Sorority girl: cringe, right? When someone mentions the words sorority girl people automatically assume the typical stereotype. I looked up the definition of a sorority girl on Urban Dictionary and here's what it came up with:
A sorority girl is a female college student belonging to a social sorority. She may or may not live in a sorority house. She will normally be seen wearing Chanel sunglasses, a Northface jacket, and bag representing her sorority's letters. Sorority girls are typically high-maintenance and very uppity. Most are white middle and upper middle-class girls that are spoiled and extremely materialistic. These bleach blondes are extremely loud and spend most of their time shopping and partying with frat boys. Often confused with sluts, sorority girls are most often cock teases. Sorority girls are sometimes extremely protective of their sorority sisters and can only be distracted by a professional wing man.
Whoa, someone is pretty bitter. While I have nothing against Urban Dictionary and find their "definitions" quite hilarious, I can't help but be a little peeved at the different user submitted definitions of a typical "sorority girl." It is very obvious that whoever submitted the different ones were not ever affiliated with anything in Greek life or got butt-hurt about something if they were.
I'm here to tell you that joining Greek life has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. And yes, I know that line is about as cliché as they come. But here's the thing:
1. We don't pay for our friends.
Yes, there are chapter dues that we must pay monthly. But what extracurricular organization does not have dues that need to be paid to fund different activities? Any major organization that adults are a part of has dues. The money is used to support whatever that particular organization stands for or to fund different events to raise money for charity. It is most certainly not used to pay for the other girls, who also pay money, to be friends with me.
2. We aren't all the same.
While there may very well be some dumb blondes living on daddy's money in a sorority, that is most definitely not the standard. There is not a standard. Sororities promote diversity and becoming a better you, not trying to fit you into this perfect little mold. There are sporty girls who have the body shape of a WWE champion. There are nerds who wear bifocals and never emerge from the library. There are preppy cheerleaders with blonde hair and big boobs who don't even know where the library is. And there is everything in the middle of all of those stereotypes. Because at the end of the day, a sorority is made whole by its diversity that can come together to do something great.
3. We do more than just party.
"Wooohoo! Party, party party! Where's the pregame tonight?!" Typical, right? Yeah, that is kind of the "standard" for most partiers in college (whispers not just sorority girls). Are you shocked? You shouldn't be. If someone likes to party, then good for them, but that does not mean they are in a sorority. If someone doesn't like to party, then good for them, but that doesn't mean they aren't in a sorority. Like number two says, sororities promote diversity, so we have our crazy party animals who can't get their you-know-what together, we have our 18 going on 80-year-old mamaws who have never tasted a sip of alcohol in their lives, and we also have every single type in between with no pressure to change and become something you aren't.
4. We do it for the charities.
One of a sorority's main functions is to raise money for something else. Philanthropy plays the largest role in most chapters. It is a group of organized women, who just so happen to be friends and sometimes party together, getting together and raising money to give to a hospital or to a non-profit organization that somehow makes the world a better place. How could you possibly get anything negative or "stereotypical" out of that?
5. We really are a sisterhood.
Think about your family for a second. Think about how different you all are, and how you could definitely say you "hate" them sometimes. Now, imagine that's what sorority girls mean when they say "sisterhood." It definitely does not mean we don't all fight and talk bad about each other or that we want to be around each other all the time, but it does mean that we are family whether we like it or not and that we wouldn't change that if we had the choice. That doesn't make us cliché, that makes us human. That makes us like every single other human on the planet who has a family, too. Because, shocker, we are human.
Being in a sorority is most certainly not for everyone because everyone is different, but it also doesn't matter how different you are because that's part of what a sorority is for. For women to maintain their individuality and grow within themselves to make the world a better place, all while raising money for some amazing cause. If you don't want to be a part of it then nobody is forcing you to, but that doesn't mean that the women who do want to be a part of it are any less than you. And sisters in a sorority? Don't forget that girl in your chapter who is the complete opposite of you is still your family, whether you like it or not, and you should love and accept her unconditionally even when you don't get along.
Let's all just mind our own business and be happy with who we are without bashing someone else for doing the same. Peace and blessins people, capice?
