Trigger warning: discussion of rape/sexual assault

Disclaimer: when I use the term “fraternity,” I am referring to the IFC organizations and not the multicultural organizations (which were founded in reaction to some of the problems I will discuss).

There has been a lot of buzz on my Facebook timeline recently about an article written by a person at our university responding to an article written by a student at another university about “why [she] won’t date frat boys.” Bear with me on the intercollegiate sparring, the substance of these arguments is actually very important.

I debated responding directly to this first article, “I’m Sick of Negative Stereotypes about Frat Boys,” but I think that is too narrow a scope for an issue that plagues American college campuses from coast to coast. The plague is not so much Greek Life itself, or even fraternities specifically, but rather the culture constructed by, for, and around them.

It's important to start by recognizing stereotypes are harmful. They do not “originate in some level of truth” so much as they are developed to compartmentalize and exclude the other. The abnormal. The different.

That being said, what this author claims are “stereotypes” of fraternity boys are just as easily realities for entire populations of people. So to diminish them as stereotypes invalidates the concerns, experiences, and fears that others might live with every day at school.

Let’s start with the topic of sexual assault, something that has become a fashionable debate among fraternity members as something to package nicely and use as leverage against these very critiques of rape culture. If you haven’t seen The Hunting Ground yet, please please do. Every college student in the US should see this film. The intertwining of for-profit university models, revenue-collecting fraternities, and masculine sport culture results in a society where administrations can, will, and do cover up sexual assault cases to preserve the interests of their pockets.

The author of the article cites how some of the fraternities (on our campus at least) engage in student action to address sexual assault, which is true. And great. We need so much more of that. However, this does not solve the problem. It doesn’t even directly acknowledge the problem. For starters, these fraternities (yes I’m talking about the ones at the U of R specifically) still have a long way to go, because I could make a long list of people on this campus who have been sexually assaulted at/just after a frat party. And that’s just the people who trust me enough to share that with me; I’m only one person.

Let’s also remember that sexual assault is not just a female issue, or a heterosexual one. If these fraternities (at least at U of R) are so accepting of the LGBTQ community, where is the representation of gay men, lesbians, and transgender people being sexually assaulted? I know plenty of outspoken queer people in and out of Greek Life, myself included, who could’ve been recruited in their “It’s On Us” projects. But did they reach out to us? Nope. They decided a couple straight men wearing high-heels was enough.

While we’re on the subject, let’s talk about the inherent homophobia and transphobia of fraternity (and sorority) organizations. This is undoubtedly built into any single-gender organizations, whether it be an all-boys school or Boy Scouts, because there are assumptions involved in the creation of single-gender organizations.

Assumption one: everyone in the organization is heterosexual. This is changing in some areas, including the U of R, but select examples do not override the foundation they are built upon. Most fraternities still rigidly expect that “brothers” want to date/hook-up with/flirt with girls, not other men. And definitely not each other. If you need proof, just go to a fraternity/sorority mixer, where hook-up culture might as well be mandatory.

Assumption two: gender is a binary (boy or girl), a concrete, unchanging binary. What happens if someone in a fraternity comes out as trans, whether as a transwoman or as genderfluid/non-conforming? What happens? The fact that this is even a question to ask is itself transphobic; people should not have to be put in a position where their gender identity is a drawback or means of disqualification. Even if there are fraternities that have trans members (and I encourage you to try to find them, because I don’t know any on our campus), that doesn’t change the exclusionary nature of the fraternity. Fraternities perpetuate violence against trans people the same way they do so about women: through excluding them. Fraternities were founded before women were even allowed to go to most colleges. Why do you think sororities were created in the first place?

On the same token, why do you think multicultural fraternities and sororities were made? Fun fact: fraternities didn’t start accepting students of color until social pressure during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s made it unfashionable to discriminate based on race. While many fraternities have moved past this and now have a more diverse membership, at least at the U of R, that doesn’t mean as much as we think. The racist foundations become all too apparent when a brother starts to teeter into racist territory: silence. There is little public condemnation of racism in intra-fraternity cases. But post something critical about Greek life? Get ready for an influx of (mostly) white (mostly) middle-class straight people hell-bent on defending the poor, misunderstood frat bro.

Not all fraternities are racist, but yes all fraternities are founded on racism.

Not all fraternities are sexist, but yes all fraternities are founded on sexism.

Not all fraternities are homophobic, but yes all fraternities are founded on homophobia.

Not all fraternities commit sexual assault, but yes all fraternities play into sexual assault culture.

Not all fraternities are bad, but yes all fraternities can be better.

If we can’t even admit the problems with our foundations, how can we ever hope to fix them?