In today's news it is not so shocking to hear about a Greek organization getting kicked off a campus or getting into some big trouble. Especially with the majority being fraternities, universities and colleges in most cases act immediately on the situation, sometimes not even giving the fraternity a chance to explain why this issue was presented or their word on what had happened. Some "crimes" aren't as bad as others, but they aren't even given a chance no matter what the case is. So why are we just blaming the fraternity and not the men that people are raising?
From the beginning, our men are raised in a state of separation from women. For an example, when you hear a little boy cry what is the reaction people have half the time? "Oh, suck it up you'll be fine," or, "Rub some dirt on it and it'll be okay." However, for a girl people instantly come to a much softer reaction with calming her emotions saying "Awww are you okay sweetie?" This gender separation is the start of where the differences begin. The lack of emotional ties presented to boys and at a young age teach them to not express these emotions.
When they are older, this phenomenon still continues to be handled in the same manner. The phrase "boys will be boys," allows them to be rough, messy, and that is accepted. This go-to phrase only allows them to start the process of acting out. Along with this, there is an emotional build up because of what was mentioned earlier, and this only creates a sense of fear, shaming, anger, and violence with this emotional oppression.
Now let's fast forward to the college years and look at why this is causing them problems. If you want to look at the culture of drinking with this society of man shaming, what happens when a man of any age can't pound down 5 or 6 beers? He "loses his man card" and is shamed for what may be not even wanting to drink that day. With sexual assault, we tell women how to fight and defend themselves, but for men it is automatically assumed that they know how to defend themselves against a woman. In our culture, we've taught our women how not to be raped instead of teaching our men how to prevent the situation.
Our system is a patriarchy where men obviously have the higher power. Masculine norms exist because they have this power. Our men have internalized how they have this position in society and people don't want to talk about it because they don't have to.
So don't put the label on Greek organizations to blame for the men we are creating.
