As a former member of the Greek system, I have seen the website totalfratmove.com have a vast influence over Greek life. I see articles from TFM and its sister site, TSM (Total Sorority Move), on my Facebook newsfeed every day. For people not involved in Greek Life, the majority of the information they get about the system comes from TFM and TSM. So, I chose to check out the website and do a little perusing myself. What I found was, unfortunately, not shocking at all.
1. TFM blatantly posts about and promotes misogyny.
I didn't have to search hard to find an article filled with disrespect towards women. Upon reading the title of Dillon Cheverere's article, "Jeter's Historic Run of Famous, Hot Ass Is Ending, Now Engaged To Hannah Davis," I supposed it would be a good read. If the reference to women as "Hot Ass" in the title wasn't enough, there was much more packed into the body of the article. My favorite statement by far was "After working his [Jeter] way through all of that hot, famous trim before settling on one worthy of marrying, you have to assume Hannah Davis has a golden vagina." I'm in an Intro to Fiction class this semester, so let's do a literary analysis of this quote, shall we? I want to start with "hot, famous trim."
Ah yes, Cheverere's broad vocabulary is shown here upon the repetition of "hot" and "famous," although this time he switched up the order from his title. The language here is used to describe the "trim," which, as I found upon looking on Urban Dictionary, means nothing other than a woman's vagina. It's nice to know that Cheverere regards these women's genitalia as worthy of his high standards. Now, you might think that "worthy" is a heavy term to assign to the opinion of someone I do not know, but Cheverere goes on to use this term himself. He uses this word choice to express his ideas on the fact that women must be worthy of a man's affection. He ends with the anecdotal jest that Hannah Davis, a very successful model, must have a "golden vagina." With this, he alludes to the idea that Hannah Davis has nothing to offer but her body.
Through my literary analysis of this piece, I have gained the following: Women must be worthy of a man's affection, and the only way to win this is to be sexually pleasing to the man. This article shamelessly promotes the idea that women are nothing but sexual props to men and society. Attached to the article are a slew of pictures taken from Hannah Davis' Intstagram account. The pictures on the article are all pictures of Davis in swimming suits. She is a swim suit model, so this makes sense, but I got the sense that these were not the only pictures she posted on her Instagram. Upon stalking her myself, I found countless pictures of her clothed, with her friends and family, or even working. Instead of pictures that really show who Hannah Davis is, TFM chose only pictures of her half naked. Hannah Davis is a beautiful and successful woman, and she should be celebrated, but TFM is only interested in her body and how that is benefiting a powerful man in the world. TFM’s views on how to treat and view women are unacceptable and are being spewed to young men and women all over the Internet. This should not be tolerated.
2. TFM only cares about the male perspective.
After the recent scandal with ATO on Indiana’s campus, TFM posted this article in response: “How To Protect Your Fraternity From Starting a National Outrage." I gave this headline a good eye roll and opened it up. I was hoping it would be a very short article saying something along the lines of “Don’t do dumb s***,” but my hopes were destroyed upon reading a listicle that encouraged hiding the kind of events exposed from the viral video posted a few weeks ago.
The first of many suggestions regarding how to avoid getting caught was “Collect Brothers’ Cell Phones." This is LITERALLY referencing the video from the ATO scandal. TFM is right. If there were no phones present in that room, nobody would have found out about them getting off to watching a “consensual” gang bang. I will not go into whether or not I believe what happened was or wasn’t hazing or consensual, but I do know that this behavior should NOT be encouraged.
Why would the Greek system want anything to do with a website promoting behavior like this? This website gives Greek life an image that members shouldn’t desire, yet people embrace this media platform anyway. This article goes on to talk about making sure to get consent before any sexual encounter is necessary, yet they somehow spin the whole thing on how that would affect the male in the situation rather than the female. The writer, who goes by StuffFratPeopleLike, said that if a woman is too inebriated, the male should take her home rather than hooking up with her. GOOD. This is a good thing to be promoted, but he ends his statement by saying afterwards the male should go home and “happily jerk off knowing that your life has not been ruined by an easily avoidable mistake.” As if taking advantage of a drunk girl can be referenced as a mistake. StuffFratPeopleLike does not take into account that not taking advantage of a drunk girl is what should be expected from EVERYONE. Why should anyone be congratulated for doing something that should be expected of them? Just another example of TFM putting all focus on the male perspective and demeaning women in the process.
3. TFM encourages the posting of pictures exploiting women without consent.
Every year, there is at least one picture of a couple hooking up in public to circle around a college campus, and TFM is always there to make sure everyone knows about it. There are countless articles on their website exploiting women’s bodies without their consent. Yes, they blur out faces, but I have had multiple friends find their exploited bodies on this website knowing they never gave consent for such a picture to be shared.
Here’s a message to the general public. If you see a couple hooking up in public, do NOT take pictures. This website and others like it may promote this, but being in the general vicinity of people being intimate with each other does not give you the right to take a picture, or even worse, share it. Yes, people get drunk and make the mistake of having their sexual encounter public, but this is not the chance for a photo op. Respect the people making this mistake and leave them alone. I’m sure you would want the same if you were in that situation.
Another popular trend in Greek life is rush boobs. Fraternities require new members to take a picture of a woman’s chest covered only by her hands, with “Rush This Frat” written in black marker. I don’t really have an opinion on the subject. If a woman consents to having a friend take a picture of her covered chest, I support her decision. Women’s bodies should not be seen as pornographic and inappropriate, rather, they should be seen as beautiful and natural. I do not, however, support the spreading of such pictures without permission from the woman. TFM is encouraging exploitation of women’s bodies solely for men’s consumption and violating women’s right to privacy.
After seeing all of this, I honestly think the site should be condemned, but that is just my opinion. I encourage people to look for themselves and see what the website is really promoting, because it is a disgusting and unacceptable vision of women and their roles in society today. If I could single-handedly take down the whole corporation, I would, but I will rest easy tonight knowing that at least one person will look at what I saw and agree there needs to be change. Let’s fight the good fight, Ladies and Gentlemen.
