A Battle of the Sexes

Living with other people can be complete torture. I’m sure if most people had the resources, they would opt to live sans roommates. But as luck would have it, living with roommates is fairly standard for the average college student. At some point, most of us will live with a roommate or two and (by choice or not) one of those roommates will be a member of the opposite sex.

I have had the unique opportunity of living with large quantities of both sexes; I lived on campus with five other girls (twice), and off campus in a house with five guys. So the question is, which sex makes the better roommate?

Obviously there are countless characteristics that factor into the makings of a good roommate, but generally speaking it can be broken down to just a handful: cleaning, drama, noise level, and the bathroom.

CLEANING:

I have had very mixed experiences with cleanliness of both sexes; some girls are messy, some are neurotic clean freaks and the same can be said for guys. Generally, however, the stereotype remains true that females are tidier than males (this is mainly in the bathroom department).

DRAMA:

Many people assume that female roommates produce more drama than male ones. Those people are correct. Females lose this round hands down, sorry ladies.

In my experience, the stereotype held true that females just have to get into each others’ business while males typically keep their drama to themselves. I’ve never had Male Roommate #1 crying while Male Roommates #2, 3 and 4 try to comfort him because Male Roommate #5 “was mean to him.” Switch the genders, however, and that situation is far too familiar.

NOISE LEVEL:

Unless cheap vodka is involved, males generally have a much higher noise level than females. Not only do their voices typically “boom” more, but external factors such as music and TV volume also play a part. Males watching any sports game they’re remotely passionate about can be an extremely loud affair. That being said, females can make their share of noise as well. When drinking, there is a likelihood that Britney Spears (or similar) will be played at high volumes at some point in the night. For most females, nights of B. Spears are kept to the weekends, however, so males remain louder overall.

THE BATHROOM:

How often people use it, how long they use it for, how clean they keep it, etc.; it is surprising how much these factors can affect your everyday life. This one really boils down to how many bathrooms there are in the household; with my impressive math skills I’ve figured out that the minimum ratio of roommates to bathroom should be 2:1. Ratios of 3:1 or even 4:1 are common but should be avoided at all costs.

Maybe I’m spoiled and female, but after living in a house with a ratio of 6:1, five of the six being guys, I now know better. Five guys+one bathroom with (in my experience) shoddy Pacific Grove plumbing-exactly what it sounds like, a disaster. Trust me, you never want to wake up in the morning with a full bladder to discover someone just started one of their notoriously long showers, leaving you to pee in the backyard. I know this from experience. Twice. And I won’t even get into the issues of plumbing.

So which sex reigns supreme in the battle of roommates? Technically girls won, but unfortunately, the answer cannot be generalized that easily. It completely depends on the person; some girls are slobs, some guys are neurotic clean freaks, and some guys have impeccable interior decorating skills while some girls have penchants for posters of kittens and the like. Similar to how you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a roommate by his/her organs of reproduction. You can however judge a house/apartment by its number of bathrooms, so choose wisely.