Informant Information: Anonymous female member of the Class of 2017 from Houston, Texas.  She is also a member of Alpha Phi sorority.  

Type of Folklore: Customary Folklore – Belief

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States of America

Social / Cultural Context: This is referring to the level of attraction for males and females throughout their tenure at Dartmouth.  It is the belief that female attractiveness decreases throughout their time at Dartmouth while the male attractiveness increases.  Males and females are at the same level of attractiveness over sophomore summer, signaling the middle of the X.

Associated File:

Transcript: “Are there certain trends or things that people do together whether they’re boyfriend/girlfriend or whether they’re in that hookup culture?”

“You hear about the Dartmouth X, which don’t know if I totally believe it. I believe it on the guys side, because I feel like senior guys are obsessed with freshman girls. On the girls side, I don’t really think that senior girls are willing to jump at freshman guys. Like, it’s kind of a one sided x.”

“But there’s definitely that stigma there on campus?”

“Yeah, that once you’re a senior girl you are kind of like unworthy and everyone wants the freshmen. And for the guys, nobody really wants freshmen guys, everybody wants senior guys.”

“Right, so as you move up if you’re a male, you get higher up on that list and it’s a downword spiral for the girls, that’s what I’ve been hearing.”

“Yeah, and the only time that you’re equal is sophomore summer.”

Collector’s Comments: We have heard this belief from a number of informants.  Some students strongly believed in the Dartmouth X, while others believe in only one side of the X and others viewed it as a total myth. Girls seem to be more reluctant to believe that their social status on campus slowly diminishes as they get older, so most of the female informant believe that the Dartmouth X is a myth.