Stop the "Baby" Talk

[MaggieXi]

I agree that this is a great blog and the term "baby" should not be used to refer to or describe new members of any organization. I know that the term "baby" came about when I was a junior (gah! 13 years ago!). It was the year that Rush became recruitment, Rushees became Potential New Members and Pledges became New Members. Campus panhellenic had decreed that we were to use all the new terms and added that we were not allowed to call the new members, or even the PNMs "Girls" or even "new girls" or "Ladies" because it was derogatory (I'm not sure how Ladies was derogatory, but it was on the list of words that we could no longer use). However, the word Baby was not on the list.

So the sororities who had names for their new members - Phis for Phi Mu, Rosebuds for AOPi, continued on with their tradition. Since the rest of the orgs on campus didn't have names for their new members and could essentially only call them mouthful "new members", and a year before called them pledges, adopted new names for the them. Zeta had "Zeta Babies", AXiD had "Little Xis", Sigma Kappa had "Kappa Kuties", etc. I don't know when all of them changed over to "Babies", but eventually they did. But I think a lot of this Baby calling came out of the fact that they could no longer be called "Pledges" and "New Members" is a mouthful and boring if you compare it to the groups that have names for their new members.

IMO, Pledges is far less derogatory than Babies.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

IMO, Pledges is far less derogatory than Babies.

YES! I hate the baby thing. There is nothing wrong with "pledge." I loved being a pledge.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

IMO, Pledges is far less derogatory than Babies.

I totally agree with you! There is/was nothing wrong with the word pledge. If I ran the world, we'd still use the words pledge and Rush.

[KillarneyRose]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

I totally agree with you! There is/was nothing wrong with the word pledge. If I ran the world, we'd still use the words pledge and Rush.

Yes! "Recruitment Crush" just does not have the same ring to it.

Speaking of pledges, do they even wear pledge pins anymore?

[XOtillIdieO]

Originally Posted by KillarneyRose

Speaking of pledges, do they even wear pledge pins anymore?

We wore our pledge pin, but only to our new member meetings. Did sororities used to wear them all the time like fraternities do?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by XOtillIdieO

We wore our pledge pin, but only to our new member meetings. Did sororities used to wear them all the time like fraternities do?

They did back in the dark ages when I was in college.

[ASTalumna06]

I WANTED to wear my pledge pin all the time, but we couldn't. It was treated like our initiated sister badge - only to be worn with "badge attire." I was dressed up pretty much never, so outside of my pledging ceremony/initiation, I maybe wore it once or twice.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by XOtillIdieO

We wore our pledge pin, but only to our new member meetings. Did sororities used to wear them all the time like fraternities do?

I loved wearing my pledge pin, which we "had" to, except during the three Ss - shower. sex, sleep.

At parties, we were told to wear the pin on the inside of the shirt, with the clasp bar on the outside. That way, you were still identified as a pledge (the school was small enough to know who you were pledging), so it worked out well. I remember I had surgery during my pledge period and asked my pledge mom if I had to wear my pin into surgery, lol. I think my pledgesister/a.k.a. next door neighbor held it for me.

Sigh. Good times.

[KillarneyRose]

Originally Posted by XOtillIdieO

We wore our pledge pin, but only to our new member meetings. Did sororities used to wear them all the time like fraternities do?

Yeah, we always wore them. (at least on my campus) I remember once going down to the cafeteria and realizing I'd forgotten to put on my pledge pin and going back to my room to get it because I didn't want the sisters to see me without it.

I am currently undergoing therapy for PTSD because the experience was so devastaing for me

[carnation]

We loved to wear ours. We were proud to be Pi Phis and Greeks. The first week, all the sororities' NMs wore pledge ribbons in our colors behind our pledge pins.

[33girl]

We wore ours (with ribbons underneath of course) M-F 9-5 (or whenever you were done with school). That was pretty standard for all the sororities on campus. We also were allowed/supposed to wear it with everything - thank God. DZs had to wear theirs with dress pants or skirts only (in other words they had to dress up for school for 6 weeks) so that made me certain that DZ and I were not meant to be.

[lovespink88]

Originally Posted by XOtillIdieO

We wore our pledge pin, but only to our new member meetings. Did sororities used to wear them all the time like fraternities do?

Same here!

The thought of wearing it all the time is nice, but I personally like that we wear it just when we are dressed up. I generally went to class in yoga pants, t-shirt and hoodie. My pledge pin deserved more than that. You can represent your org by wearing a t-shirt, carrying a bag, wearing jewelry with letters/colors/symbols, etc.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by lovespink88

The thought of wearing it all the time is nice, but I personally like that we wear it just when we are dressed up. I generally went to class in yoga pants, t-shirt and hoodie. My pledge pin deserved more than that. You can represent your org by wearing a t-shirt, carrying a bag, wearing jewelry with letters/colors/symbols, etc.

Not always. Not my lane, I know, but our probationary members cannot wear letters, and I seem to remember from past conversations about that here that at least some NPC groups may have a similar rule. I know that some have a rule (as do we) that PMs/pledges/NMs can't wear anything with the org's coat of arms.

The thing in my mind that distinguishes a pledge/NM pin from other things (like wearing colors) is that it doesn't just represent the org, it specifically symbolizes the wearer's place and role in the org. Different orgs may reach different conclusions about whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by carnation

We loved to wear ours. We were proud to be Pi Phis and Greeks. The first week, all the sororities' NMs wore pledge ribbons in our colors behind our pledge pins.

We wore ribbons until we received our pledge pins in our pledge ceremony (a week after bid day)

Originally Posted by lovespink88

Same here!

The thought of wearing it all the time is nice, but I personally like that we wear it just when we are dressed up. I generally went to class in yoga pants, t-shirt and hoodie. My pledge pin deserved more than that. You can represent your org by wearing a t-shirt, carrying a bag, wearing jewelry with letters/colors/symbols, etc.

I agree with you. While we wore them all the time, I think it makes sense to treat it like our badge.

[lovespink88]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Not always. Not my lane, I know, but our probationary members cannot wear letters, and I seem to remember from past conversations about that here that at least some NPC groups may have a similar rule. I know that some have a rule (as do we) that PMs/pledges/NMs can't wear anything with the org's coat of arms.

The thing in my mind that distinguishes a pledge/NM pin from other things (like wearing colors) is that it doesn't just represent the org, it specifically symbolizes the wearer's place and role in the org. Different orgs may reach different conclusions about whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Right, sorry, I wasn't 100% clear. I am aware that there are GLOs that don't allow NMs to wear certain things. This is why I said letters/colors/symbols but I guess that would have made more sense if I said letters or colors or symbols. The slashes were ors, not ands. I know that different groups have different rules.

I'm with you with your second point!