"Sisterhood Is Powerful" by Prudence Mackintosh (Texas Monthly, Sept. 1976)
 

Found this online at Google Books—interesting read. The sidebar, "That Certain Look," is a hoot.

http://books.google.com/books?id=vyw...page&q&f=false

Fabulous!

I remember that article still circulating when I was in high school in the late 80s and I still hear alums of various sororities today talk about how it shaped the perceptions of "must have" houses across Texas schools for a couple of generations of PNMs.

I have a copy of the original from Texas Monthly. It's hysterical! The authir is a Kappa.

That's a great article, and exactly the kind of expose that recent knob failed miserably at. But reading the rest of the magazine was also really interesting. The political sex scandals, de-regulate oil, and all the alcohol ads!

It would be very interesting if that woman (still with us?) could go back and view rush in the new millennium. Some things have changed considerably, but a fairly remarkable amount hasn't. What would she say now?

I was panhellenic advisor to the Alpha Gam chapter at Texas A&M when that article was published. I remember it (the article) well.

Wow, "That Certain Look"...ouch.

I've definitely read that article before and it's interesting to see how much things changed on college campuses in such a short amount of time.

"That Certain Look" was pretty funny to me...more so the fashions than the descriptions of the sororities. No one would dare think of publishing something like that now!:eek:

I know what she would say because we exchanged emails a few months ago. She said, "Thank God that I only had sons."

Texas Monthly continues to be a fascinating read and the topics don't seem to change all that much - maybe more articles about football and plastic surgery. Lots more articles about football.

They have published a couple of other articles that reference Greek life since that one in the 70s. One in the late 90s that was either Texas Monthly or D Magazine had a huge ripple effect that I still hear brought up by older alumnae. The basic premise was that there were 3 or 4 sororities worth joining at schools like UT or SMU and if you didn't get into those houses, you might as well transfer or admit that you had ruined the rest of your life. I still remember walking into an alumnae meeting at our house at SMU with women clutching copies of it, outraged.

But yeah, recruitment continues to be a spectator sport down here - I get asked about how certain chapters did during recruitment each year at some of our schools by people who themselves were never Greek and who did not even attend the schools in question.

It's a great article, because it is so balanced. She talks about reasons it was great, and reasons it wasn't, and really captures what it is like to be 18.

Also, great use of "bless her heart" in the side bar. It cracks me up every time!

Ok, I posted another Texas Monthly article, (this time about fraternities at UT) without fully reading it. Once I did, it was so horrifying and offensive that I took it down.

Offensive, in the descriptions of fraternity functions. Likely those descriptions were true, which makes them more offensive.

Back to Prudence Macintosh - she wrote another great article about the summer camps in Texas. I know we've discussed it here, but it's a BIG thing here in Texas. An oldie but goodie...

http://books.google.com/books?id=gCw...mystic&f=false

I just sent this article to my daughter who is at UT now. We were both AMAZED at how little has changed in 40+ years, especially the desired high schools and the "camp" factor.
We do wonder which chapters were there at that time..the author says there were 20. There are 14 now...anyone know??

Would love to read that article Shirley..can you PM it to me??

Gamma Phi Beta was there (mentioned in one of the photos). I'll go run find it on the other thread.

ETA: I only count 17...

University of Texas
Austin, TX
August 17-23, 2011
Quota=55+9
Campus Total=
Quota last year=45+8
***************
Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Xi 1902
Pi Beta Phi Texas Alpha 1902
Kappa Alpha Theta Alpha Theta 1904
Chi Omega Iota 1904
Alpha Delta Pi Delta 1905 (92)
Zeta Tau Alpha Kappa 1906 (67)
Delta Delta Delta Theta Zeta 1912 (65)
Phi Mu Phi 1913-1965
Alpha Phi Omega 1920 (70)
Phi Sigma Sigma Tau 1920-1933
Kappa Delta Sigma Epsilon 1921-1934/1981 (81)
Gamma Phi Beta Alpha Zeta 1922-1988
Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Phi 1924
Delta Zeta Alpha Tau 1924-1977
Alpha Epsilon Phi Omega 1925 (67)
Alpha Xi Delta Beta Alpha 1929-1943/1963
Delta Phi Epsilon Chi 1934-1990
Delta Gamma Beta Eta 1939 (69)
Sigma Delta Tau Tau 1939
Alpha Gamma Delta Epsilon Delta 1940-1996
Alpha Omicron Pi Pi Kappa 1941-1973

Weird, she also talks about houses being shuttered in the late 60's...I don't see any?

