Our society creates the image of certain groups of people, and when you are not a part of that group, it is easy to believe that these stereotypes are true. It happens with nearly every group, whether it is based off sports, academics or the color of your skin. This also happens with Greek life. There are an insane amount of stereotypes affiliated with sororities, with ideas such as all sorority girls are as dumb as a pile of stones and all they ever do is take selfies and squat for group photos.
There are many people who hate on Greek life, many of whom I am friends with. You always see the snarky comments on Facebook mentioning how “you’ve mastered the sorority squat” and tweets about how we need to realize that our bigs aren’t really that amazing. I don’t blame you for believing these stereotypes, I’ll even be the first to admit that there was a time when I believed them as well. It’s what our society puts in our heads, and how could we possibly imagine anything else if we’ve never actually been part of the group? From the outside, a sorority may look like a bunch of girls who just want to get smashed and hook up with frat boys, but I’m asking you to take a step back from what society wants you to believe and try and see us for who we truly are.
We are not sluts.
This is one of the biggest stereotypes, especially for certain sororities. We don’t go to frat parties to hook up with guys, and we sure as hell aren’t “easy”. We are taught to respect ourselves and to demand that respect from a guy, as well. We don’t get dressed and ask each other if our outfits are slutty enough, we wear what we think makes us look best.
Try telling all the girls who study subjects such as nursing and neuroscience that they are dumb.
There is a minimum GPA to even be considered for a sorority, and if you don’t maintain that GPA you are required to attend study sessions and are banned from attending any social events until you have improved your grades. Many sorority girls study insanely difficult subjects, and being in a sorority is their release from that stress.
We burp and fart.
Yup, it’s true. We’re disgusting. If you think that sorority girls are all prim and proper, then you’ve got it wrong. Sorry to be so crude, but it’s the hard truth.
We do love our bigs and littles, but you would too if you met them.
You get a big in your first few weeks of joining Greek life to mentor you and make sure you settle in well. She is a best friend who will be there for you no matter what, and the only difference between her and a friend outside of Greek Life is that we weirdly call each other "Big and Little".
We squat in pictures because we are nice enough to let the people in the back row be seen.
It’s simply common courtesy, the people in the back row have just as much right to be seen in a picture as the front row, so we squat.
We aren’t paying for friends
We get bills every semester, and on that statement is a breakdown of everything we are expected to pay. On it you will find things such as costs to attend events, money that will go to the chapter as a whole, and even some that goes towards renovations to the house. But nowhere on there does it mention anything about friends. When you played a sport in high school, were you paying for those friends you made on your team? No. You were paying for the field, your uniform and the athletic program. The friendships came without cost.
We don’t party every night.
Most sororities have about one to two socials a week, and by no means are they mandatory. We party no more than any other college kid. We learn early on the importance of prioritizing and how if you don’t, you will have thrown away your future.
We shop at thrift stores.
Sure, there are some who come in with their Lilly purses and Vineyard Vines tops, but most of us are still chasing after people handing out free things on campus. We have trips to Sal Val and Goodwill and are constantly raiding the sale racks in stores.
We love food.
If there is an event with food, especially anything with chocolate, expect it to be gone within five minutes. We have our health freaks, but most of us take pride in the fact that we love food more than boys.
Some of us have short hair, some curly, some red, some brown…
Long story short, there is no look requirement when you join Greek life. No one cares what color your hair is or what length it is. No one cares if you’re a tad bit overweight or if you’re under 5 foot. Being in a sorority is about making friends who you can eventually call your bridesmaids, and there’s no look requirement for that either.
We wear our letters because we are proud of who we are.
We don’t wear our letters because t-shirts and crewnecks are super flattering. We wear our letters because our sororities are a part of who we are, and we couldn’t be more proud.
We all joined for different reasons.
Maybe some do join for the parties or for the ability to write Greek letters on everything. But most of us have joined for other reasons. Some were born into the Greek life, being the legacy of a parent or grandparent. Others want a tight-knit group who will be there for them until the end. And for me, college just wasn’t all I had thought it would be during my first few weeks of freshman year, and I found what I was missing when I joined a sorority.
A lot of us juggle school, sorority requirements and jobs.
Yup, you read it right; most of us don’t have a dad that just gives us his credit card. We work hard for the things we’ve gotten in this life. A lot of us are struggling to pay for college and sometimes it requires working two or three jobs.
We love all other sororities.
A lot of fraternities hold competitions between sororities as their philanthropy events, but just because another sorority beat us in tug of war, it doesn’t mean we hate them. Almost all of my best friends are in other sororities, and the fact that we don’t wear the same letters doesn’t say anything about our friendship.
We make service fun.
We have philanthropy events because we believe that the best thing in life is giving back. Sororities and fraternities hold events to raise money and awareness for their specific cause, and a huge part of Greek life is going out to support others.
A lot of us are religious.
Being religious and in a sorority can often be hard with all the time commitments needed on either end, but a lot of times campuses have Greek bible studies to help keep us focused to what matters most. I think the hardest part is that sometimes even people in the same religion as us can look at us differently because we are a part of the Greek system. Being in a sorority doesn’t affect our faith, and we have groups to make help us keep it that way.
We are the same as you.
If we weren’t dressed in our letters or taking selfies, you would have no clue we are a part of Greek life. I am no different from you because I call myself a sorority girl. You are going to get every kind of girl within a sorority, so there is no way to stereotype us into one. I am a sorority girl, but I am not slutty, dumb or obsessed with partying.
