest causes immense amounts of drama and awkward situations. Whether the hook-up happened in a drunken stupor or not, once the two (or more…) guilty parties realize that they are not meant to be, and rather hooked up because of pure lust, damage control will have to be undertaken. If damage control works well enough, the situation can be dissipated to only awkward glances and situations. Worse though, if the damage control is unsuccessful, drama will spread around the dorm faster than fear of swine flu.
From shouting matches in the hall at 3 a.m. to rude exchanges in public common rooms, drama will seep out and cover the residence hall with its sticky residue. To make matters terrible, one of your dorm mates or roommates, might hook up with the same person, causing extreme unrest. Dormcest causes division and ill feelings between people in the dorm who would otherwise be good friends.
While hooking up in dorms will evoke drama, there’s also the argument against emotional dormcest; that is, developing a crush on someone in your dorm.
If the other party does not “like” you back, the situation may become quite thorny. Not speaking from personal experience or anything, but chances are you’ll start seeing her (or him) everywhere.
Before you know it, you’re searching out alternate staircases to avoid her and being certain not to wander onto her floor. Hoping she isn’t there, you go to the study room to hit the books, and of course, she is the only one there. You try to leave the room without being noticed, and just when you think you’ve successfully dodged her, she calls out your name, forcing you to talk to her.
Let’s keep some unnecessary drama out of our lives and refrain from dormcest. If you must hook up or find “love,” do so outside your own dorm. While there may not be too many other fish in Mirror Lake, there are thousands upon thousands of other Buckeyes on the Ohio State University tree.
