That's exactly how some feminists view it. There are different waves of feminism, and feminists with different views, for a reason.

That goes with the notion that there isn't one way that women should act. If some women want to act wild at parties and participate in themes that others deem degrading, those women are not automatically lacking self-esteem or anti-feminist, especially if they consider themselves knowledgeable and willing participants of a consenting age.

Did I and would I ever attend those parties? No, I think they're stupid for a number of reasons. But, I do plenty of other things that some women and men consider non-womanly/non-feminine and some feminists consider non-feminist.

I will say that the one time I went to a "pimps and hos" or anything slightly related mixer (I forget exactly what we called it), it was with a fraternity we were all very familiar and comfy with. I'm pretty sure no one would have done it with a group we were unsure of or didn't know well. And when I look back on it...we really weren't wearing any less than we usually did (maybe we piled on the makeup a bit) or behaving any differently.

The time I think this is v.v. bad is when a sorority or fraternity suggests this theme with a group that they feel they were "lucky" to get a mixer with...that is above them in the social pecking order...so they can have somewhat of an excuse for behaving, well, like pimps and/or hos.

We didn't have the concept of Pimps and Hoes when I was an active, but this just seems to me to be an excuse to dress up and have some fun. Albeit, in a tasteless and stupid format.

I think that the idea of 'Comfy' is important here. When you share hours and days with people doing things like tying crepe paper to chicken wire and getting those awful cuts, then they become very human to you and the organizations tend to grow closer together, (which is the whole point, of course). I think that these types of groups can have fun at this kind of party, which would be inappropriate or even dangerous in other circumstances.

Recently, I was looking through some old albums and found two parties that we had years ago. One was a Roaring '20's theme, much like the KT/ZBT party on Greek. The girls dressed like flappers which meant short dresses and too much makeup. The other was a Pajama Party where some of the women wore baby dolls and some wore flannel. They felt at ease dressing like this in our house because they trusted us, so we all had a great time and got some good memories. They were Comfy with us.

Totally missed this reply, hence my tardy for the party reply.

I think it is really interesting you labeled this as feminism, since I never used that word.

What I'm getting at is the endless statements and complaints coming from Greek women about how we're stereotyped and not taken seriously by outsiders and our own kind. In this forum there's a thread titled "Under Attack Again" and other posts are about bad PR, image issues, and so on. If I'm going to respond to your statements and include feminism, I'm going to go with feminism not being part of contradictory actions and behavior. I take issue with the contradictory behavior of Greek women, unaffiliated (your GDI) women and their behavior aren't my concern since they aren't sorority members.

If as sorority women we want to shake off the stereotypes, and actually be about what we say we're about (values, aims, educating women, bettering the world, etc.) we can't get butt hurt when we put ourselves in positions opposed to what we say. Many young women have issues with sex, relationships, feeling as if they are being taken seriously, confidence, life in general and supposedly sororities were founded as a place for women to better our lives. I have yet to see how a theme party where we're hoes has power, freedom, or lacking sexual inhibition. For one we're mocking women who actually do that for a living, by choice or not, and I don't see any power, freedom or letting go of sexual inhibition can come from a party organized by men and held in their home. We still don't have power and a few hours on a Saturday night with a keg of Natty Light in a basement isn't loosening sexual inhibitions. We'd be able to be who we want to be whenever we want and involve men on our terms, not theirs.

I also find other theme parties in poor judgment, anything that can subjugate, demean, or demoralize a group of people. White trash, NASCAR, Gangsta, Luau, Fiestas, all have or have the potential to go poorly, and take us right back to my original point. Contradictory. Let's spend Saturday doing philanthropy for say, a local agency that helps people of a lower socioeconomic status or for an agency that helps people who have been the victims of sexual or domestic violence, then stereotype them in a costume that night. We're not doing ourselves any favors and complain about it, yet we as Greeks keep doing it.


My response to Kevin above is about him bringing up feminism. It isn't even about feminism for me, it is about a group of adults making a choice and then complaining when that choice has negative results (sorority sluts) and complaining about said stereotype. I'm of the feminist idea where you can do whatever the hell you want but you need to own it, it being behavior, ideas, life choices, whatever. I have a lot of respect for people who choose to be sex workers, choose being important here, and think as a costume it isn't respectful of those women. I didn't even get into the racial and economic issues surrounding sex work, but those exist below the surface of this issue.

I never went to those parties either. Usually a theme wasn't even an issue for me finding it distasteful, but more along the lines of a party not being worth my time if it required a theme to make people be interested.

Believe it or not, sadly this story now seems to have a new life:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/01...-is-pointless/