D9 stereotyping..

[Wolfman]

The issue of stereotyping among BGLOs is a positive and negative phenomenon.It can lend to a sense of group cohesion. It also appears to be grounded in reality,to an extent. A few years back an elderly brother (who's now deceased) in the grad chapter I was in used to enjoy telling stories about his experience in the Fraternity. He related that,when he pledged in the Midwest,the Alphas were shameless elitist,the Nupes were "all alcoholics" and the Ques were known as the "Do gooders" since they involved themselves in much community service work, which drew him to Omega. I didn't think much of that Kappa stereotype until I read the book "Black Haze" by Dr. Ricky Jones, a Kappa, who confirmed that before the "Pretty Boy"/"Playboy" image and stereotype took over in KAPsi in the '60s and '70s, Kappas were known as heavy social drinkers.

These things are somewhat fluid. Of late the "gay" stereotype has been gaining traction in KAPsi. In the summer of '80 after I crossed, a neighborhood friend who pledged APhiA Spr. '80 at Hampton had a discusion with me about the "gay" issue in his fraternity and how he would deal with a brother who was gay/effeminate.

To a certain degree, a self-selection process in accordance with some of these stereotypes keeps these things in place, even though there is diversity in all our groups. It's somewhat like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A funny anecdote. When I was a teaching fellow in graduate school in biblical languages, I had a 1.5 generation Korean American couple in one of my classes.The wife's best friend was an AKA, so she knew about these BGLO stereotypes. She was very surprised to find out that her nerdy teacher was a "bulldog," the term she used in class when she found out I was a Que. Later, the husband told me of a conversation he and his wife had at home. He told me in private that she said that even though I was a Que, I acted like an Alpha.I got a good laugh out of that.