Okay, first things first. You're probably thinking "wow, another overly-offended sorority girl got offended by that article, nice." False. I am in a sorority. But, I didn't get offended. Do I think the article was poorly written and completely stereotypical? Yes. But I'm not here to bash the writer. I'm writing this to set the record straight and give MY opinion on the whole ordeal. You can find the original article here.

1. "I didn't belong"

Really? "I didn't belong"? This may or may not be one of the most stereotypical things to say. Why? Because there isn't one "type" of girl that joins a sorority. My chapter has so many different girls from different backgrounds. It's not the stereotypical thing the movies portray when they show sorority girls. To say that all sorority girls have waste long blonde hair and are rail-thin is honestly completely ignorant. I've never been to a Zumba class in my entire life, and I don't plan to. Not all sorority girls drink. Not all sorority girls party. I know a good amount of sorority girls that don't drink and don't party, one of them include someone I'm related to. So starting off on number one, the stereotypes were completely false. Yes, yes there ARE some girls who fit the stereotype, but the number isn't even at half.

2. "Sorority Moms"

This one is slightly ridiculous. In my whole chapter, I think there may be one mom who comes even remotely close to this stereotype. Personally, my mom would never spend all day shopping or spending tons of money. Or begging me to do stuff that isn't cleaning up my room. Again, there ARE sorority moms like this. But there is a very, very VERY small number of them.

3. "The money"

Yeah, I don't disagree with the money thing. But hey I guess if my parents wanna pay for it, more power to them. Also, there are more than a handful of girls I know that actually work and pay for their own dues, so good for them.

4. "College was a clean slate"

True. College is a clean slate and that is an amazing opportunity. So, I guess the only response I have to that is the girls that were "dorks" (using word from original article, not calling anyone names here) have the chance to be in a sorority IF they want to be. They don't have to. But, hey, everyone gets the same shot here.

5. "Social gatherings"

I don't know about all chapters, but, you don't have to go to mixers or formals or date parties. You just have to go to meeting and philanthropy events which honestly, isn't much time at all. If girls in the honors college can do it, so can you.

6. "The process of rushing"

Recruitment does kinda suck. Long hours in the middle of August sucks. You're nervous because you have no idea what people think of you. And those short conversations aren't the only things chapters go off of, by the way. Also, you aren't "trying to get people to like you". You're trying to find a house that YOU fit into. You're trying to decide which house fits you best.

7. "The Stigma"

I don't necessarily agree with any of these statements. While employers CAN see that they knew someone in sorority "XYZ" and have bad thoughts about them, they will also see all the hours you put in doing community service, philanthropy hours, your GPA, etc. They won't ONLY see your letters. How you do in college and your actions will determine what they think of you, not your letters.

8. "Time commitment"

There are a ton of girls who are in the honors college and do perfectly fine getting to all of the events, studying, and getting all of their requirements done. There are a lot of girls in my chapter with 4.0 GPAs. So yes, it is a huge time commitment but they came up with time management for a reason. Sororities benefit you too with studying because you have a ton of sisters that can help you study if you aren't understanding something.

Now, before people start sending me hate mail (which, I won't reply to, by the way. So don't waste your time), understand that I am NOT attacking anyone in anyway. I'm giving my own personal response to an article that I found slightly wrong and stereotypical. Which is my right, anyways. So if you disagree with me, well, write a response article back. Shoot me an email or something and let me know what you think. But if it's hateful, it's heading straight for the trash bin.