Do Fraternities Deserve Their Bad Reputations?
 

Interesting article from foxnews.com....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119662,00.html

Good article . . .

What comedian is it that says we live in a time where America has become Feminized? Where sensitivity has become more important than truth and where being a man is actually something we should apologize for?

I think to pin this on feminism in general is reaching.

I think that it was ridiculous of these particular women, however, to degrade fraternity and sorority members for coming to the rally (although, on some campuses, TBTN is limited to women only in order to provide a "safe space" -- but that doesn't seem like the case here). I'd be thrilled if a bunch of fraternity men showed up at a Take Back the Night rally. Like the article says, these are the exact men that you hope to be reaching with stuff like this. As long as they're there to be supportive, I think it's great.

The other side of the argument, though, is that statistics show that fraternity men are involved in rapes and sexual assaults at a higher rate than non-Greek men. So I don't think you can say that the "frat boy" stereotype has NO merit. But at the same time, it's pretty clear that fraternity members aren't the only men out there capable of rape, so I'm not sure why they should be targeted in this case -- especially when they showed up to the rally.

Attitudes like those cited in the article are one of the main reasons why so many women who subscribe to a lot of the tenets of TRUE equity feminism (i.e., equal pay, equal opportunities) are so reluctant to call themselves feminists.

Feminism is supposed to be about lifting women up, not pushing men (or those deemed sympathetic to men) down and stepping over them.

Ditto.

Although I call myself a feminist, I can understand the issues with it. But as one of my professors said, "If the average woman who is for equal rights is scared to call herself a feminist because she doesn't want to be associated with the stereotypical feminist image (man-hating lesbian who doesn't shave her legs, etc.) , then the stereotype of feminism will never change."

A lot of these particular type of feminists are great about attacking stereotypes about women, but they don't seem to be able to look beyond the surface of the frat boy/sorostitute stereotypes (among others) which leads to a lack of credibility, IMO.

Wow, I am so impressed by this article, I wanted to gag!:eek:

Maybe I am missing something here by the disjointedness of Fraternalism and Feminism:confused:

But, that might just be me!:rolleyes:

The comedian you're thinking of is Bill Maher.

I thought it was a great piece. Don't dare complain about this one - how long dis we ask for positive press? I'm shocked that anyone would be willing to say that this was the wrong kind of positive.

Keep in mind, it is written by someone who is a feminist. Like her point about Take Back the Night, this article is a call to other feminists saying "Hey, why make these guys our enemies when they can be our greatest alies?"

The point about dissent was my favorite. In that, feminism and fraternity are very similar.