Perhaps I'm not the typical sorority girl, but I am not a fan of Total Sorority Move. I have come across their Instagram and their website many times, and I am rarely pleased with the content I see.
There are countless posts discussing partying, drinking, hooking up, "frat" boys and every other negative connotation sororities have. This is extremely disheartening and tacky to me as a sorority woman. I know that my values and what my sorority is as a whole has nothing to do with all of the stereotypical sorority traits and ideas. We are a group of smart, strong, classy, powerful women who contribute to our society, our philanthropy and hold ourselves to a high standard.
This past week, the Sigma Kappa sorority at Elon University started a movement on Facebook entitled "#ActualSororityMove." This move included pictures of their women holding signs with this hashtag, and a caption of passionate, hardworking, philanthropic activities that they take part in. These photos show what being in an actual sorority is all about.
This recent movement got a lot of positive attention from chapters and different sororities and even got the attention of the website the idea was based on, Total Sorority Move. This website came back with an article entitled "Dear #ActualSororityMove (And Anyone Else Who Doesn't Understand Total Sorority Move)" stating that their website is merely a means of making fun of the stereotypes of sororities.
Granted, I do agree with some of the comments stated in their response to the #ActualSororityMove movement, but I still don't see this website as a funny joke. The stereotypes about sororities are awful and have a very negative connotation, and I just can't see why that's something to make a joke out of. Sure, joke with your friends about it, but an entire website with countless articles such as "5 Tips On Giving a Blow Jay Like A Champ," "91 Thoughts You Have While Drunk Texting Him," and "I Had Sex on The Roof of a Frat House," makes me cringe like no other. I do know that they have articles of a more classy nature, but why they decide to write about such things and pass it off on a website all about sorority life is beyond me.
I know that my sorority has values and standards, and that we take these very seriously, and so do you if you're in a sorority. I know for a fact that if I decided to post all about a drunk misadventure for the entire internet to see, my chapter would not be pleased. By saying this, I'm not implying to never party or live a little, but there is a right and wrong way to do it. I believe that Total Sorority Move has it a tad wrong, and it makes sororities look bad.
We as sorority women should be posting stories and teaching people about all the great things we do such as the philanthropy events, how rewarding sorority life is, our strong bonds with other Greek organizations, and how much we love our bigs and littles. I can't even begin to fathom how our founders would feel if they saw some of the stories and Instagram posts that TSM puts out *cringes.*
Personally, I don't see most of their posts and pictures as total sorority moves at all, and I'm glad for that. I'm not trying to bash this website and say they have no good content because they do. They have very talented writers that know how to write a wide variety of topics, which you don't find just anywhere. What I am saying is that by making fun of sorority life, they are just adding to the stereotype, which I didn't think any sorority woman wants.
