As we all know, Sororities and Fraternities, typically, reinforce
gender norms and stereotypes. For example,
this coming up week is Greek Week. There
are tons of events and games, and in order to win Greek Week, a team must earn
the most points by winning all of these events.
These things range from sports to skits to banner painting. As you would expect, the sororities are
responsible for the banner painting while the Frat guys are expected to win the
sporting events. To my surprise member
from both the Fraternities and the Sororities participate in the skits and
dances. Another thing that made me very
happy is that one very helpful Sig Tau, one of Zeta’s Greek Week partners, came
and helped paint the banner. Even though
this Greek system undoubtedly encourages gender norms and stereotypes, I was
very encouraged by these events.
I agree, I think that SLU is doing a good job of making this greek week share the responsibilities for all the different activities necessary.
ReplyDeleteI do think it is interesting that everyone is not just required to do everything. It is wonderful that they voluntarily showed up, but the fact that artsy stuff is still officially designated as a "women's domain" definitely worries me. Additionally, I know in the past the songs and dances have tended to perpetuate gender roles immensely, so I wonder if that will be the case this year. Obviously promising that it seems to be moving in the right direction. I am just skeptical because of past years.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rebecca's comment; while I think that these are steps in the right direction, I still feel like the particular men you are referring to are exceptions rather than representative of the norm. It kind of reminds me of how fathers often get extra attention when they take their young children out in public, and people comment on how cute it is or what a good dad they are, while giving no attention like this to mothers because "it's their job."
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