USC sorority girl stereotype is too overdone
By now, the news of the viral email linked to the Kappa Sigma Fraternity has spread through both campus and national media. Vice President of Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson sent an email to the USC community condemning the email, and female-oriented sites such as Jezebel have decried the misogynistic viewpoints expressed.
Cindy Lee | Daily Trojan
Officials have said the email did not originate from the USC chapter of Kappa Sigma, but it still reflects poorly on the fraternities, Greek life and, quite frankly, the male population at USC.
But we might be examining the problem from the wrong angle.
Finger-pointers seem to use the chauvinistic “frat boy” characterizations as an easy excuse for why such an email was allowed to spread.
The blame has been focused on males and the Greek system instead of addressing the larger underlying issue: sorority girl stereotypes.
Amid the email’s unsavory descriptions of girls as “targets” who are “not real people,” is the disparaging term “sorostitute.”
A combination of the words “sorority girl” and “prostitute,” this word embodies how many people perceive sorority girls: as slutty, empty-headed and disrespectable.
Although there isn’t a pervasive misogynistic culture at USC, there are a shocking number of commonly accepted stereotypes of sorority girls.
Though the email prompted outrage and condemnation from the USC community and beyond, people accept the day-to-day belittling of sorority girls without second thought.
Media portrayals of sorority girls — think Reese Witherspoon’s performance in Legally Blonde — only perpetuate the belief that all sorority girls are blond, drunk, vacuously stupid and likely to spend each night with a random male.
I am far from a blazing feminist, but as a sorority girl myself, I can attest that not only are these beliefs false and offensive, but also that more people than will admit hold these damaging stereotypes.
Since joining Sigma Phi Omega, an Asian-interest social sorority at USC, I have noticed how people change their demeanor the moment I mention my involvement with a sorority.
I suddenly become someone immoral who buys her friends, is probably just here to get married and takes facile courses.
Not only are non-Greek students less likely to take sorority girls seriously, but even professors and teaching assistants sometimes make the same assumptions.
A bitingly intelligent friend who frequently sported Pi Phi gear was asked by her TA last semester if she took school seriously or was just here to party.
Not all sorority girls are promiscuous alcoholics who smoke, do drugs and crash seven different parties every weekend. Personally, I don’t drink and don’t participate in any of the other activities mentioned, and I know many Greek-affiliated girls who also choose not to.
Of course, as with many stereotypes, some do conform more or less to the popularly conceptualized “sorority girl.”
But most of us are not the air-headed, graceless women we are unfairly assumed to be.
In fact, last year and for many years, the average GPA of the Panhellenic Council has been higher than both the all-university and all-women’s average at USC. In 2010, the Panhellenic average was 3.41, compared to the all-women’s average of 3.34 and the all-university average of 3.27.
Many sorority girls are motivated and talented young women who lead our generation in philanthropy, development of leadership capabilities and high standards of scholarship and self-respect.
Those who believe otherwise after simply a cursory glance at whichever Greek letters we proudly display are as small-minded and obtuse as the “sorostitute” of their imagination.
Rebecca Gao is a freshman majoring in global health and biological sciences. Her column, “Trojan Grounds,” runs Mondays.
a) Asian-interest social sorority girl not a drunk sex addict! Who would have guessed! You are not in a real sorority- at least not what people think about when you mention USC’s sororities.
b) Many of those sororities are like that.
c) Not a ‘blazing feminist’? Why the hell not? Those women got you the vote, fought for equal rights in the workplace, fought against sexual discrimination and harassment. If you are trying to buck the idea of sorority girls as unthinking morons, you are not doing a great job with comments like that.
d) The original fuss was over some idiot who wrote a seriously stupid (and unfunny btw- Tucker Max is a moron) email that was offensive to women and racist. I don’t think pointing out that sorority girls are not prostitutes was strictly necessary. It was kind of implicit in the outrage…
e) Why does the Daily Trojan constantly print these ‘worthy’ yet unintelligent and boring articles? Print something funny, or something that pokes at the administration. or do some actual reporting. Or get some people with outrageous opinions. Or report at some events. Or something.
I totally agree with E. I gained nothing by reading this article.
“Although there isn’t a pervasive misogynistic culture at USC….” = FALSE.
Are you even paying attention?
Rebecca,
I wholeheartedly agree with you. The women in the sorority system can’t exist as two-faced image of being well-groomed intellectuals as well as brainless Ke$ha clones. Misogyny is a two-way street – if these ladies portray themselves as glittered hookers when they go out, men won’t take them seriously. There are obviously exceptions to every rule, and I know sorority members who are fine, upstanding members of society. But the presence of girls such as the one who will get a guy off at the top of WPH in broad daylight are those to blame for this ever pervasive stereotype. Well done.
I understand your point is that there are pervasive sorority stereotypes that try to generalize all sorority girls into certain traits. And its bad, wrong etc. I understand that, but what you’re doing is discounting a misogynistic classification of women by saying that the stereotypes of poor poor sorority girls are to blame. And it also sounds like your talking about non greeks, non greeks who you feel stereotype sorority girls as a general rule based upon your letters. When really you should, especially because of this email, be looking towards the greek system for an explanation as to why this kind of behavior is not taken seriously.
