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Originally posted by Wolfman
A lot of the comments are a bit too thin-skinned! I actually read the book...
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I did, too, and I'm the first to defend the news media when they report a hazing incident-- they're not sensationalizing it by reporting that on X date, members of ABC GLO forced their new members to (Fill in hazing example here). Quote from parent, quote from faculty, quote from nationals. Print.
However, this book is compilation of anonymous sources. I'm sorry, but in the sorority world, we aren't so top secret that we need to have a series of "Deep Throat" sources to leak information...
Her book is written as narrative and then she chases some urban myths out and explores them with out-of-date texts and more anonymous interviews. That's not effective reporting-- that's yellow journalism. I can't trust her sources if she doesn't cite them.
I do feel like the "narrative fiction" portion could be true-to-life on any college campus where women are living together in a sorority house or in a residence hall... girls sitting around talking, going to parties and enjoying being in college doing the stupid things that college "kids" tend to do.
But to pin the blame on Greeks for all college society ills is neither academic nor scientific nor statistically correct. Drugs/alcohol, hazing, body image problems, rape, etc., exist on all levels. Greeks are an elite society-- we should hold ourselves to a higher standard, yes, but we aren't the cause of these issues and a book of anonymous claims shouldn't make them appear legitimate to the common public as the Greek Community's fault.