Probably tradition, originally. But now, it’s likely risk assessment. Not the costs of good grooming.
What are the risks the sororities are balancing here? Many of these risks are financial, correct?
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organized into 21 fraternities and nine sororities.
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Hmmm…why so few sororities? Too hard to start more chapters even for well-established sororities? No more room for new houses?
The sororities must have a lot more members per house?
rhandco, don’t you think that any sexual relationship involving a 12-year-old and an adult is by definition coercive?
I am not going to get involved in Greek life when I go to college. I will find other ways to be social without the sexual overtones, like the rocketry club.
Sticker, that is a helluva link in post #45.
There seem to be a desperation in some women to attract the “right kind of guy”.
I was kind of hoping as some women become more educated, the need to attach themselves to a “successful guy” would decline.
I don’t know why women want to put themselves in subordinate positions to men. Maybe it is tradition or based on more primitive societies.
I found the link interesting food for thought. Thanks.
Dstark - I thought the same thing. I was in college over 25 years ago when an event occurred which, fairly or unfairly, shaped my opinion on Greek life. I was working as an office assistant in a large female freshman only dorm (I was a senior). It was a little after midnight and a young girl came running in the front door crying, dirty, bloody knees, hysterical. She had been walking back to the dorm from a fraternity event alone and passed in front of another fraternity house where a group of young men were assembled. They started doing the normal cat calls and whistles but then one of the older members ordered the pledges to “go get her”. She was tipsy and terrified so she started running with the pack of pledges whooping and hollering after her. They eventually caught her and started tossing her up in the air and having a grand ol time. The older member finally called a halt to things when he realized she was not enjoying the attention and they let her go. She ran to the dorm still hysterical. I calmed her down best I could, and called campus police. They came and took a statement. She didn’t want to call her mom and because she was 18, I couldn’t. I got her up to bed. The following day, She told me that her sorority did not want her to press charges or file an official claim because it would hurt their chances with that fraternity (doing a mixer or something) - apparently it was a desirable one. She was just a freshman and was receiving a lot of pressure just to leave it alone. Later that afternoon she got a delivery of flowers from the fraternity brothers and all her freshman sorority sisters gathered around the front desk to ooh and ahh about how lucky she was. She giggled and preened and was so excited. I was speechless.
I think the system maybe can stand a hard look. The thesis discussed above seems to support that it continues to give disproportionate power to fraternities.
@Pizzagirl "Much2learn, you’ve been told several times - it is not that it is “illegal” for sororities to throw parties, it is that their nationals won’t allow alcohol in their (nicely furnished) houses.
Of course there are options. You can do all kinds of different things on Sat night. Go to dinner, see a movie, go dancing, hang out at someone’s dorm room and chat, go roller skating, whatever. Stop acting as though if a girl doesn’t or can’t go to a frat party she is “option-less,” as frat parties are not the only form of social life."
This is the type of smokescreen ignorance I deplore.
- How many fraternity parties have no illegal activity? None that anyone wants to attend.
- It isn't that the young ladies are option-less. It is that the existence of a monopoly around these illegal drinking parties and their position at the epicenter of social life on many campuses that is the problem. It puts the most vulnerable women (usually freshmen and sophomores) under pressure to expose themselves to a risky environment where they are not in control. If women choose that environment, that is fine. Pressuring is not fine. Constraining their options is not fine.
The solutions are simple.
- Either allow women to have parties too, or end them all. A University can easily say that the only greek organizations allowed to have a presence on campus will be organizations where the rules are the same for men and women. If you can not abide by those rules, you will banned from campus and not recognized by the school. Maybe the national organizations need to realize that they need to change. If male organizations are allowed to have parties, then the women can too. I would love to see parties were you can only get admitted with the "right ratio" of hunky guys.
- Crack down on fraternity parties. There is almost no criminal activity that is easier to find and bust than these parties. If the colleges and police want to put a huge damper on the situation, they can easily do so. How many frat boys will have to go to jail before these parties cease to be the epicenter of campus social activity? Currently they act with impunity. Why? Because no one enforces the laws that are on the books. Serving alcohol to a minor, purchasing alcohol, minor in possession, selling alcohol to a minor, the list goes on and on.
What I can’t understand is all the handwringing. My God, just take action and fix it.
Wouldn’t it be better if young men were taught that the best way to get to have sex women is to treat them with respect and have a relationship? Why do we continue to condone teaching young men to treat these young ladies as if they are just vaginas with a brain attached and that the best way to access the vagina is to incapacitate their brain? Is it any wonder that in that environment, we continue to have problems with sex discrimination and sexual misconduct? When are things going to change?
Your solution is to force sororities to hold parties with alcohol? That’s funny.
@Bay Force? No. Allow? Yes. The article also has some great solutions as well.
@Much2learn Very well said
Much2Learn is saying that either sororities must have parties or the U should ban them. That is not forced?
much2learn says that either both fraternities and sororities must have parties with alcohol, or neither should be permitted to have parties with alcohol. A university would pick which of those equilibrium it would require.
I sense that some of you don’t understand that sororities are not dependent on fraternities to exist. They are completely separate organizations with separate governing bodies and different missions. It is kind of insulting to suggest that sorority women should be required to do what the men do.
@Bay Sororities and fraternities are intrinsically intertwined. They are not entirely separate entities. The article highlights their clear dependence on each other.
No they are not “intrinsically intertwined” whatever the heck that means.
and “they are not entirely separate entities?” You really are ignorant about sororities and fraternities, Calicash.
@Bay K.
Hahahahahaha.
Things you should never say, number 2301: “No they are not X, whatever the heck X means.” Either you know what X means, or you don’t know whether they are X. Pick one and only one.
No, I choose both.