The real point is that being a ‘frat guy’ and living up to the stereotype is not an excuse for the email. You don’t have to be a ‘blazing’ feminist to understand that this kind of thinking, environment and treatment of women isn’t something that should be just let go easily or disregarded. These are the future leaders of our country. Boys in fraternities that will eventually become men.. CEO’s, professionals that will treat their female EQUALS as inferior because of stereotypes based upon gender, not sorority or fraternity membership.
Listen, an “underwater basketweaving” major, with a 3.5+ GPA, even from say, an Ivy, is commensurate to someone who went to some generic state school with the same major, GPA, and so forth.
An engineering major from say, MIT, with a sub 3.0 GPA has got more clout than someone who attended a generic state school with the same major but somewhat higher GPA; this isn’t always true, but more often than not, it is.
Some universities’ GPA-deflation practice is more rigorous than others. Using strawman arguments about sorrority girls with competitive GPAs is BS, not “bachelor of science.”
I dont mean to support the stereotype, but by my observation, sorority GPA is usually higher due to greater use of adderall and to other forms of cheating.
Also, I don’t understand why smart, self-respecting girls choose to affiliate themselves with groups that have a bad reputation.
i’d be curious to see what a drug test of the greek community would show versus a drug test of the non-greek community.
Stop perpetuating such hurtful and degrading stereotypes. It’s demeaning and rude and spreads hatred. I’m in a sorority, am getting my BS in mathematics, and have a 3.6 GPA. I don’t use Adderall or other drugs, nor do I cheat, and neither do the girls in my sorority. I know them, and you do not. If you’re not in a sorority, you can’t possibly know what the majority of girls in them do. The few that you observe that cheat isn’t an adequate sample size. When you generalize like you’re doing it blemishes the reputations of girls like me–someone you don’t even know.
Also, I’ll tell you why I joined. It’s a place that where I feel at home. My sisters are sweet and supportive. It’s like having a family right there with you at school. I wasn’t going to turn such things down because “sororities have a bad reputation.” That’s just perpetuating the stereotype.
Well written. Rational. Logical.
This author can see beyond all the rhetoric and emotional garbage
of losers who drink like fish & act like animals.
She’s a credit to her school and to he rest of us who have to tolerate the vocal minorities
year in and year out.
Sigma Phi Omega: Not a real sorority.
How do you define a “real” sorority?
a Panhellenic one
then you clearly no nothing. get outta here
I doubt you go to USC if you can’t even bring yourself to type “know” instead of “no.”
NEWSFLASH: They mean two different things!
Sororities, ladies and gentlemen!
You should check your facts RE: “Media portrayals of sorority girls — think Reese Witherspoon’s performance in Legally Blonde — only perpetuate the belief that all sorority girls are blond, drunk, vacuously stupid and likely to spend each night with a random male.”
I’m insulted in how you are using Elle Woods as a model for the common perception of sorority girls. In fact, she isn’t a slut–she only had one boyfriend and was in a committed relationship. She also didn’t use sex to get ahead in her career.
Most importantly, if you remember, she went to the Harvard Law School, where she gave the senior speech at graduation.
Bad example.
Come on with these comments guys–so don’t put so much energy into fluff articles! :-)
The problem with the USC Sorority stereotype, is that in general, it is right on the mark.
But it’s not all their fault. The lack of maturity and highly developed sense of “Prima Donna” behaviour starts in the home at an early age. Now you put them all together in a Sorority house and exactly what do you expect? The glaring light of self-awareness is not coming down 28th Street.
While writing this I’m thinking of a young sorority girl two weeks ago; jumping into a crowded elevator on campus, while continuing to yell about boyfriend problems into her cell phone. When reminded that she was on a crowded elevator, she barely paused in her diatribe to respond with a withering “So?”
Coincidentally that one word “so?” is the number one pick-up line at the 9-0!
Gotta love losers like andrew tellling people he doesnt know to grow up so they can be as mature as he is….Andrew spends alot of weekends alone….fact, once you become a proffesional, no one cares what your GPA was…all they care about is the quality of your work, leadership capability, and your problem solving skills…and most of those folks have social skills, and know how to move in the political world of an office. Guess what, experience in the Fraternity and Soroity life prepares you for those skills. Thats why most successful people are greek. wahhh for the non-greeks.
simply put…most non-greeks are jealous. They make these sterotypes in their heads to make them selves feel better. Truth is, most of the top successful people are greek…true stuff.
Have you seen the photos?
An unfortunate yet funny coincidence that this was posted fairly close to the time that the WPH incident occurred…
We live in a funny society. Stereotyping people becomes taboo only if there are threads of truth to the profile. It is because the broad-brushing usually depicts the individual members of the said group rather accurately and it is this accuracy that scares and offends people. What is funny is to not stereotype goes against every human instinct we possess. We judge ALL pitbulls differently from ALL labradors because we are just playing the odds. Sure you might get bitten by that one rogue labrador or miss the opportunity to befriend a strange pitbull but we are just a collection of our past experiences and knowledge we absorb from walking this world and we behave accordingly.
