Pinning girlfriends? Opinions....
 

Alrite, I dont know how all GLO's or chapters do this but I'm curious what everyone's opinions are of a guy pinning his girlfriend. From how it works in my chapter when a guy wants to marry his girlfriend he gives his girlfriend a pika badge and puts it upon her, and then asks her to marry him. She can then wear his letters. Also, when he does this we get to haze the crap out of him (he's an active so dont give me any risk crap). What is everyone's opinion of pinning?

I never was a big fan of pinning girlfriends; my letters mean something to me, and I just don't think they'd mean as much to someone outside the fraternity. My whole opinion was that if I loved a girl enough, she would get a ring (and she did), not my letters.

To each their own though...I know people who have pinned or lavaliered girlfriends, and it meant a great deal to them to be able to do so.

I think it's a sweet gesture for the girl...

BUT...Active hazing is STILL hazing.....

I'm not a big fan of pinning. If you're someone who is pinned, good for you. I just think that your badge/letters are yours, not your girlfriends. I just think it's weird to see a girl walking around totally sporting someone's letters. It's even weirder when I see a greek woman wearing her bf's lavaliere/letters more than her own. Don't flame me, just my opinion :)

I'm pinned, and I love it, not due to that I get to wear his letters, but because of the significance :D

When my Teke pinned me it was completely unexpected since it is a very large step in the relationship. At his chapter it means that when you pin your girl she will recieve The Ring soon, or with his badge. So, it's only reserved for serious relationships.

I wear my letters w/his and whatnot. It's never been a big deal. Plus, during his rush it's good publicity for the guys if one of them has a hot fiance ;)

Oh...and when they pin here...the guy gets thrown in a lake (haha!) and the girl gets sung to!

--Kayla

Pinning is the precursor to engagement for my chapter. I never got around to it with my girlfriend. It's a nice gesture though.

As for the hazing issue, none of my business really, but if Pi Kappa Alpha has the same hazing policy that Sigma Nu does, then hazing can be done to actives, new members, whatever -- it doesn't matter.

I think pinning is a lost art, if you know what I mean. It was very common in the past, but I think it has been replaced with lavaliering to an extent. I think it would have meant alot more to me to be pinned by my Lambda Chi than being lavaliered was...I know how much his pin means to him, so it would have that kind of significance. A lavalier isn't really the same.

Pinning was MUCH bigger when I was in college -- and due to that may not have meant quite as much. It was still the last step before engagement.

Oh, hazing is hazing, whether you're an active or not. Numerous expamples of it, and resulting university actions, in the Risk Management forum -- many of them following lavalliering or pinning.

While pinning was not commonplace, it wasn't unheard of when I was in college. Mr. Angelove followed the standard sequence - first we were lavaliered, then pinned, then engaged (after I graduated from college). No hazing for the lavaliering, but he was out of college when we got pinned. I didn't get his real pin, just a recognition-type pin, but it was the act of pinning rather than the actual pin that was important. Pinning was just another step in the whole commitment process. We figured we would eventually get married, so we made it slightly more official than when we were lavaliered, but not so official that I picked out a wedding dress. Wearing each other's letters wasn't a big deal, since I was a little sister in his fraternity and he was one of our chapter's sweethearts (back in the olden days when that was okay) and we wore letters all the time.

Not with my chapter, BUT girls wearing fraternity greek letters is not uncommon at all.

Basically any girl that serves gets a lettered T-shirt - like I said before, my chapter is not that way, heck until we get our charter we can't even wear the greek letters!

I think the letters thing should be for brothers and engaged girls only.

Pinning to me is a BIG deal....I just hope I pin my girl before I graduate...

Can't wait...

http://www.sigmachi.org/images/discoverhome.jpg

Is there a policy against spamming for a GLO??

-Rudey

I agree. Why would you give away your letters like that? You are not wearing her letters are you?

I don't think anyone considered getting pinned "giving away your letters." It was more like sharing something very important to you with someone who was also very important to you.

In a more crass case, it was also kind of a status thing when one of the hottest women on campus was seen wearing your brother's or your badge. That was especially true when she wore it next to her pin from the "coolest" sorority on campus.

Well, I said it was crass -- at least the second paragraph.

I could be really wrong, but I have a feeling that when I was young "things" were more geared toward the romantic. My kids ran more in "groups" for dates, while in the 60's it was more one-on-one. There were things like "going steady" as well.

But, I could be wrong. Just the way it seems to me.

I think giving her your pledge pin is cool.

I agree with this. Would also like to add that I think it should go lavaleir (letters on a necklace, no shirt), and then if its really serious, give her your pledge pin/exchanging pledge pins (if she's a sorority girl) would be cool, because that's like your pledging your love to each other. I think only dreamgirls (sweethearts/little sisters/etc.) shoul recieve letter t shirts, unless the girl in question is a wife, fiance, sister, or mother to a Brother.

