A Woman's Place QUESTIONING PARADIGMS OF FEMININITY IN THE SORORITY SYSTEM by Chris Bunn photos by Heather McMahon image manipulation by Michelle Fields Gendered systems in our society function to arrange the chaos of everyday life into a meaningful, ordered cosmos. Gender informs individuals about their lives, roles, interactions, and positions within our hierarchical world. This ordered, gendered world can be distended, lopsided, and unkind, but without these categories and the expectations of gender systems, most would admit that it would be much harder to find meaning and purpose in our lives. Many institutions offer differing definitions of femininity and create conflicting expectations for the conduct of a "proper woman." The family, the state, the academy, and the sex industry all create images of the ideal woman: mother, confidante, sex kitten, concubine, servant, nurturer. These conflicting images are incorporated into individual minds and actions in the form of a gender ideology. The nature of this ideology is explicitly social and shaped by men's expectations, women's competition with each other, and by women's individual opinions and prejudices. The complex nature of this system makes it difficult if not impossible to sort out the sundry definitions that institutions espouse. It is difficult to claim that one institution has more legitimacy to define the "real woman" when all of these institutions are part of everyone's life experience. Our own university is home to several institutions that have their own ideas of the "ideal woman." Among such institutions are the Judiciary and Honor systems, the local chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW), and sororities. Each of these organizations contributes to our greater culture's expectation of femininity and exerts its influence by focusing on one particular aspect of womanhood and putting it ahead of others. Honor or Judiciary may focus on women's ethical values, and NOW may take activism and empowerment as core qualities, but with nearly one-third of the university undergraduate population self-selecting themselves for involvement in the sorority system, sororities offer one of the more prevalent versions of femininity to women at the university. To understand and attempt to define the gender ideology engendered by sororities, I examined several aspects of sorority life. I interviewed 25 sorority women, from 12 different houses, and we spoke about rush, initiation rituals, and pledge handbooks. Each woman gave interesting and somewhat conflicting messages about the expectations and conduct of sorority women. Before examining the conception of sorority rush and the ideas that rush emphasizes to potential members, an examination of the fraternity system's influence and the "rules" of social interaction is crucial. Most of the social activities available to sorority women are contingent upon the initiative of fraternities. Sororities are not allowed to have parties at their houses, nor are they permitted to purchase alcohol with sorority funds. Fraternities control the beer and the location of parties, and as a result they control a significant portion of sororities' social calendars. The system is set up such that sororities must wait for an invitation from a fraternity, and by the time rush rolls around current sorority members must be conscious of selecting members capable of raising or maintaining the status of the sorority within the system. Instead of fostering sisterhood and bonding, the rush process puts women in fierce competition with one another for membership. Fierce competition calls for fierce measures, and when self-selection of attractive potential members is on the line, sorority rush skits target sex and sexuality as selling points. One rush skit song, performed to the tune of "The Tracks of My Tears," goes like this: So take a good look around this place Phi Kap and Elmo, DKE and KA Even the SAE's that don't date, Love the girls of this place ... Some say that we're the life of the party, Always got a boy or two. Although there are other girls around, To us, the boys are true. Obviously the women who perform this song promise prospective pledges that if they join this sorority, fraternity men will fawn over them. If women participated in rush for themselves, why would there be a need to present themselves in a sexually attractive manner? Clearly, women are defining themselves and selecting pledges with the expectations of fraternity men in mind. By embracing these roles, women lose their status as individuals and become identified by their greek letters -- and, subsequently, as another piece of the sexual property pie. Former ISC President Stephanie Davis was quoted as saying, "It's scary, but women don't have the control here. Fraternities are defining us. That shouldn't be what we're about at all." The women who enter the sorority rush process are also keenly aware that attractiveness and beauty are standards on which they are judged. One athlete involved in rush claims she didn't mind having to leave crew practice early in order to participate in a long night of rush activities. For her the most bothersome part of the whole ordeal was having to learn to use a curling iron. Clearly, sororities are competing to attract women whom fraternity men find attractive. Because fraternities control social initiative within the fraternity-sorority system, sororities must select women who are deemed desirable by fraternity men if they want to remain socially active. As much as they long for reform, sororities are not in a position to disregard their reputation. Sororities that go against the grain and de-emphasize sexual attractiveness find it difficult to recruit new members, and membership numbers are essential to maintaining a national charter. Just ask the members of Alpha Chi Omega (ACW) whether their reputation had an effect on their recent recolonization. "You may have heard of us," said one U.Va. transfer student who recently returned to Wellesley College. "We're the 'ugly sorority.'" For several years, fraternity brothers from a house nearby shouted "fat" insults toward ACW as rushees entered the house. According to ACW Rush Consultant