Cosmo Girl Article
 

Apparantly there's a four page article in this month's Cosmo Girl magazine about a former Tri Delta new member at a Lousiana college who was a risk management problem from day one. The article is supposedly about how she went out one night drinking and was drugged and woke up without underwear on and doesn't know what happened.... and the Sigma Nu's taped the whole thing.

I haven't read the article, one of my sisters who has read it relayed this info to me. Has anyone read the actual article?

Unfortunately the article includes pictures of her and the house on bid day and mentioned the Tri Delta letters prominently :(

Like I said, i haven't read the whole article, but it sounds like a bad seed new member had something bad happen to her and has stirred up some problems.

I haven't read it either.. although it is real interesting timing.. considering a lot of schools have rush in August/September.

Especially if the incident had nothing to do with the fact that she was pledging Tri Delts. That's just undeserved crappy PR for the chapter and national group. They're supposedly one of the top chapters on that campus too.

Nice timing on the article Cosmo Girl. I am going to read it later.

I just read the article. The sorority is featured prominently in a photo of the sisters and five foot tall letters. The woman is not sure what happened. She either drank too much and passed out or was drugged and raped. She woke up in a guys room naked from the waist down and was sick. He drove her home. She didn't go to the doctors or the police to collect evidence. One month later, she was brought in front of their standards board and questioned about what happened that night. She didn't remember. She had been suspended previously for giving another guy oral sex in a bathroom. They revoked her sorority membership.

The police got involved because she might have been videotaped. It is illegal to videotape lewd acts in her state. They couldn't see her on the videotape though. The guy was arrested and spend one night in jail, but charges were dropped since the videotape revealed nothing.

This article really doesn't paint the sorority in a bad light. They just seemed unsympathetic to her situation. I feel sorry for her. She doesn't know what happened that night and never will. This article was sort of a cautionary tale. Don't drink too much. Don't accept drinks from men. If you wake up in a strange place and naked, go to a hospital to determine if you were sexually assaulted.

The article is not available online at the cosmogirl website.

I just don't get why they had to include her letters at all. The story was about a girl who made a mistake on her own terms. She got too drunk and it was her choice not to go to the hospital. It has nothing to do with TriDelta. But, CosmoGirl still decided to include a picture of her letters as if to say this is what happens when you join a sorority. :rolleyes:

I agree ZTAngel. I intentionally excluded the letters from my post because I think that the fact that she was in a sorority is irrelevant.

Anyone?
 

What is the name of the article?

Real Life Story: "One Night of Partying Ruined My Reputation"

I think the fact that she was in a sorority was irrelevant, and the fact the guy she was with was in a fraternity was not the point either.
I think this is a really bad portrayal of greek life. No fault of the people involved. But why is greek life featured so prominently in this article? The main photo is of this girl taking a shot, with her former sisters, one wearing her lavalier. The next page is the girl with her sisters doing a pyramid with their letters. And another of her scrapbook featuring drinking! Yet the article has nothing to do with greek life. It has to do with one students bad choices.
I don't think it reflects badly on the org that is featured. This is subtle hit towards greek life in general.

I do feel sorry for her because she had to resign. Her actions were sketchy, probably more to the story than is told in the article. And I wonder if she knew what type of article they were going to write?

Thanks:)

If it turns out she had sex, would that mean she was raped?

If someone drugged her and had sex with her, that means that she was raped.

I'd say if someone had sex with her, period, she was raped.

Most states have little-known laws regarding intoxication and consent. In Virginia, for example, after the legal limit of intoxication, a person can't give their consent.

You said the article mentioned the sorority...but did it mention which fraternity?

That law is stupid. What happens if the girl does give consent and she is drunk? Does that mean it doesn't count? What if the guy is also drunk? Does that mean she raped him?

Yes, it did.

Let me be absolutely sure I understand the dynamics here.

There is an "after the fact" picture of this woman and her former sisters drinking a shot, at least one of whom was wearing letters? Another picture, certainly supplied by someone (if not shot by the mag for the article) of members of the chapter doing a pyramid with their letters. And, then, there are pictures from this woman's scrapbook?

What kind of dumb is that? On her part, and on the part of the other sisters?

Even if the pics were staged, why would they go along with it? If they were existing, why would she/they allow the magazine access to them?

Hell, the pictures help define the content of the article! If the magazine published the article with those pictures and DIDN'T mention the sorority involvement, everyone would (and rightfully so) be on their case for leaving out that part of the story.

Had the pictures not had any Greek reference, there is a chance that there would be no mention of it.

Folks, we simply MUST learn to understand that a reporter will (must) tell the story that is presented to him/her. If the "art" (pictures or video tape) includes clear references to the sorority, that will be part of the story.

Always.

There really is no other choice.

If the alleged incident had happened at a Library Club meetingl (informal or otherwise), that would be mentioned as well.

The article is apparantely unfortunate for the sorority and chapter, but if they aren't smart enough to distance themselves, they can't cry foul after the fact.

Because the sorority kicked her out and she is bitter, so she's not going to do anything to protect the chapter as far as their nationals getting on their case about drinking. The "pyramid" pic has black eye-bars over all the sisters except the girl the article's about. So I'm guessing that none of them consented to being in the article. The one w/ the girls doing a shot zooms in on the lavalier and where it hangs :) more than any women's mag needs to.

The sorority came off as unsympathetic bitches, but she also came off as a stupid drunk. Yay for equal opportunity! I agree that if the mag really wanted to tell an effective "don't let this happen to you" story, they would have skipped things that didn't need to be there (like the pyramid pic). Sassy used to have a feature called "It Happened To Me" that dealt with this type of thing in a much less exploitative way.

It will be interesting to see if there are any repercussions for that chapter.

