Beating? Eating their own vomit? You must be kidding me. Had my sorority members chosen to make themselves feel good and superior to me by beating or humiliating me, I would have never joined. It was the character of the sorority sisters which constantly strove to lift me up that made me want to make it to sisterhood.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not "paper" as it seems to be called. But neither am I "wood." Those are not the only two options. Because not everyone who starts pledge period makes it to the end, and it's not because of hazing. It's because we have to study our organization's history constantly, pass several tests, do our own fundraisers and philanthropic projects as a class, be at all the weekly required meetings and activities, and yes, make up fun activities that we enjoy as well. And it was in these experiences of happiness that we were emotionally bound together. Then once we became sisters, doing the hard work to keep our sorority going, the only chapter of a national sorority in our state. Every quarter was a struggle and it was also in the struggle that we became close. And we did it all without hurting each other.
There were already so many challenges from the outside world and from the simple nature of keeping your relatively new chapter strong; we really did not need to beat on each to add to it.
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