My sorority has started practicing for fall recruitment already and some of the rating tactics we use just really don't seem to sit well with me. We learned about how to rate girls today and the concept in and of itself definitely does not agree with feminism. We have to rate these girls on their appearances and we can give them horrible ratings to ensure they won't be back the next day and I understand that you want girls you like to be in your sorority, but it just seemed a little harsh to me at times while learning all of these things. The whole time we were talking about this I was also wondering how the hell did I ever make it through recruitment and successfully get into a sorority. The process seems so tough and really viscous. I love being in my sorority and wouldn't change anything, but I do feel like the whole recruitment process for not only my sorority but all the sororities really wouldn't sit well with most feminists.
The process for Greek rush is just too fast paced overall. Fraternity rush is a little better, in my opinion, as it is spread out and gives you a little more time to meet someone before asking them to join. I can't attest to sorority recruitment too much but to my understanding, sororities are only given a weekend to meet these girls which would explain why it may rely on arbitrary ratings at times.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I completely agree. SLU is actually a school with less harsh tactics. For example the southern schools are so awful during recruitment.. A good friend of mine from highschool is in a top teir sorority at Alabama and during their recruitment, or maybe it was before they were activated.. i dont know, but anyway, the girls had to sit on dryers with their shirts off. the current members of the sorority pointed to the places on their bodies that "jiggled" and they were told to work on them. that is just so sad and awful to me
ReplyDeleteSarah, that story you shared is absolutely horrible. As someone who is not a member of a sorority, I cannot give my own personal experience, but when I was a desk worker my freshman year of high school, I would see so many girls come back from recruitment or whatever point in the process they were at, bawling their eyes out because of how rude some of the girls were to them and some of the tactics that some of the sororities would use in order to weed out the girls they do not want. Again, I can't speak for individuals who are members of sororities, but I think a lot of the Greek life recruitment needs to be revamped so both women and men join sororities and frats in a manner where they have much more control.
ReplyDeleteAs I've mentioned in class before, I used to be in a sorority at SLU. It was this moment in time that you are describing, which was the final straw for me. I felt humiliated and disgusted that this had happened to me when I was going through recruitment, and I could not stomach doing this to someone else. The first night or rotation is so so incredibly short. Just because a girl does not fit a "norm" of what our society views as beautiful, even if she has an amazing personality, means she will be excluded. It's extremely damaging to all parties involved.
ReplyDeleteyeah i see what your saying matthew, at how rush is a short process so they kind of have to rely on arbitrary ratings. Though, then one should ask what the real purpose of a greek system is? like are you really relying on a quick arbitrary judging system to make friends or to feel some other way? I honestly dont know the answer to that Im just throwing it out there haha. and also the question of why the processes are different could give some interesting answers ya know
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