Saturday, August 27, 2011
Homosexuality and Fraternities
This is my first blog so I hope it works! I have a new friend at USC who is really interested in being in a frat, but he has struggled to find one that will include him. My friend is homosexual and he feels that he might miss out on this aspect of college because most frats in his words are looking for "masculine, macho men who can get girls." He feels his sexual orientation is really negatively affecting him. How do you guys feel about this topic? Does it make you question certain aspects of the greek system?
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The Greek system has been divided by gender (fraternities for males and sororities for females). This division has caused the two groups to evolve in their own way, largely influenced by gender roles. You can see the difference through rush week itself. Fraternity Rush is laid-back and panic-free (gender role 1: males are confident), they go out all week to race tracks or shooting ranges (2: males are adventurous), and lastly, they party and break rules (3: males are risk-takers). Sorority rush is the opposite: they are formal and stressful, all week their activity is solely based on conversation, and lastly, rules are followed unhesitantly.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your friend feels threatened by the strict gender roles that the greek system demands that its members play. Many of my friends who are girls were stressing about being not pretty enough to rush. A few guy friends were worried they would come off as someone who doesn't party enough.
Do these situations make me question certain aspects of the greek system? Yes.
In my opinion, the gender roles of the Greek system seem dated. I was having lunch with a few friends, and we noticed that most of the girls tend to look the same. What I mean is they dress alike for a whole week, tend to be blonde, and most of them are beautiful, etc. It definitely makes a girl that does not have those characteristics insecure about rushing. I personally did not feel like I fit their idea of sorority girl. The gender roles associated with the Greek system do not seem cut out for everyone. I can see how being homosexual could potentially not be fitting of their cookie cutter ideals.
ReplyDeleteI think that your friends fears are very understandable. The Greek System (traditionally) has revolved around heterosexual ideals. That being said in this day and age people have become more accepting and i think your friend should try it anyway. Im not too familiar with the Greek system but im sure they have a homosexual frat if your friend doesn't feel comfortable in a hetro one.
ReplyDeleteAs an addition to Manan's comment on the double-standardization of the USC Greek System, something to note are the differences in the final aspects of Rush.
ReplyDeleteIt is to my knowledge that after girls have been chosen by the sororities that they want to be a part of and the girls choose to pledge, they are to run from the fountain to their respective sorority houses. And all the while, during the run, there are people (mainly males) lined up along the route shouting them on. This objectifying "tradition" has no peer in the fraternity pledging process. Such shallow entertainment for one gender at the expense of the other gender is a disappointing part of the Greek System.
And, Christina, about your friend, I apologize but I am not familiar enough with USC's fraternities to know which are more accepting of homosexuals. But, with a quick search, it seems there are fraternities and sororities that exist in other universities that are LGBT-friendly. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_and_LGBT-friendly_fraternities_and_sororities
I hope this is something worth noting.
Rush sounds like a reality show, no? This is definitely a good topic for a paper and one we should bring up during Discussion class. Issues of terminology are extremely important, and symptomatic here: homosexuals? gays? queer people? lgbt? Subjects non-bound by the heterosexist regime? All of these have their histories and agendas, we should go over this in class.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately my friend didn't get a bid :( He's really bummed because he liked the fraternity a lot but they didn't feel he "fit in."
ReplyDeleteDuring welcome week, my RA took my hall to the Student Union where we visited different sections including the LGBT program. One of the men in charge told us about being an "ally." An ally is someone who is not gay but is supportive of people who are. I think that our school needs to talk more about becoming allies so we can make LGBT teens feel accepted because every girl and every guy deserves a sisterhood/brotherhood.