Jennifer Maude, the reason behind the chapter's recolonization was continually declining rush returns such that the sorority could not sufficiently sustain its ranks. The national organization got involved and re-invented the local ACW chapter. The "old" sisters were given alumnae status, and the sorority re-formed with a new group of women. Fraternities' view of ACW as the "fat sorority" led to deplorable practices. Certain fraternities would invite ACW sisters over with the expressed interest of hooking up with fat women. First the fraternity would inform their pledges that hooking up was expected, and all brothers would place a two dollar bet on who could hook up with the fattest woman. The money would be pooled into a "dogfight" fund, and the pledges were informed that the brother who hooks up with the ugliest girl, as determined by the brotherhood, would receive the money. Alcohol would then be served, and at the next pledge meeting the winner would be awarded. The fraternity-spawned reputation of ACW as a "fat sorority" limited its external social calendar to degrading practices. As a result, women stopped attending social events, and fraternities eventually stopped inviting them over. Decreased social activity subsequently decreased the number of new sorority pledges. The national organization soon realized that ACW was failing to attract new members and that their social calendar was lacking. Each of the current sisters was interviewed -- some were allowed to stay; others were asked to leave. When one particularly active member was asked why she had been asked to leave, her response was "I guess I wasn't pretty enough." Former ISC President Stephanie Davis was quoted at the time as saying, "The women in the new Alpha Chi Omega are intelligent and involved in the university; they are also beautiful. It's not a coincidence." Clearly, fraternity views and the national sorority's views of ACW led to the disbanding of the sorority, irrespective of the quality of the relationships within the sisterhood. The rechartering of ACW and the emphasis on sexual attractiveness within sorority rush demonstrates that women within the sorority system must conform to male-defined roles of "woman." But sorority initiation rituals and pledge handbooks stress almost dichotomous expectations of women. All of the women I interviewed confided that their national initiation rituals required them to dress in all white, focusing on qualities of purity and rebirth. But the secret initiation rituals into fourth-year drinking societies were very different. It is important to note that no sorority requires women to participate in rituals like the one about to be described. These rituals are not sanctioned by the sorority, and membership into these drinking societies is completely voluntary. Many of the drinking society rituals require that the women first become completely intoxicated. After these women have attained a sufficient state of inebriation, they are asked by the woman running the ritual (referred to as the "Madame") to remove their bras and undergarments, and place them on the outside of their clothing. The Madame then feeds the women involved certain types of food, requiring these women to stuff their clothing with this food. For example, one girl was fed circus peanuts while alternately taking shots of liquor. Every time she was given a peanut, the Madame require her to say, "I love circus peanuts!" To which the Madame would inquire,"How much do you love circus peanuts?" to which "I want to fuck circus peanuts" was the appropriate and required response. In addition to eating and chanting about circus peanuts, this inductee was required to stuff her bra and panties (located on the outside of her clothing) with circus peanuts. When viewed from the outside, this individual had extremely accentuated hips and breasts and all the while was chanting "I love circus peanuts! I want to fuck circus peanuts!" Clearly, this ritual focuses on the breasts, hips, and "fucking" as important attributes of a woman. Referring to the leader of the ritual as a Madame conjures up thoughts of a brothel and focuses on the extreme sexual nature of the ritual. All members of the house, not just fourth years, participated in other rituals which emphasized the tie between sex and drinking. Many times these rituals would be held in the basements of fraternity houses, since sororities are not allowed to serve alcohol on their premises, and brothers would sit upstairs and eavesdrop. One particularly interesting ritual is referred to as "gavel" or "chaos" by several sororities. Basically, the ritual involves the women sitting around in a circle, becoming incredibly intoxicated and telling stories about other sorority sisters involving "hooking up." "Awards" for most frequent hook-up, most consistent male hook-up, and slyest hook-up while seriously dating someone are given at these events. The message that is gleaned from these rituals is that femininity and sex are tied intimately to alcohol, and that a high frequency of sexual encounters ought to be celebrated. An exploration of several aspects of the sorority system clearly shows that the collective gender ideology within the system is contradictory and at times dangerous. The emphasis placed on purity and complacency in the national initiation ritual seems at odds with the emphasis on sexuality and drinking as associated with the secret rituals. Clearly this system is looking for a way to define itself as attractive to men and to the national chapter, while giving its members sexual freedom. These dichotomous roles also exist within the culture at large. As already mentioned, women must act as both nurturers and sex-kittens. Until women begin to define themselves outside of the expectations of men, dichotomies such as those exemplified by the sorority system cannot help but continue to exist. Author's note: I am forever indebted to Vienna Wilson. Much of my research is a fleshed-out version of her article, "Sorority Rush: Dance of Desire," which originally appeared in Iris. The quotes for Stephanie Davis and the song lyrics are taken directly from the article.

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