<p>Actually, I’m trying to think who in their right mind would wear an outfit that could possibly reveal said toe in a January in Ithaca??</p>
<p>I am blushing … because I have known about camel toe for years. I must be one of those “bad girls.” 
We have a particular group of women in our area who favor clothing that reveals camel toe … they are quite well off, so they could afford pants that fit! I’ve often wondered what makes a woman think that looks good …</p>
<p>In searching for camel toe, I discovered “moose knuckle.” </p>
<p>It’s the fit of khakis across the crotch that leads me to say that “no one looks good in khakis.” They all too often pull across the crotch.</p>
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<p>People wear too-tight pants winter and summer, sadly.</p>
<p>In response to the original question: disadvantages of belonging to a sorority.
I am a 53 year member of a national sorority.
I went to a commuter college that had no dorms. We all took the bus or hitched a ride with somebody’s parent on the way to work. (Few of us had cars in those days.) The Greek system dominated what social life there was on the campus, given that many people had to work to pay their own way and there was next to no social life there.
I joined a sorority and it was a very nice experience during my college years, and has been a source of friendships for the 50 years since I graduated. As a matter of fact, I talk 2 or 3 times a week with a girl who was in my pledge class in 1956. We have been friends through marriage, divorce, children, and recently widowhood. In reflecting on the disadvantages I would say that the only one I can think of was the limitation on my time which allowed only so much time to socialize. Therefore, I did not have a lot of time to cultivate friendships with as many non-greeks as I would have liked. I did not limit myself to my own sorority and I must say that the sorority did not discourage friendships outside of our immediate circle. These friends were often included in our activities, and included a refugee from eastern Europe, a German immigrant, and kids who transferred in as upperclassmen. Since we did not live on campus, and went to jobs or home after our last class everyday, the opportunity to mingle with a diverse population was just not there. The sorority had nothing to do with that, really, because I would have spent my free time with whomever I clicked with anyway, and it just happened to be sorority sisters. I did in fact have non-greek friends. After graduation when I moved to a strange city, I had a ready-made group of friends and a support group when I had a new baby and a critically ill husband. I remarried and moved to another new town, and again had a ready-made group of friends where I fit in immediately. The sorority also gave me a chance to develop leadership skills which I put to use as a community volunteer. Now in my 70s, I could still play bridge, go to a lunch group, go to a book club, etc. if I wanted to. Not all girls are joiners though, and not everyone wants to be a member of a sorority. One of my kids went to a campus where they had fraternities and sororites, and belonged; one of my kids went to a non-greek campus and found a group of pals when living in a quiet-study dorm.
I would think you might want to consider encouraging your child to make the decision. Before a person is made a full member, he/she can run for the hills; and if he/she wants to join as a sophomore or junior, I would think there would be a group that would want them.</p>
<p>Do any sororities keep statistics on diversity? What percentage of members are minorities? What percentage of members are from different religious backgrounds? Economic diversity? Are these percentages consistent with the population of the schools?
Or the population as a whole?</p>
<p>For those of you who have had wonderful experiences in your sorority lives, I think that’s great. Frankly, it’s no different than joining any private club. But If you don’t think this is a totally self selecting group, I think you are mistaken.</p>
<p>Of course it’s a self selecting group. That’s the whole point of rush, otherwise it would be done with lottery. Some people join because it is self selecting.</p>
<p>“Are these percentages consistent with the population of the schools?”</p>
<p>No, they aren’t. Even the most inclusive NPC systems are not as diverse as the school population. There may be some individual chapters that are as diverse as the school, but the group of chapters as a whole rarely is. Of course, that’s generally true of college choirs, sports teams, and anime fan clubs, too, but they don’t list the social development of members as a primary purpose.</p>
<p>The diversity of the sorority system reflects (at least to some extent) the diversity of the women who choose to go through rush. In general, the sororities are more diverse than they were several years ago. This is a move in the right direction and I see it continuing.</p>
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<p>Some sororities, such as Alpha Epsilon Phi and Sigma Delta Tau, were founded for Jewish girls. Many of their chapters will have a far higher percentage of Jewish girls than a campus as a whole. Is that a good thing where Jewish girls can come together? A bad thing? Or is it just what it is? If you pointed me to a campus in which AEPhi is overwhelmingly Jewish, I’m not sure why AEPhi being Jewish would be a bad thing but Hillel being Jewish would be a good thing.</p>
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<p>Obviously it costs money to join. Whether living in a house is cheaper than living in a dorm varies from school to school. Where I was, the cost for living in the house was pretty much the same as living in a dorm, and the houses were far nicer. But that may be different elsewhere.</p>
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<p>ROFL, of course it is! That’s the whole point!</p>
<p>BTW, full disclosure, I was not in AEPhi or SDT at my campus (neither of which are there any more, I don’t believe). But I don’t see the problem if a particular sorority tends to attract Catholics, or WASP’s, or Jews, or whatever. Or New Yorkers. Or Californians. Or really sporty-athletic types. Or artsy-fartsy types.</p>
<p>^^ what if they intentionally exclude any of those groups? Is that wrong? or just part of being self-selecting/exclusionary?</p>
<p>and if it is wrong for a southern group to do this, aren’t the members of the same national group anyplace in the country guilty of supporting this kind of exclusion?</p>
<p>The sororities can exclude anyone they want - just like the Boy Scouts.</p>
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<p>It is a Constitutionally-protected right: Freedom of association under the First Amendment.</p>
<p>^^so if southern groups exclude based on background and look – ya’ll are okay with that after all?</p>
<p>I guess it is no surprise I also don’t support scouts-- even though, like sororities, I believe they accomplish a lot of good in the community and for their members.</p>
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<p>In this case, yes.</p>
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<p>Certainly you see the difference between intentionally excluding as a matter of policy, and like-tending-to-attract-like.</p>
<p>I don’t see why southern groups would be more exclusionary than northern groups. The northern groups may exclude southerners, Baptists and NASCAR fans. </p>
<p>I went to a southern school and, to this day, I can’t tell you what religions were represented by the members of my sorority. I know we had the range from non religious to born again Christians but I can’t tell you what was in between. Religion was never discussed during rush and it wasn’t something we discussed generally. We were very diverse socio economically. We had a few wealthy members, but most were very middle class. We had more on the lower end than the upper end and that is most likely because it was a public school. We had varsity athletes, dancers, actors and artists. We were not a diverse group with regard to race, but that reflected the school. It’s not a diverse school now and it was less so in the 70s.</p>
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<p>I’m afraid to ask.</p>
<p>I have to admit that when I first saw “camel toe” here I thought it had something to do with peep-toe shoes or “toe cleavage.”</p>
<p>Consolation</p>
<p>DADT</p>