Wellesley girls gone wild: Hard-partying students go to hospital instead of ball

A ``creative black tie'' evening at the annual Dyke Ball at Wellesley College ended in the emergency room or infirmary for 11 party girls who drank the night away Saturday before the school-sanctioned celebration sponsored by a lesbian, bisexual and transgender group, school officials and students said.

This is the second time in two years that preball boozing has marred the wildly popular tradition at the women's college where revelers don anything from shorts and ribbed tank tops to Saran Wrap, corsets and, for the men, drag-queen costumes and tuxedo thongs. Alcohol is not served at the party.

The 11 students, some of them underage, were taken from dormitories and the party site at the Keohane Sports Center Field House to the school infirmary and several area hospitals for treatment of alcohol intoxication, said college spokeswoman Mary Ann Hill. It's too early to tell if the tradition, which attracted 2,000 students, could be called off next year, but Hill said ``all options'' are on the table.

``While the party was not out of control, some people's drinking was out of control,'' said Hill. All the students are expected to recover and will appear before the college's alcohol hearing board.

``It's just about doing what you feel like doing, but because people party beforehand, it gets a little risque,'' said a Wellesley senior who attended the party, but refused to give her name.

Under the ``creative black tie'' rules, baseball caps, khakis, jeans and polo shirts are off limits and drag dress is encouraged for the men, students said. Cellphones and cameras also aren't allowed.

``They don't want pictures because there are scantily clad people,'' said junior Liz Abbey.

College officials tried to quell preball boozing by delivering pizza and hot chocolate to dorms and pushing an alcohol-awareness campaign that began after last year's party, when about a dozen students were rushed to area hospitals after heavy drinking.

Students said the school follows a ``better safe than sorry'' policy when it comes to alcohol intoxication.

``They have a policy of taking someone to the hopital if someone is (vomiting),'' said Wellesley freshman Elizabeth Harrell.

Officials of Spectrum, the Wellesley lesbian, bisexual and transgender group sponsoring the party, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

``People who drink are people who drink. There's no correlation with the group,'' Hill said.

.... Jess' story is fairly typical. When she arrived her freshman year, she had a boyfriend. But she saw women involved with other women all around her. She joined the rugby team and, she says, "The team was at least sixty percent bi or dyke last year, and this year it seems like it's ninety percent." Even so, she says that at first, she "wasn't getting into the homosexuality thing." But eventually, her attitude changed. At the beginning of her sophomore year, she broke it off with her boyfriend—by then her fiancé—and started dating a woman.

Sandra North explains the process: "For a while, someone might go around telling people she's asexual, saying, `I'm not attracted to anyone,' which sometimes is a cover for starting to become attracted to women." If she develops a crush on somebody, she might check the woman's "resume," the electronic profile on Wellesley's e-mail system. "That's actually a pretty big part of Wellesley's sex culture," says Sandra. "That's where a lot of flirtation goes on." It can also act as an informal registry of who's straight and who's gay or experimenting. "One girl wrote on her resume, 'I am now open to dating women. If you want to talk to me, here's my extension,'" Sandra explains.

It helps that dating women is so convenient. "You just run upstairs and there's your girlfriend," says Jess. "Here, you can practically have an apartment set up with your girlfriend. At most coed places, a girl would probably have trouble getting a room with her boyfriend."

And the atmosphere is so open that even the more conservative groups on campus tend to be socially liberal. Sarah Spurgeon, a member of the Wellesley Republicans, says, "I don't care what someone does in their bedroom or whom they marry, and I also think women should be able to play like men do in the battle of the sexes. It is simply a matter of personal freedom." Heather Gay says, "It's an environment where being a lesbian is considered almost cool." She points out that she was embarrassed about her name growing up. "But once I came out at Wellesley, it became a big joke." ....

The Dyke Ball, a dance put on by Wellesley Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transgenders and Friends, is an all-out celebration of female sexuality. "There's no such thing as a normal formal dance like there are at other schools," says Melanie Herman. "Instead, it's more normal to see ten girls wearing wings on their backs." The dress code for the Dyke Ball is "creative black tie," which means that women show up either dressed extravagantly or practically naked. Women routinely arrive nearly topless, or wearing only Saran Wrap or body paint (which inevitably sweats off by the end of the night). The few men who show up come in drag. And over the course of the night, women are "all crazy getting on each other, stripping off their clothes and getting it on with each other," says Michelle. Says senior Charlotte Boutz, "I've seen more T&A at the Dyke Ball than in the locker room." ....

Excerpted from The highly charged erotic life of the Wellesley girl

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