This topic was last touched on Odyssey a year ago by Austin Hale. I feel that, with that time once again approaching, it is imperative for us to review the concept of 'Purity' Month once again. The time is rapidly approaching where a plethora of Freshmen girls are going to be undergoing formal recruitment in the hopes that a sorority will "bid" for them. When Mr. Hale initially wrote about this, I must agree that I was taken by his words and as such must repeat that the practice of 'Purity' is entirely outdated.
Some people may be unfamiliar with sororities, or Greek Life in general. Purity is a set of rules set forth that girls are unable to partake in "Boys, Booze, or Bars" in Austin's own words. This is not just for girls going through recruitment, but all women involved in Greek Life. At Morehead State, we do not have an entire month dedicated to Purity (At least not in 2016), but instead a week as I was told by my recruiter.
I could go on, and on rephrasing Austin's own article, but instead it would be more efficient for those who wish for more information of purity to read his own work. With that being said, I completely agree with his opinion that purity is an out of date, misogynistic system that is meant to portray women as weak, delicate girls who are not strong, and who cannot control themselves against their own vices.
At the carnival I went to today (It wasn't really a carnival, more of a recruitment event intended to offer fun events done by each sorority to rush girls into them) one of the sororities in particular (Kappa Delta) stated that their philanthropy was based around building strong women. If they are to build strong women, then how is it that they can follow such an arcane practice that, in actuality, appears to promote weakness.
It appears to me that the idea of purity produces a flightiness in girls that are more than capable of making their own decisions in life. While we may not seem it and it can be rather easy to forget, despite being college students most of us are also adults. We need to start acting as such, and decide our own morals for ourselves; not allow them to be decided by others. That time has long passed.
Austin wrote his article nearly a year ago, and it can be argued that quite a bit has changed since this. 2016 is our year now, and soon it will give way and herald the Spring of 2017. More than being women, we are also adults. Equality has prospered in the United States for quite some time now. We cannot afford to give leeway to the ideas we have fought so hard for. We cannot let the ideas that some women have died for to be shed over minor transgressions such as this. This is our generation. This is our time for action. This is our time to reject the ideas of purity and finally abolish it.
