I recently came across an article called “38 Reasons Every Guy Should Date a Sorority Girl.” While I, like all sorority girls, got a good chuckle out of it, I found myself bothered by parts of it as well. I’m concerned that articles such as these present Greek life in a negative way and serve to further negative Greek stereotypes.

Going through the list, I saw several items claiming that a sorority girl will help “fix” you. For example, Number 3 says, “She’ll help you fool your parents into thinking that you’re a functioning member of society.”

Now, I obviously can’t speak for all sorority girls or even my own sisters, but personally, I want to date a guy who is already a functioning member of society on his own, and I certainly don’t want to teach him how to pretend he’s one.

Being a member of my sorority has taught me to live life with class and always work to better myself. How can I better myself while dating someone below my standards?

Next, they also mentioned that a sorority girlfriend can be “the best thing to ever happen to your t-shirt collection.” Really? A good reason to date me is because I can get you t-shirts? I want a guy to date me for lots of different reasons, but providing clothes that will be useless in a few years is not one of them.

While I have more comments, I think a more productive way to show my feelings about this would be to write my own list of reasons why sorority girls make great girlfriends.

1. Sorority girls value philanthropy and have a lot of knowledge of ways to help out and give back.

2. Sorority girls learn to be friends with lots of different types of girls, so they can help widen your circle of friends.

3. Sororities provide nationwide connections, networking with sisters even at different universities from various years. They can hook you up (not for a literal hookup, but for your future).

4. Sorority girls value commitment, to each other and to their chapter (and if you’re lucky, to you).

5. Sorority girls learn to be fiercely loyal to those around them and those they love. Labels such as “sister” are not taken lightly. Therefore, “boyfriend” will not be either.

6. Thanks to recruitment week, small talk is not an issue.

Personally I believe that I could keep going about all the valuable things taught by sorority life, but the moral of my story is that there is so much more to a sorority girl than coolers, expensive clothes, and “drunken sex.” I wish that members of the Greek community would not perpetuate these ideas in people’s minds and instead focus on the many positives brought by sororities.

As a member of Alpha Chi Omega, I have learned to be more punctual, classy, tactful, compassionate, loyal, trustworthy, honest, and detail-oriented. I would much rather have a man take interest in me for these qualities than for the things I supposedly can provide, such as “cheap gas station wine” and “hangover cures.”