Going through my Twitter feed, I saw a few people tweeting about this new video from the University of Alabama Alpha Phi chapter. An article titled "'Bama sorority video worse for women than Donald Trump" was circulating, and normally, I wouldn't get all into this sort of news, but wait, something could actually be worse for women than Donald Trump?! That's even possible? So I clicked, watched, and read.
And I struggled to find any problem with the video, other than it being a little distasteful. I kept watching it to see what all the uproar was about and as the video ended, I was a little appalled because I didn't see anything wrong with it. If you haven't seen it, here's what it is: a bunch of young women dancing, smiling, frolicking around in different situations. There's glitter being thrown around and you see a multitude of plenty of different women smiling and enjoying each other's company. It's innocent, it's happy, and it's just four minutes of this. These sorts of videos are created by the sorority for recruitment purposes—to recruit potential new members to join their sorority. There are thousands of videos and pages like this with the same sort of theme.
What's really caused all the drama was the op-ed that claimed this article was worse for women than Donald Trump. The AL.com writer claimed that this video was "racially and aesthetically homogeneous and forced, so hyper-feminine, so reductive and objectifying." Let's stop right there and look at what this author's said. How, in any way, is this video objectifying women? It was made by women and for women. It's not as if it were some commercial that only used a certain societal level of beauty of all white women to portray the entire United States female population, or if it's a group of men trying to attract other men by making a video with "hot" girls. It's by the sorority and for future sorority members.
We are watching a video that shows women celebrating their bodies being happy in their own skin with their sorority sisters. Is the sorority using men drooling over women in this to try to attract new members? No, they're showing these girls being themselves with each other, truly empowering the notion that you don't need men to be a totally empowered, independent woman. Oh, but wait, there's one man in this, Kenyan Drake, an Alabama football player. And if you watch carefully, the girl that he's racing technically beats him. Whatever, it's a silly fake race, but it's not as if they're using their sex appeal to attract this guy. The point is that the dependence on men makes up none of this video.
The other issue that this author makes is that it's not racially diverse, which is true. But if the sorority itself is not racially diverse.... then how would this video include girls of different ethnicities and backgrounds? We don't know every single girl in their chapter, but if there simply aren't diverse girls in their chapter, don't blame the video, look to issues concerning the girls they do or don't give bids to.
I agree that this video has almost zero substance. It is four pure minutes of girls considered an acceptable level of "pretty," and sororities are so much more than superficial standards. I'm not in Greek life and I know girls in Greek life (including several at Alabama) that are sometimes superficial and a lot of the time empowering and incredible. I know a lot of girls not in Greek life that are sometimes superficial and a lot of the time empowering and incredible. We're all different. The sad part, though, is that Greek life has a stereotype of being all about superficial beauty standards, and even more sadly, this sorority did not choose to show the important aspects of what Greek life, specifically Greek women, can accomplish. I would not personally choose to be a part of this sorority because that's not what I would be looking for in a group of women, but honestly, I don't know the sorority, so there's no room to judge. It's aimed to choose to recruit girls and if a girl wants this sisterhood, then so be it. We also don't know how Alpha Phi is represented in rush—only girls going through it really have any idea of what rush is like and what this sorority is like; this video is only one representation, and it's the only public one.
The article says "To the incoming PNMs, this video has a clear sales pitch: beauty, sexuality, and a specific look above all. They're selling themselves on looks alone, as a commodity. Sadly, commodities don't tend to command much respect." Sure, we have one video of this, but again, this video is not the only thing that PNMs see or experience. They experience several days of recruitment to see where they would best fit. And yes, maybe this sorority has one specific look, but if a PNM were to feel as though she didn't get a bid to Alpha Phi because of her looks, then I think that speaks a lot more about thinking about where she would truly want to be. If a sorority cut me because of my looks or cut someone I knew because of their looks, then I would be forgetting them and moving on, not even wanting to be a part of it. But there is so much more to the recruitment process that most people have no clue about, including myself. I have no clue what it's like to go through recruitment, and most likely, neither does the author of that article, so there's no room for anyone to judge what goes on during the grueling recruitment week.
The other part of that quote, "commodities don't tend to command much respect" absolutely astounds me. Yes, we've established that this video doesn't have much substance, but the fact that they can't be respected because of this? Are you kidding me? To think that women that are a cookie-cutter type of beauty cannot be respected for their looks, to think that because these women have a certain type of beauty that they can't be taken seriously, to think that because someone saw a brief four-minute video of a sorority of girls being themselves and proud of who they are, they've decided to cause a storm on the Internet. The new wave of feminism, in our generation, is all about not bashing women based on their looks. It's about letting go of feminist stereotypes of "no makeup and armpit hair," it's about being yourself and feeling beautiful in your own skin.
The author, in a series of statements about these girls writes, "And that's 72 women who will want to be taken seriously rather than be called bimbos by those male coworkers." Who is to say that these women can't be taken seriously? Is this the fact that these women do look a cookie cutter look that means that they're not beautiful or unique, inside and out? And why, for heaven's sake, are you putting the blame of being called a bimbo on a woman, instead of the man that calls her a bimbo? Or the claim that "72 women who will potentially launch careers on the merit of their education and work among men who were once the frat brothers watching their video," states that these women will launch careers based on their education, accomplished and aided by their sorority's resources, sisters, and accomplishments. The point is not that these people watched their video and enjoyed, the problem with the article is the claim that the video will not allow men to take women seriously because of their looks. Can I hear...um...perhaps "misogynistic" in here?! The author is blaming women for the problems of men.
Sure, the article was an op-ed and everyone's entitled to their opinion, but the video was removed from YouTube, UA Alpha Phi's Twitter was shut down, and several of their social media pages were changed to private. The University of Alabama released a statement apologizing for the video. APOLOGIZING. Do not place blame on an innocent video of girls frolicking (which for the record, does not include any alcohol, drugs, parties, sex, or illegal or immoral activities) and shame them for doing what they wanted to do and portraying themselves in the light they wanted to.
We do not know these girls. We do not know how their sorority works or who each of these girls are and what they've accomplished. Absolutely, in no way, is this video WRONG or politically incorrect. They've decided to go from a certain marketing point, take it or leave it. It wasn't meant for you or anyone other than the potential new members going through recruitment that can make up their mind and decide what they want in a sorority.
Because look, at the end of the day, you can be a woman that loves glitter, but is pretty intelligent and empowering as well. And it's as easy as that.
