This is the weirdest story I’ve read in a long time. Apparently at some Ivy League schools, “naked parties” are common.

At first my reaction was, yeah, a bunch of guys standing around looking awkward. The college I attended had things of that nature from time to time, like a “naked run” in winter and a naked Facebook group. Almost all participants were male.

So what surprises me is that, judging by the story — which, as the writer does not seem to have attended a party, may or may not be accurate — the parties are low-key, female-friendly and somewhat sophisticated.

From the report:

“[S]tudents who attend the six to eight parties held each year say it can be a life-changing experience, far from the ‘frat-house’ bawdiness portrayed in films such as Animal House. Megan Crandell, a final-year Yale student who has attended six naked parties, said: ‘The dynamic is completely different from a clothed party. People are so conscious of how they’re coming across that conversations end up being more sophisticated. You can’t talk about how hot that chick was the other night.’

“Another Yale student, who did not want his name to become known by campus authorities - which do not try to stop the parties but do not encourage them - said: ‘Part of it is just the mystique of not knowing where you’re going. It’s become a hip thing to do.’

…

“Touching, beyond a salutary greeting, is not encouraged.

“Of party etiquette, Mollie Farber, a senior student at Yale, said: “You’re allowed to give everyone a quick once-over as you say, ‘Hey, what’s up?’, but after that, you’ve got to maintain pretty good eye contact.”

…

“Birk Oxholm, who graduated from Columbia in 2006, was not convinced of the liberating effect of the parties: ‘To pretend you’re feeling great and happy to be overcoming the oppressiveness of clothing overlooks the more authentic feeling, which is, ‘I feel kind of weird’.”

I’ll say. Goofy college kids.

Also, I really doubt these things are all that common, though a coworker of mine who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania said she’d heard about them.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://www.therationale.com and http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.