It's spring recruitment time for those involved in Greek life at Ohio University. This annual event is distinctly recognizable when you look out your window and see scantily clad women in itty-bitty black dresses walking around in swarms, much resembling parades of ants. At the vision of this procession, I am filled with a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach ' like when I see a mass of bugs, and I immediately want to stomp on them.
Let me begin by admitting that I once thought about rushing a sorority. Back in the day when I was a naive, lowly freshman, I thought that nothing could be better than being part of a group of girls that would love me no matter what. Thank the Lord I was able to get involved in other areas of campus life, such as crew and women's chorale, that shooed me away from what would have inevitably become a devastating experience. I say inevitably not because all experiences in sororities are apt to be bad, but because I have no doubt that my assertive personality, opinionated ideas and bigger-than-a-size-two body type would have resulted in the abrupt kicking of my ghetto-booty to the curb.
With the exception of coed fraternities that emphasize service, education or specific study (such as music), social fraternities and sororities promote nothing more than drinking, sex and the occasional community service event to reach quota and create a good image. While I've met many awesome women who are involved in social sororities, and I know there are positive sororities out there that do not promote the end of individuality, I generally despise sorority girls. With nicknames such as sorostitutes
easy-DZ's and slutty-fuzzy sororities perpetuate every stereotypical attribute about women that the feminist movement has been trying to overcome, i.e. women are weak, dumb, easy and more concerned about their looks than anything else.
Alexandra Robbins, author of Pledged: The Secret life of Sororities, secretly rushed a sorority at a university in order to get an in-depth idea of what really happens inside. In the book, she writes, They had a tradition called boob-ranking where pledges had just a lim- they were basically lined up in order of chest size for the sisters to inspect. I am sure the idea of thirty or so women lined up naked makes some readers drool; but what exactly is this naked scrutiny doing to improve women's views of their own bodies?
Feminists fight society for a real view of women. They work to promote the idea of a strong, powerful woman who doesn't have to be stick-thin or magazine-feminine to be beautiful. Sororities only counteract the positive female image that women's rights activists have tried to encourage. I won't even dive completely into the fact that sororities are breeding grounds for eating disorders, but I'll tread lightly on an issue that haunts girls all over the country. Robbins tells of her experience with sororities and eating disorders by saying, I had heard urban legends about plumbers having to come clean out the pipes every month or so in sororities because they get clogged with vomit G? eating disorders are so popular that some houses have puking contests after dinner. The rumor has been proven fact, and it shouldn't be allowed to continue.
Participants in sororities will defend their organizations with claims of sisterhood and they always have my back. That's nice in thought, but I wonder how positive a sisterhood can be when they circle the extra 1/2 inch of skin on your stomach and call it fat; or how they have your back when you stand in a line to put your finger down your throat. While I'm sure the need to be a part of a sisterhood is overwhelming for certain kinds of women, it's not for women with any self-respect. Any woman who believes that she doesn't need to be thin, dating the hottest boy or have the most friends in order to be accepted and well-liked would not endanger her well being to domesticated, unhealthy cults like these.
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Alex Jabs
Sororities counteract fight for positive body image