I don't think that GPB was there as late as 1988. In twenty years I've never met an alum past the 70s and we've always been told the house closed "around 1980". It had been dominant several years when I pledged in 1990.

The dates aren't completely accurate. Alpha Gam closed in the early 70's and recolonized in the 80's, making that end date of 1988 correct.

Our Alpha Zeta chapter was closed in February 1988.

I love Prudence McIntosh. She wrote "The Southern Belle Primer, or Why Princess Margaret will never be a Kappa Kappa Gamma" Such a funny, witty, book about Southern women. She even goes into how Southern women talk about each other. Precious and darling being best and sweet at the bottom of the barrel. I have heard her speak several times. She is hysterical.

I remember this article very well. It did cause a big rumble around here and still felt somewhat today, although I don't think as much anymore.

We were always told that it closed around 1980 and that's what I've heard from Alpha Zeta alums as well. But I'm looking at our local area strip list and see initiates from 1987 on it so I've learned something new today!

Actually, I believe Marilyn Schwartz wrote that book: http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Belle.../dp/0385416679

Prudence wrote "Just As We Were A Narrow Slice of Texas Womanhood" which is a collection of these essays...the UT sorority one, the camp one I mentioned, etc...

http://www.amazon.com/Just-As-We-Wer...6138391&sr=1-1

Both hilarious reads!

You are so right! It is Marilyn Schwartz I heard speak. Both very funny women with a great sense of humor. I do get them confused.

Just ordered both! I love Southern literature!

While "The Southern Belle Primer" is a fun and quick read, I'd consider William Faulkner, Harper Lee, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Southern literature. "The Southern Belle Primer" is as much Southern literature as "The Preppy Handbook" was for New England lit. :D

I guess "literature" is the wrong word..however, I trust that you knew what I meant....:D I appreciate the links Shirley!!

What a neat article. I had to laugh at the "pledge an ugly girl, but for God's sake, don't pledge a nymphomaniac" line.

I for one, wish someone would actually revisit this article for Texas Monthy on the notion of how things change, but somethings stay the same. The classic "Big 6" may still be a force at UT, but the descriptions have certainly changed and from my observations, some houses love talking the big 6 talk, but don't really represent the image presented back when the article was written. (Although the High Schools and Camps may be important...the type of girl they are cranking out is very different...therefore making the chapters very different) Many people on GC say the Big 6 will always have influence on rush at UT but the fact remains if someone would actually write an article on how the houses really are today, maybe, just maybe UT rush could become a better experience because girls aren't made to believe what is not true. And then we can spend the next 30 years talking about that article.

Amen!!

I'll second that!!

If you love Southern literature - and yes, I know what you mean ;) - I recommend three of her other books. “Thundering Sneakers”, “Retreads” and “Sneaking Out”. All are quite funny.

It's not Retards! It's Retreads!:eek:

And I'm getting her trilogy for Zeta Daughter's MIL, who has 5 sons. It's incredibly funny!:)

My apologies. :o

Enjoy!

Yep...definitely not "literature"!

You're welcome!

If you've read Texas Monthly in the last 15-20 years, you'll understand that they wouldn't touch these with a 10 foot pole anymore. While I love Prudence's writing, TM wouldn't dare publish such a puff piece these days. The article that I started to link (an expose' into the fraternities and their hazing and image problems) is the sort of thing they'd be after. Not to say that Texas Monthly is all negative (I'm a 20 year subscriber) but they'd be looking for the story within the story these days.

/slightly off topic/


I used to buy TM because I really did enjoy the articles - they were fairly balanced and well written.

I've stopped buying TM because over the last few years the mag has turned to having more ads and fewer articles. I mean, for a while it seemed they were doing a Texas Super Lawyers spread every month!

So now I don't buy it unless there is an article I really want to read.

/back to topic


I enjoyed the Mackintosh article. I had heard about the UT "Big Six" but never knew the exact chapters.

I do recall reading somewhere about Kay Bailey Hutchinson doing something, and the person replied, "Are you surprised, she was a Pi Phi from UT." Now I know why that statement was said. :p

SO true! They're smart as a fox to create ways to make money, but it is annoying. I've (mentally) threatened to cancel my subscription on several occasions, but there's always at least one good article each month and that keeps me going...

