Slightly scandalous title, I know.
It applies to pretty much every school with Greek Life. Will the solutions be implemented? Probably no. But this is still a must read, especially for parents with children in Greek Life.
Excellent, thought-provoking read.
Lost interest after seeing fraternities spelled fraternaties in one of the graphics.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll3/id/445745 is the master’s thesis that the article is based on.
Very interesting article indeed. Thanks for the link.
Thanks for that. Interesting study and article.
CaliCash, thanks for the link. I find the study fascinating.
I don’t have a PhD, but I think I could have completed the research for this article without too much trouble. The better article would have been to compare schools with Greek life to those without, and see if there is any difference. At schools without Greeks, do the boys still host the parties and want lots of girls to come? At USC there is a big group of students who aren’t Greek, so do the boys host the parties and want girls to come? Do the guys live in party houses while the gals live in nicer, smaller apartments where they don’t want to host keggers? I’ll bet they do. Do bars host Ladies’ Nights and charge females less to get in order to attract men to the bars? They do.
When I was in school, the dorm were co-ed but divided by floor. The male floors hosted the keggers. In high school, the guys organized the weekend parties. For senior party, the boys organized the beer, built the towers for the musical equipment and speakers (all those boy scout merit badges came in handy, because they could chop down trees and lash them together better than contestants on Survivor).
This is not new info. Get rid of the frats and some other group of former boy scouts will band together to figure out the party.
Sometimes, looking at a problem from a different point of view (economics in this case) can yield explanations of why things happen the way they happen, and why attempts to solve the problem may not be working.
When you read the comments on Neon Tommy, you can see the exact problems the article addresses. For some reason, there is so much stigma around sexual assault awareness and Greek Life reform. I don’t want to make assumptions, but based on the rhetoric used in the comments, it’s fairly obvious who is against the arguments made in this article. It’s the males in Greek life who refuse to see past their privilege and refuse to open the doors to a balance in power.
That’s why I had to bring it to CC lol. Couldn’t let the few speak for the many. I’m really glad that you all found this fascinating.
@Madison85 Please try to read past the spelling error. It will be worth it!
@twoinanddone The article actually argues against simply removing frats. The existence of fraternities is not the problem being addressed.
@ucbalumnus Did you read the thesis? I was trying to open it, but no such luck. How was it?
Haven’t read it yet. It shows fine in a regular browser on a computer (didn’t try on a mobile device). It gives the option of PDF or text; you can try text if you are having trouble reading it in PDF.
The article applies to women at schools with Greek life, whether or not the women are in sororities. When fraternities control the parties, young women are at risk for sexual assault. Fraternity men may or may not be more inclined to rape than other students, but those fraternity men who do want to rape have the ideal setup at fraternity parties.
Very interesting article. It makes a lot of sense. Thanks for posting.
If sorority women are in such danger, why do people keep joining sororities? Why do the national chapters put their members in this position?
Surely it is no surprise to anyone that when there is tons of alcohol bad things can happen.
I don’t understand the allure of frat parties, but obviously a lot of people feel differently. The men want to host the parties and the women want to be there. No one is being forced into that situation.
I think it goes beyond being in a sorority.
Fascinating article, and what an out-of-the-box idea for a thesis. Thanks for the link.
I never got the concept of “fraternities control the parties.” What, non-Greek kids are suddenly incapable of throwing parties? They’ll be smaller, but so what?
@soccerguy315 It’s way more than being drunk. It’s speaking to the fact that at parties, guys are expected to provide the “essentials”: alcohol, dj, games, maybe a famous person. And for the guys, getting sex is the return on investment. It’s expected. And when women do not return on their investment, that is what contributes to higher rapes among Greek life students.
In addition, Greek life is a prime example of a power struggle Greek men and women. Because women are not in their own homes, they struggle to say no when approached to return on the investment. If women had parties in their own homes, then, they wouldn’t be do hesitant to say no.
Imagine it this way. If you go to a stranger’s house, and they tell you to wash the dishes, what are the odds that you will go against what they asked and not do it? But if your parents tell you to wash the dishes, what are the odds that you go against them and not do it? Probably much higher. It’s difficult to say no when you are in a setting that you are not familiar with. Most people would probably wash the dishes out of curtesy. Similar to women feeling compelled to having sex out of curtesy.