Now there are some rules to stereotyping people. White, blonde sorority girls can be stereotyped negatively because these girls are perceived to be free off real challenges in life. Juxtapose that with the Black Engineering students fraternity – if a member from that fraternity should misbehave or commit a criminal act – can you imagine the outrage if we broadbrushed that fraternity as a gang of thugs? Yes we stereotype and yes we judge people who stereotype and we even stereotype the ones who stereotype as being intolerant and racist. Just remember, pretty, blonde beautiful sorority girls from Brentwood should be given every right to be stereotyped or not stereotyped as black students on full scholarship from South Central.
Funny how frats and sororities are always saying their GPAs are higher than average…. If true, it leads me to think they’re (a) cheating or (b) using Ritalin.
Wait’ll you grow up and realize what the rest of the world thinks of you….
It could be because they are hotter. I always graded hot chicks easier. Tried not to but its tough
most of the “real world” won’t ask us which frat or sorority we were in during college. however, alumni connections and better social skills will help out in the long run.
also, being in a sorority or fraternity while juggling and getting a better GPA than the non-greek GPA demonstrates our ability to handle a full academic schedule, philanthropic events, and social calendar. if we can manage all of that, it proves we’re not just bubbly, air-headed idiots.
and come on.. only cheating or using ritalin? that’s so extremely pig-headed.
sorry to disappoint, but the cheating and drug use is more frequently occurring in the greek community, just as are fake ids. and if you dont know that, i feel bad for you.
its easier to get test answers and pills because everyone knows someone who has or can get them. also, greeks usually have the money to spend
The oft used argument for Penhellenic academic superiority is flawed because it fails to take into account the difference in distribution of majors between non-sorority and sorority girls. Easier majors often translate to higher GPAs. Sorry, but your 3.7 GPA in your Mrs. degree does not hold up the the 3.2 of an engineer. I assume that SG are more frequently enrolled in easier majors than other women, but my assumption is probably true.
I acknowledge that some sorority girls are bright and do well academically, but many of their sisters are enrolled in joke majors and are indeed mostly here to party.
Thank you. BA majors are a joke. Actually science, technology and medicine based academic endeavors don’t even break the 3.0 mark often times from the cutthroat curves. A 3.2, I think, is “good” for a BS, no BullShyt here, nor pun intended. And no, Marshall b-school isn’t a bonafide BS. Sorry b-school students, “creative income reporting/financial anaylysis” based on arbitrary tax laws =/= rigorous major.
Who was that crybaby who wrote in the DT about med school only admitting the top 8% and thought it wasn’t fair?
perhaps, a BA class or two would teach you how to communicate. your writing is appallingly awful.
I love the use of the thesaurus : easy to facile! Wow you are so well-read! This is embarrassing.
Actually, there is a wide range of majors in the Panhellenic community, not just “Mrs” degrees, as you call it. Do you have factual evidence to back up your point? Panhellenic has done surveys of the Greek community that indicate your stereotypes about “Mrs” degrees are fairly inaccurate. I suggest knowing the facts before you go around bashing an entire community.
Seriously! Was just about to say this.
Sure, sororities tout “diverse majors” — but, let’s be real. How many sorority girls do you know who are engineering, art (include creative writing), biology, math or music (singing doesn’t count!) majors? These programs require an immense amount of dedication and usually a higher number of units than most BA’s at USC.
Now, I know a lot of really nice sorority girls during my time in school — but they were always communications, PR, english, IR or PolSci majors. Those are low-unit, low-intensity majors that, if I had been in, I could have graduated with a 4.0 instead of a 3.0, too.
“How many sorority girls do you know who are engineering, art (include creative writing), biology, math or music (singing doesn’t count!) majors?”
Many actually (and yes, in “real” sororities), most of whom have GPAs above 3.5 (gasp!). Either you aren’t in one of those majors or don’t talk to many people who are in your classes.
your not in a real sorority so dont speak for us
This is a pretty positive article about sorority life that shoots down horrible stereotypes…and you’re offended by it? Does this mean you actually ARE a dumb blonde who’s here to do nothing more than party? “Don’t speak for us! I AM here to party!! wooo!”
I wish more sororities were like the one this writer is a member of and I wish more were like her, i.e. not crazy bimbos. You go, Gao.
And you, anon, get outta here.
@ seriously?, you are so right!!! It’s sad that anon is so negative and according to anon the only greeks are NPC/IFC.
I REALLY want to point out one great thing to anon. It’s “you’re” not “your.” “Your” is possessive. “You’re” means “you are.” Please get your basic spelling and grammar correct if you are going to criticize Way to keep the stereotypes alive!
oooo, correcting the spelling and grammar of comments on some internet site.
this page and discourse has degenerated quickly.
I really don’t care about any of this, but seeing somebody correct someone else’s grammar online amuses me – especially when the corrector lacks perfect grammar themselves.
anon @ March 27 4:47PM
Yes, we could tell. You put ‘your’ rather than ‘you’re’, which kind of gave you away.