I was casually scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed last Friday when I stumbled upon Gillette Venus’s “#UseYourAnd” ad. Most of the time I ignore the advertisements that Facebook creepily posts onto my feed, but for some reason I watched this one. With more than 9 million views in just a little over three weeks, the call for women to take a stand against one-dimensional labels was clearly heard.   One line from this campaign that got my attention stated, “...when someone labels you this or that, use your '&' to take a stand.” Since Spring recruitment for my school just ended, I thought it was the perfect time to shed light on a particular problem that many college students suffer from; the stigma of “Greek life.”  

The top definition posted on Urban Dictionary likes to define "Greek life" 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 -Greek life sucks, why should you pay for your friends when you can just pay for your alcohol and drink with your friends?”       

“What? That’s so not true.” I repeated to myself when I first read it. Or is it?   

I understand that Urban Dictionary is not the place to go to get a clean definition of… anything, really... and that’s exactly why I went there. I wanted to see the nitty-gritty thoughts and opinions of others. My morbid curiosity guided my search for what “GDI’s” (check UD for the definition of that one) thought about people who were involved in fraternities/sororities.  

Obviously, just because someone says something, it doesn’t make it true. But if this is a common thought among outsiders, it should cause some sort of self-evaluation. To be fair though, when is the labeling going to end? Can we please stop with the gossip of, “she’s in THAT sorority, she must be rich,” or, “It makes sense that he’s in that frat, they’re all jerks,” or, “I prefer not to pay for my friends.” In addition, the, “they aren’t into Greek life, they’re probably really weird” attitude needs to go. Clearly this applies to all fraternity/sorority members as well as non-Greek affiliates. What happened to the Pan-Hellenic/IFC love? Or respect for people in general? 

According to a Greek Life Stats video posted on YouTube by Baylor University’s StuPro, roughly 50% of U.S. Presidents were involved in fraternities, 43 out of 50 U.S. CEOs are greek, nearly 75% of lawyers were in a sorority/fraternity, and around $7 million each year is raised by greek life with all proceeds going to charity. These numbers should knock out the misnomer of greeks being lazy, stupid or greedy, though we are well aware that statistics do not prove anything if not backed up by actions.  

So this my challenge for you: "When someone labels you this or that, use your '&' to take a stand."  

Turn those negatives into positives. For example, “I’m in a sorority AND I maintain a certain GPA to stay here,” or, “I’m in a fraternity AND I frequently advocate for our philanthropy,” or, “I’m not in Greek life AND I still know how to go out and have fun.”   

As for me, I wear my letters but don’t put on a persona with them. I wear Greek letters AND I am much more than that. I am a dog-lover, a daughter, a follower of Christ, a business major (who randomly decided to start writing for The Odyssey), AND I surprisingly don't have to pay to get friends (though they’d probably enjoy it if I did).   

I want to encourage you, Greek or non-Greek, to #UseYourAnd and prove to others that you are more than just a label. You were made with a specific purpose, so don't be confined to one description.