Author's Note: I wrote this article supporting TSM because I think it is hilarious to see what they post. They do not show Greek life in a negative light to me personally. They make fun of the stereotype that is already present.
My article is in a response to TSM's article about the #ActualSororityMove. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the movement Sigma Kappa at Elon University was starting, it is a movement to break down the sorority stereotypes and to stop letting TSM rule the stigma of sororities. As much as I want to support #ActualSororityMove, I cannot because they are doing something that is worse than anything TSM can ever post about.
They are trying to disempower the voice of other women. On TSM's website they never disempower other women. They post things that are funny and relatable to women.
They do not give into the stereotype that sororities have. They did not create the stereotypes that sorority women have. They make fun of the stereotype that we have because it is honestly hilarious how many people really believe that sorority women are the way that stereotypes see them.
I understand where Sigma Kappa is coming from when they are trying to get the word partying away from sororities, but then again we ARE social organizations.
I'm about to say something that might be the biggest secret out there — OUR MEMBERS DO PARTY. WE FREAKING LOVE THEMES. WE LOVE TOGA PARTIES, WE LOVE 80'S PARTIES, AND WE BASICALLY LOVE ANY TYPE OF THEME.
Guess what? In every chapter, there are girls that do not go out and drink. And guess what? There are girls who go out and drink. One of the reasons people join social organizations is to MEET PEOPLE. In college, people meet each other at parties. Wow. I'm sorry to those who did not know that secret.
The #ActualSororityMovement is wrong in the way of saying, "I stay in on the weekends and go to the library rather than going to fraternity parties." Congratulations! I, on the other hand, go out to fraternity parties on the weekend. Does this mean I'm not an actual sorority member? No, it does not. It means that I allowed myself to get all of my school work done during the week so I had the ability to go and have fun with my friends.
TSM has never talked about how being dumb is key to receiving your MRS degree. What is wrong is relating being dumb and being sorority women. That is totally ridiculous. You join an organization that makes sure that your grades stay at high enough level. Your sorority will put you on academic probation and give you the resources that you need to be successful. TSM does not promote being dumb because they WANT to see the fun things you do in your sorority.
TSM is not meant to be the key to success in sorority life. I personally see it as a key factor to success, though. Some of the articles are super inappropriate, I will be the first person to agree with that, but being a sorority woman, I learned how important it is to be able to share my opinion with others. TSM is the biggest supporter of that! If you want to write a step-by-step article on How To Get Laid, you have found your spot. If you want to talk about a kick ass philanthropy event that your sorority hosted they will support you. If you want to talk about relationships, TSM will publish your article.
More sorority girls should be like the ones that TSM talks about rather than #ActualSororityMove. The most valuable lesson I have learned in my sorority is to not only accept who I am, but to embrace it. If I want to write an article about how I get tragic on the weekend, I will. TSM accepts women. They never call out a sorority. They talk about the stupid things we do as a whole.
I hate to break it to everyone, but the writers or followers of TSM are not the only ones who ruin the reputations of Greek Life. The ones who talk about how terrible partying is are making it worse because they are making others feel bad about something that they would do whether they were in a sorority or not. Our chapters need the members who are very academically oriented, and we also need our party animals because without each of those we would either be very boring or very tragic.
Greek life has many different kinds of women, and we try to take away the fact that we are social organizations. We do party, but we do a lot of other amazing things for our communities also. We need to create the stereotype that we are well-rounded young women because we are able to handle the social life our organizations help us with while we balance our academics.