Delt Alum I agree the pictures make the article. And it seems that all of these pictures came from the girl's scrapbook. All of the pictures have bars over the eyes, except for the girl.
Most girls who read this magazine will only skim the article. And if pictures are what they go by, it is all about greek life. Most all the pictures have symbols of her sorority in them.
But the article is about her bad choices. Not how bad greek life is. The sorority is mentioned because she was asked to resign, due to her bad decisions.
And between the article and the pictures, this article made everyone involved look bad.
I think it is just a crap article. Wouldn't be so damaging without those pics plastered across the pages. But the article really doesn't get to the point. It seems to me that it was just exploitive of the girl. (she probably had no clue what was going to happen when she agreed to this article). But this was CosmoGirl. I shouldn't expect great journalism from them. Just cute ads.:rolleyes:

I've actually never even heard of the magazine.

My impression, because it talks about drinking shots with her former sisters, was that the picture was taken by the magazine after the fact. If that's not the case it makes a difference.

In any event, it sounds like you're right -- she had no idea of the outcome and ramifications of the article.

I have read the article and seen the pictures which look like they could have come from the woman's scrapbook, not the sorority itself. They look like the types of photos that you take just hanging out except for the one with the letters.

While all of this is interesting reading, when will someone post a link to it!????:(

Just because it is print, with photos, or on the TV Media, I am sure DeltaAlum being in a media can point out a lot of things as he tried to do!

What you read, see or hear aint always the truth! The Print Media has a great way of doing it especially with out of context photos!:mad:

This type of Yellow Journalism if it may very well be is How Do I Put This Nicely: F**CKING B S!:mad:

Unfortunately the article is not posted on Cosmo Girls's website. Right now, it seems the only way to read the article is to get the magazine.

Let's all write letters to the editor blasting them!

I am LMAO at the idea of Tom Earp and DeltAlum strolling down to the local newsstand and flipping through CosmoGirl and getting some VERY strange looks.

The pics were definitely ones from her scrapbook, not posed or done by a professional.

Yeah, that thought is pretty funny. Think I'll pass...

I am still pondering on the idea of skulking into a shop and reading it! So There!:o

That would be funny.

While I hate these crappy magazines...I couldn't resist. I wanted to read the article so I sucked up my pride and bought the magazine.

I thought the article was stupid.

The girl gets called to standards board for performing oral sex in a bar bathroom. Alright, I can appreciate the difficulties of standards board, I was a member of my chapters. It's not an easy job, and I do think this is an offense that can have some brought to standards board. It is behaviour unbecoming a lady. However, this girl claims that she was foreced into performing oral sex after a guy followed her into the bathroom.
Why didn't she scream, call for help? Get a bouncer, was she alone in the bathroom?? I highly doubt that there were no other girls walking in an out of there. If she was forced. why didn't she get a bouncer afterwards? Why didn't she go to the police. She claims she wasn't drunk so I am assuming that she had her full faculties.

Secondly, she wakes up half naked in a guys apartment and she doesn't think to tell anyone what happened. A friend, one of her sisters, a doctor, the police.

I don't know what really happened, but it seems to me this girl lacks some serious self-respect and judgment.

Damn, got to get this magazine!:)

It sounds tot-asslly BS!

God Snoop Dawg on the case!:cool:

IRONIC!
 

I am baffled! The title of the article is "One Night of Partying Ruined My Reputation." Well, that is BS! Her reputation was ruined when she admitted to having oral sex in the bar restroom. It wasn't just 'one night or partying'. The girl had an image problem. I admire the ladies of Tri Delta for giving her a chance after her first episode and then asking her to resign after the second incident. She was not representing their sorority well. Another mind boggling characteristic of CosmoGirl's onesided approach to making the Greek System look bad is the fact that she did not go to the emergency room after she 'woke up' and thought herself to have been 'raped' and/or 'drugged'. Any girl in her right mind would have done that first and foremost. It is just way too blatently obvious that she used the terms 'drugged' and 'raped' to save face and her reputation. Trashing the sorority and the boy's fraternity is a low blow. There are better ways to go about getting help, something she is definately in need of.

Re: IRONIC!
 

As a Tri Delt I'm obviously not thrilled with the article or the way my sorority is treated in it, but as a woman who has had multiple friends deal with rape or sexual assault, I can tell you that many, many women who are raped or think they MIGHT have been raped would be hesitant to go to the emergency room.

I agree with y'all that there was no reason for the sorority name to be in this article, but I think that condemning her for lying about the fact that she might have been raped when we know almost none of the facts of the situation is the wrong thing to do.

I read it in line at the grocery store a few days ago. I also believe that the fact that she was in a sorority AT ALL had nothing at all to do with what happened to her. It was a pretty terribly written article.

FYI, Wyman, authorities estimate that the majority of rape victims never go to the doctor or police afterwards.

I agree, Tri Delta had nothing to do with the article. It was just another way to bash greeks.

I do have serious questions about her judgment though. Not about her waking up half naked in some guys bed...because I can't say for sure what happened. I wasn't there. For all we know she was drugged and raped...and Munchkin03 is right, there are many women who don't see a doctor or go to the police after a rape. They feel ashamed, they feel that no one will believe them or they feel that it was their fault. There are many reason why women don't seek the help they need.

But as for this girl in the article, I have a problem with her bathroom oral sex story. She says she was forced, but no where in the article (and I am assuming that she is telling her story to the writer) does she say that she feared for her life, or that this guy had a weapon, or he threatened to ruin her life by telling people, or something like that. She admits that she was sober. So, for me it raises some serious questions about her judgement or the lack of it.

ETA: Although, who really knows, it seems that this was a very onesided article, and didn't provide any postive aspects on this girls life at college.