The problem with the current PNMs reading this article today (and it comes up pretty quickly on any search for UT sororities) is that it is a catalyst for some disappointing recruitments. Is it not human nature to not want to be the girl with the gold bangle? But the article does not paint the picture of UT sororities today. When the Texas Legislature passed the Top 10% rule and then later revised that specifically targeting UT and tightening the auto admit numbers to a percentage that would be 75% of the entering freshman class (8% for the Class of 2015 and 9% for the class of 2016) it dramatically shifted the pool of girls that attend UT, and therefore shifted the dynamic of the PNMs. It was not good enough to be a top notch cheerleader, active volunteer and average student. You needed to be academically superior…top 10% to even get a date to the big dance. Houses that continue to target ABC High School, can still get the cheerleaders, debs and dancers from that school if the girl was in the top 10% or was granted admission from holistic review. But because of the top 10% rule, girls gaining admission on holistic review are down dramatically, and without stereotyping, most girls that are top 10% are a mix of every type of extracurricular out there. But my point is that fabulous HS ABC is not sending their entire cheer squad to UT and they are certainly not sending all the debs either. Because of this, the typical “look” that used to come from these schools has shifted and therefore the culture and “look” of each house (all houses, Big 6 included) has changed.

UT has attracted dynamic and deep resume loaded women who can’t be forced into a mold. But when PNMs go through recruitment with this article in mind and with posts on GC that the Big 6 are still in play (and of course they are still in play, but in no way do they resemble the stereotypes in this article) they have a twisted sense of what they think the perfect sorority will be. (And we all know no house is perfect)

So Suzy PNM pledges a Big 6 only to find out that her “must have Big 6” is on academic probation and their social calendar is highly restricted because the chapter GPA is bottom of the barrel. (She is shocked because how can a Big 6 have one of the lowest GPAs??) She has never read about that, but like I said, the rules have changed, but no one is willing to talk about that…it just seems so easy to talk about the way it used to be. And then Amy PNM also pledges her “must have Big 6” only to find out that this group of women who on paper are class acts (you know they were all raised that way…) behave in ways that embarrass her and in a million years she just can’t figure out how that can be. Then Brooke PNM who followed her heart and was not pressured to believe the Big 6 is all that and a bag of chips; finds a true sisterhood, in an academically excellent chapter and loves that her house focuses on excellence instead of slamming everyone else to appear better. No one can say one house is better than the other. To PNMs perception is reality until they get inside and realize some of this just a mirage.

A writer who is willing to get down and dirty about UT recruitment will find some Big 6 houses rely on their reputations and age old descriptions of who they are….or maybe who they wish they were, while other Big 6 chapters are far better than that TM article says they are. And for the houses that aren’t even mentioned, as if they don’t deserve a column inch, that is where much of the treasure of UT is buried.

Very well stated. I find here in Texas some of the stereotypes for some schools (UT, Tech, TCU, SMU) run deep and ancient. I remember being in high school and told which sororities were "acceptable" when I was 14 or 15 - not by older girls, but by women in their 30s, 40s, 50s. There seems to be a lot of "living in the past" but some of these women wield a LOT of influence over the PMNs (and more so, their mothers) with the insistence that what sorority a woman ends up in will ultimately greatly affect her future ability to do well socially, romantically, and financially.

It did seem weird to me that there was almost no mention at all that there even WERE any other chapters. A person would have to read carefully to catch that, and the outsider would never guess that there were more than 15 chapters at the time of her experience and the time of writing. You might guess that there were 2 or 3 bottom of the barrel chapters, but 10?

The point is it is a very interesting, engaging story, and I'm sure the author never intended to insinuate there were only 6 chapters worth joining at UT. But because the article is so entertaining, that is what she inadvertently did.

And what fun is there in talking about the "Middle Six" that make quota every year, get the girls they want and don't have to live up to 50 year old reputations. It certainly wouldn't be an article worth discussing 30 years later. It would go something like this, 1000 girls went through rush. The Middle Six chapters worked very hard to prepare and spent hours and hours getting to know the girls going through rush. When the time came, some girls loved them, some girls hated them and some were just ok. They pledged 50 girls. The end. BORING. Or the story might describe how the Middle Six go through exactly the same hell the Big Six do, minus all the publicity. The End. BORING.