With sorority recruitments already happening and many coming up, I wanted to share some words on stereotypes and sorority girls. Many people know the movie “House Bunny,” which depicts some of the typical stereotypes many people have about sororities. For those of you who do not know the movie, I will give you a quick review.
The movie revolves around the former Playboy bunny Shelly, who ends up on a college campus, being the house mom of a sorority. The sorority girls she was “mentoring” were considered ugly and not a top house. Shelly transformed these girls into the beautiful girls they were, and helped them change the look of their sorority. When potential new members were rushing, the sorority girls who now “looked the part,” judged each girl on their looks, like they had been prior to their “transformation.” The movie does end with Shelly’s sorority accepting all types of girls eventually... but regardless, the movie is the stereotypical sorority movie.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people who are not in Greek life use the word “all.” For example, “all sorority girls are blonde and bitchy.” I am in a sorority and I am a brunette, and I also know that my sorority sisters are like anyone else on a college campus. We have good days and bad days, that does not mean we are bitchy or bad people. I think because we are in Greek life (and in this day and age, movies do not represent Greek life in the best way), we are criticized more, while the “blonde mean girl” who is not in Greek life is not judged as much. The stigma around Greek life that movies and media provide is not what we are all about. We are in college, we like to have fun. Four out of five college students drink, this includes Greek students, and at Marquette, the amount of non-Greek students outweighs the Greek.
Another stereotype that drives me crazy is the amount of times we are said to be stupid. What many people do not know is that we have to satisfy a GPA requirement in order to be allowed to be in the sorority, and continue to attend events. I know the movies show us being ditzy girls, but we are just like everyone else, hardworking students.
By now, I have lost count of the number of people who have asked me if I was hazed. Most sororities DO NOT haze. I know, it’s surprising, right? I mean the movies said so. But no, many sororities do not haze. We say this all the time but…we are all about sisterhood and the friends we make. I don’t think it has ever crossed my mind to haze one of my friends.
To all of the parents out there, we do much more than party. We do volunteer walks, runs, philanthropy events, community service, and much more. To be honest, one of the big factors I looked into while I was rushing was the philanthropies of each sorority. We even have a community service requirement in order to be in a sorority.
OH, this is a good one. WE ARE ALL UNIQUE. We do not conform to each other. We are all unique and have other obligations and groups outside of our sororities. Our sorority does not necessarily define our lives, but we realize we are a part of something big and amazing, and that’s what we love about our sisterhood. But yes we have other friends than only the people in our sororities. We make our college years what we want it to be just like everyone else. We are not forced to just be in a sorority. I mean, I am a volunteer at a hospital, on the dance team, in the exercise physiology club, and a part of Alpha Xi Delta…
I love Greek life, as you can tell. We are not like the movies depict us. I mean, movies are fictional stories to begin with and we are living in real life. Yes we have many sorority chants, and the sorority squat for pictures is very real, and we also love to “throw what we know,” but we are not blonde plastic Barbies who are dumb and are in “a cult.” Stereotypes are the reason sororities get a bad reputation, and if people took the time to realize what we are all about, they too could maybe find themselves loving sisterhood as much as we do.
