Greek Life. Sorority girl. These two words have mostly negative connotations to them. Most people think "oh she's a sorority girl, she must be a slut" or "oh greek life, thats not for me because I have no interest in partying". Well let me tell you what these two words REALLY mean.
First off "Greek Life". According to Urban dictionary's top definition greek life is defined as, "paying for friends; joining a fraternity or sorority; by joining greek life people will stereotype you correctly based on your letter and where you will have no individual identity". Now what's wrong with this? So you can honestly look at every member of my sorority (roughly 100 give or take) and say they are "correctly based on my letters and have no individual identity". Greek life isn't about how much money you have or how many cute pictures you can take.
Let me give you a real definition of greek life. Greek life: A community of sororities and fraternities that uphold their own values based on their founders, who uplift each other everyday, and who have each others backs no matter what". I can honestly say after being in Greek life, that most stereotypes aren't true. Stereotypes are so overrated, I mean not every stereotype you see or read about is true. Everything in life is unique with its own personality. It's like saying all blondes are dumb, which is NOT true, my biological sister disproves that everyday. So saying Greek life is not having an individual personality and paying for friends isn't true. In my sorority each sister brings to light our values in a different way. We are all different and special in our own way.
"Sorority girl" according to Urban dictionary: "A sorority girl is a female college student belonging to a social sorority. She may or may not live in a sorority house. She will normally be seen wearing Chanel sunglasses, a Northface jacket, and bag representing her sorority's letters. Sorority girls are typically high maintenance and very uppity. Most are white middle and upper middle class girls that are spoiled and extrememly materialistic. These bleach blondes are extremely loud and spend most of their time shopping and partying with frat boys. Often confused to be sluts, sorority girls are most often cock teases. Sorority girls are sometimes extremely protective of their sorority sisters and can only be distracted by a professional wing man."
Now there are so many things wrong in this paragraph, that are honestly not only hurtful, but also ignorant. Most of my sorority sisters, and other Panhellenic sisters, aren't high mantienced. And if we do own nicer things, it's because most of us WORK and pay our OWN dues. I know personally some of my sisters bust their butts just to be able to afford to be in the sorority. Also, newsflash NOT ALL ARE BLONDE. I hate stereotypes that depict things in ignorant ways. It's like classifying one entire group of people based off of stereotypes that have never been proven true. I know personally I don't party anymore, I don't go shopping a lot because I'm broke most of the time, and I'm for sure not a slut. Out of this entire paragraph, the only thing they got right was "Sorority girls are sometimes extremely protective of their sisters". The last part is again ignorance. But back to the statement, I would honestly die for my sisters. I can look at each sister in my chapter and give their full name, hometown, most times birthdays, and say one unique thing about them.
Being a sorority girl is more than just typical stereotypes and partying. My sorority has donated millions of dollars to our philanthropy we hold near and dear to our hearts, we help out with other sororities and fraternities philanthropies, and we hold ourselves to higher standards. We push each other to excel in school, in community service, and in our own personal lives. I know my sorority has helped me realize my potential in every way and regardless what any stereotype says, I know I don't fit those and I know most of my panhellenic sisters don't either.
