Will the Greek world ever desegregate?

[FuzzieAlum]

Alias, you originally asked whether single-sex groups would open up to men and women, not why they wouldn't. My answer?

It's perfectly OK to discriminate on race - at least in the sense that it is legal in this country to form a private organization composed of only white persons or Asian persons or whatever race(s) you pick. Likewise, it is perfectly legal to form a group based solely on gender. (After all, we do have single-sex fraternities and sororities, the KKK, etc. ) I don't think it's necessary for any of these groups to justify their existence to outsiders, even ones like the KKK that I most decidedly do not like or support.

The question isn't the legality. I'm not sure it's even whether the question is whether the groups are a good or bad thing. After all, most people today say they are anti-racism, but the KKK isn't dead. I'm not going to try to force them to close just because I don't like them - I will simply choose not to join them or support them.

The question is whether or not people will choose to join those single-sex or single-race groups. And the next question is, will that change in the future?

I think what most people think, at least on this board, is that groups limited in race are bad, groups limited in gender are good or at least OK. There is no need for anyone to defend or explain their choices to someone who opposes such groups. A single sex group has no obligation to change that. Changes will only come if the membership itself either a) changes its mind about wanting to be single-sex or b) the membership realizes that without changing it will die and prefers not to die. As of right now, neither of these things are happening. I think both forces were at work in opening up the Greek organizations to other races.

If you feel strongly that Greeks should be co-ed, join a co-ed group. If enough people feel that way, things may change over time.

So why don't these groups open up to both genders? They don't want to. No one can make them. That's answer enough.