Why is the Frat Boy Culture so Sleazy and Sex-Crazed?

[VandalSquirrel]

I have so many issues with this article, I'd really like to see their research and look at it for myself.

Also the reason I believe why fraternities and sports teams are constantly identified as more problematic is because there is a way to identify members and attribute behavior or crimes, even if the average population is doing it too, they aren't lumped in as a group. I'd love to see numbers of student crime compared to group membership, as I hypothesize that it really isn't that different percentage wise. Not every 18-22 year old person who gets in trouble in my town is even in college, and i live in a college town.

[srmom]

What a Crock of Shite!

What about the millions of fraternity men over the ages (including my father, uncles, cousins, husband, son, etc.) who are not rapists, misogynists, or closet homosexuals?

Where is the treatise that stereotypes sorority girls as vapid alchoholics with loose morals who only gain membership because of their looks, daddy's money, and car they drive?

Oh yeah, that one is called "Pledged", and we really respect that scholarly and well researched book, don't we?

Tripe - both of them...

[pshsx1]

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

Regular reporting on each member’s "conquests" further cements the bonds of brotherhood.

That was the rotten cherry atop the steaming pile of poo for me. Wow.

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I have so many issues with this article, I'd really like to see their research and look at it for myself.

[SigEpLegacy]

Okay, the military is far worse than the greek system. But you will never see that in movies, will you? The greek system has a few incidents every decade. The Army alone had 3,000 that were reported. Who know how many actually took place.

[sdeason1]

Sterotyping seems to run rampant when it comes to any organization with greek letters! Nothing is said usually about any hazing out side of glos, but of course it happens. But again it seems glos are the ones who get the most press.

[ThetaPrincess24]

I would be curious to see research or hear ideas on how this stereotype got started? A lot of people say it started with "Animal House." But, where did the writers for that movie get the idea? Why has it continued to be portrayed that way in movies and the media?

I guess "real fraternity/sorority life" must not make for good ratings/blockbuster hits.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

I would be curious to see research or hear ideas on how this stereotype got started? A lot of people say it started with "Animal House." But, where did the writers for that movie get the idea? Why has it continued to be portrayed that way in movies and the media?

I guess "real fraternity/sorority life" must not make for good ratings/blockbuster hits.

As far as that's concerned, Animal House actually REVIVED fraternity and sorority membership. It was languishing during the 1970s. And Chris Miller has said the movie was tame compared to the real thing. I would argue that everything that happened in that movie has happened at every college, with or without Greek life. IMO that movie does a very good job of showing fraternity bonds - even when the Deltas lose their charter and are kicked out of school they still stick together. To me, it's a positive advertisement for Greek life.

This is going to sound snotty as hell, but I think a lot of the Greek stereotypes are advanced - and have been since Greek orgs existed - by people who are just plain jealous they aren't part of them and want to bring them down. Think about other groups that have certain stereotypes - cheerleaders are the first one that come to my mind.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

I would be curious to see research or hear ideas on how this stereotype got started? A lot of people say it started with "Animal House."

You're right in that the reputation proceeds "Animal House." For my senior thesis in college, I wrote about my college's attempt to calm the fraternity men down by building them their own quad. Just after World War II, there were all sorts of crazy things happening in our Greek system--knife fights, fraternization, etc. This wasn't just my college, either--this was going on all over the East Coast, if not the entire country. University administrations felt that by getting the fraternities out of their houses and into brand new quadrangles, that the nonsense would stop. I think by the time "Animal House" came out, that the schools figured they couldn't stop it. Also, changes in college life--mainly the elimination of in loco parentis in the 60s--led to loosening of some rules.

[CutiePie2000]

Originally Posted by SigEpLegacy

Okay, the military is far worse than the greek system.... Who know how many actually took place.

You see it with male sports teams as well... I think it's more of a "when males congregate in groups" problem, than a "fraternity / military / sports teams" problem.

[squirrely girl]

These are perhaps a little more academic and research based.

Schwart, M. D. & Nogrady, C. A. (1996). Fraternity membership, rape myths, and sexual aggression on a college campus. Violence Against Women, 2, 148-163.

Bleeker, E. T. & Muenen, S. K. (2005). Fraternity membership, the display of degrading sexual images of women, and rape myth acceptance. Sex Roles, 53, 487-493.

People are right about the "men in groups" thing - its not just fraternities by any means. However, fraternities do fall into that category of men in groups, hence the association.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by squirrely girl

People are right about the "men in groups" thing - its not just fraternities by any means. However, fraternities do fall into that category of men in groups, hence the association.

They're also the group which these researchers are most likely to have easy access to, hence the reason we come up more than, for example, the military.