DALLAS (BP)--A college student I know spent spring break in Panama City, Fla. "It was not my venue," she told me afterwards. "Next year, I'll do a mission trip."

Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum has done some research on the phenomenon that is spring break. A report in The Journal of American College Health confirms what she observed firsthand in Cancun. "omen partying at spring break hot spots consume an average of 10 alcoholic drinks per day, and men consume an average of 18," she wrote, referencing the journal. Ms. Daum marvels that women in the process of pursing higher education would involve themselves in such demeaning activities as "girl-against-girl wrestling matches held in giant vats of pudding" and other activities not to be described in a family publication

In interviews with these coeds, Ms. Daum learned what they're really after: Confidence. Many of them see these spring break beach destinations as proving grounds for their sexual attractiveness. They tan; they wax; some even have plastic surgery in preparation for spring break. But it's not just one wild week. Ms. Daum concludes that the "hotness factor" is the most important component of self worth for these young women -- more than a job or grad school.

The feminist movement was supposed to free women from being mere sex objects. But these collegians are pursuing this indignity. Women sought, and have attained, educational equality with men. But some have also adopted men's baser behavior, made possible with widely available and fairly effective birth control. Today, college students across the nation inhabit a hook-up culture. No close relationship is required. The guy doesn't even have to buy dinner. And this is supposed to build a young woman's confidence?

Thankfully, there's a backlash.

Recently, The New York Times featured a story about Harvard student Jane Fredell who is a leader of True Love Revolution, a secular celibacy movement on that campus. In an essay for the Harvard Crimson, Ms. Fredell wrote, "virginity is extremely alluring." She told The Times, "It takes a strong woman to be abstinent, and that's the sort of woman I want to be."

There are other Ivy League abstinence clubs. Law Professor Robert George advises the group at Princeton, and says the students involved are some of the university's most gifted. They discuss arguments to support their belief that "promiscuity deeply compromises human dignity" and that casual sex leads to "personal unhappiness and social harm," The Times reported.

This is just too much common sense for the administrations at more than 30 colleges and universities where co-ed dorm room policies now reign. We're not just talking co-ed dorms, floors or even suites. This is one room, two beds, a boy and a girl.

Some supposedly smart people have figured out a way to deal with the presence of both males and females on campus. Just pretend they're the same. Liberal academics at schools like Dartmouth, Clark, and Brown -- all of which have or are moving to co-ed rooms -- are embracing the gender-blind movement which insists that acknowledging gender differences is, in and of itself, a form of oppression. Oh. So now college men are expected not to notice that they're different from college women. Tell that to the girls on the beach at Spring Break.

By the way, spring break in Panama City turned out to be a real chore for my young friend. She found herself making several trips shuttling inebriated friends back to their hotel. But she got some help from the BeachReachers. BeachReach is a ministry of LifeWay Christian Resources that enables ministry-minded students to offer free van rides, pancake breakfasts and a healthy dose of the Gospel to spring break partiers. If the tanned and toned beach babes seeking self confidence listen closely, they may hear Christ calling them to Himself. But it's the BeachReachers who are gaining true confidence each time they share their faith.

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