Carol Iannone speculates on the connection between the truly gross college movies, and the rise of co-ed dorms:
In the earlier film, (Revenge of the Nerds) when the sexes were still separate, there was perhaps a tinge of sweetness around the idea of the nerds’ longing to have their place on campus, and to have some access to girls who don’t notice them. The girls were objects to be spied on to be sure, but there is a hint of adoration in the spying. In the later films, the girls have become simple whores, ever ready to offer themselves for anything, as if trained in a French brothel.
… It is possible that the unusual and unnatural coarseness now prevalent in films can be traced to the rise of coed dorms. A fair number of people in television and film today no doubt came through our college culture, greatly influencing the tenor of popular entertainment in general, and they have learned that there is nothing that men can’t say or do in front of women. They have lost all respect for the idea of women as arbiters of decency and keepers of the hearth and ipso facto defenders of boundaries. In fact, much popular culture today goes out of its way to mock any kind of decency or restraint. The people involved in producing these things can simply flaunt whatever filth their minds conjure up. It is in fact a form of control over audiences, to shock and embarrass and dispirit them out of any protest.