It's called brotherly love!

We didn't pin at my school, so maybe that's why I'm not a big fan. I have my own lovely lamp to wear; I don't want a boyfriend's pin. I'd feel weird about wearing a fraternity pin anyway, since obviously I wouldn't be a member. :p

What we did at my school was, guys would lavalier girls. I think lavaliering is great, but if I were ever lavaliered, I would proudly wear the lavalier but probably not letter shirts or anything. Here, a girl is entitled to wear the letters of the fraternity as well, but, well...I've got my own letters.

I like the idea behind pinning, though. The pledge pin thing is an interesting idea.

I like the idea of pinning... It's a very romantic gesture to someone you love...

I wish my boyfriend was a greek! :(

No, and I think the fact that my fiancee is an Alpha Phi made her understand my whole rationale. Her letters mean something special to her, and as she put it, "Why would I want your letters if I have my own?"

I can see other people's reasons for doing it...but it never was something I wanted to do. It has nothing to do with my feelings for my significant other...just my own beliefs.

You better hope Pike HQ feels the same way.

Several of my chapter sisters are pinned (mostly to SigEps, but also a SigTau) and none of the guys got hazed afterwards...it was like a big happy lovefest.

You mean hazing that anyone knows about.....

LOL, sorry GeekyPenguin, but that was the first thing that came to mind, i don't mean any bad feelings :)

i agree with SapphireSphinx9, i wish my boyfriend were greek because i think lavaliering/pinning is sweet....but a lot of hard work for the girls at my school because the girl pretty much has to be loved/adored/candidate for sweetheart of the decade, by all members of the brotherhood so that they can trust that she won't throw his pin in the crim dell when they have a tiff.

Don't worry about it and shut your mouths.

I'm not worried, my chapter doesn't haze. Headquarters do read GC though. :D

good...and mind your own business....

damn, someone's a little testy

Damn straight....It's a tradition to mess with the guy after he pins his girl, dont give me that hazing crap....

This is funny because Pike definitely wouldn't approve of that.

I'm not sure that fraternities at my school pin girlfriends, but I do know that they lavalier...they also give sweetheart status, but that's another story...

One of the fraternities here requires a majority vote, 3/4 actually, when a brother wants to lavalier his girlfriend. The other requirements are that the couple has to have been together for at least one year and each brother can only lavalier one girl in his entire life (with the exception of engagements, which are automatic lavalier).

Personally, I like this format of lavaliering because it shows that not only does the boyfriend care about his letters and about his girlfriend, but that the brothers support their relationship and also have a say in who can and cannot wear their letters....after all, the letters mean something to the rest of the brothers as well.

What does Pi Kappa Alpha mean? Oh yeah, u dont know, shut youre fat mouth!

Oh and are you a Pike? NOPE! You dont know how things go, so shut your mouth.....

She may not be a Pike. You are, even though your words indicate otherwise. You should break out the old G&G and read about how PIKES treat other people (under any circumstances including GC)...especially women. SLAG what?


I apologize to all on his behalf.

Hey, it's okay. Every organization has a bad apple, my own included. If he wants to brag about things his chapter does that we all know are against the rules, he can go right ahead.

No harm done. :)

I'm Eta Omicron's bad apple. :(

I haze all the other HOs!

I'm also sorry for that,

thermobryan, its hazing and we both know it. Maybe not bad hazing such as forcing a pledge to drink til he passes out but it is still hazing.

From what i am getting from this it would be just like a group of friends giving a friend greif over him being the one getting married and what not.

Um how to help this situation? welp i can't but i see both sides.

HO TELL EVERYBODY.

I'LL REACH UP IN THE SKY FOR THE HOZONE LAYER

HOS NEVER CLOSE, they open like hallways.

All right, first of all, this has yet again been taken out of hand....What we do is just give the guy crap about it, we dont make him do anything, jesus....when i said "haze the crap out of him" i didnt literally mean make him do stupid things, etc etc....I simply dont appreciate non-pikes telling me how I should be and how we should act, etc etc...I treat people (guy or girl) with as much respect as they earn....I know about the G & G and slag so dont stress....Sorry if i offended any of you ladies, jsut a really realy really bad day for me today....

And you dont need to apologize for me...phi phi bro

I think we should all use this as a lesson of how to state things on GC - we assumed the worst because we read horrible stories about guys getting Syran-wrapped to trees, having garbage (or Poo) thrown at them, getting forced to drink, etc...and that's not something that should go along with pinning (or any other Greek activity.)

But giving the guy crap? Yeah, we do that too. We're all good now.

So back to the HO.