Yesterday, I tuned into NPR and listened to Talk of the Nation. Journalist Meghan Daum discusses her aptly named article, Raunch is rebranded as ‘confidence.’ Her commentary on the program and article are brilliant.  She certainly hits many features of women and spring break life right on. What I like most about Daum’s journalistic style is that she calls certain statistics and reports “news of the ‘no duh’ variety.” I only begin to chuckle to myself when I think of all the news I read on a regular basis that induces a “duh” cringe in me. The kind of “duh–don’t we all know this already?!?!” reaction that makes me want to run away from the media crazed USA and move to a quiet British Columbia hamlet and be done with it all.

Daum’s no duh news:

The American Medical Assn. released figures about sex and alcohol use during rowdy spring break vacations. The poll, which surveyed female college students and graduates aged 17 to 35, found that 74% believed women used drinking “as an excuse for outrageous behavior”; 83% “had friends who drank the majority of nights while on spring break”; and 12% “felt forced or pressured into sex” during spring break.

Apart from Daum’s almost mischievous, hilarious terms, there is a troubling side to this column.  Daum correctly states that young women are equating their spring break antics with confidence. The wackier, riskier and raunchier they get, the more confident they can claim to be.  Ultimately what this article reveals is that young women are not only partying during spring break but that spring break represents an enlarged version of what is going on today with today’s youth (ie teenagers and young twentysomes.)

Yet another reason I am glad I went to high school in the 1990s.