Exactly how inaccurate is the Pledged book?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by srmom

I was at the school referenced during the time when she writes that some pretty sordid things were happening, and I can tell you that if what she says was happening really was, EVERYONE would have known about it - small school with no secrets - Peyton Place!! So, it's full of bull!

What? I guess you're talking about one of the ancient hazing cases she used to make her assertion that hazing is rampant (no offense, LOL).

To the OP - here's a thread that Allie-Poo herself started. Needless to say she got her butt handed to her on a plate.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=49385

Plus another thread:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=50220

[chapelhillkappa]

Forgive my ignorance but I have no idea what is in "Pledged" as I have not read it. Am i too assumptive in thinking that it is just another il-informed version of what reality is?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by chapelhillkappa

Forgive my ignorance but I have no idea what is in "Pledged" as I have not read it. Am i too assumptive in thinking that it is just another il-informed version of what reality is?

No, you are correct.

[srmom]

ancient

haha!! No offense at all!

No, I was referring to the stories about SMU and sorority girls whoring themselves to football recruits, and that it was common knowledge.

UH NO, if that was going on - there would have been talk. Nobody got away with anything in those days, even before the days of face book and myspace, gossip spread like wildfire, and somebody walking around in a fur, or driving in a car, that they got from the athletic department would have been fodder for talk...

Not to say that our athletes weren't being paid!! Best team money could buy!! But, any whoring being done was most likely being done by professionals...

[Benzgirl]

So I read Pledged last summer. I didn't take offense to it; I found it enjoyable. I looked at it from a point of view that I would take watching Animal House.

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

So I read Pledged last summer. I didn't take offense to it; I found it enjoyable. I looked at it from a point of view that I would take watching Animal House.

I read it right before I joined up here. Accurate or not is hard to say. The story was so vague and general that it could easily have been totally made up- but at the same time seem like a true tale.

What did bother me a LOT, and what demonstrated that the author was out to trash sorority life, was the chapter where all kinds of secrets bits of information were revealed- passwords etc.

That was just mean-spirited and offered nothing to the plot of the book- such as it was. It seems clear that the author had to talk to a lot of sorority women to get those details since I am sure most would not have said anything, so from day 1 she was up to no good.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

What did bother me a LOT, and what demonstrated that the author was out to trash sorority life, was the chapter where all kinds of secrets bits of information were revealed- passwords etc.

Agreed, but what made it worse was that quite a few of her "secrets" weren't secrets at all -- they're things that can be found on the websites of the GLOs in question, like the significance of Pi Phi's carnation. (Whether there is deeper meaning, of course, I don't know, but what she put in the book isn't a secret.) I mean, if you're going to make a big deal about revealing secrets, at least reveal the secret secrets.

Then there were the urban legend or decoy "secrets" she "revealed." I particularly laughed that she fell for "Thanks for Joining!" (ETA: Not that I knew what TFJ really stands for -- I've just heard enough Alpha Xi Deltas joke about "Thanks for Joining" as their stock response when asked about it that I knew that wasn't really it.)

There were other "secrets" in there that I can't say whether she got right or not, of course, but the ones that were obviously wrong or not secrets to begin with didn't help what credibility she had.

[pinksirfidel]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

What did bother me a LOT, and what demonstrated that the author was out to trash sorority life, was the chapter where all kinds of secrets bits of information were revealed- passwords etc.

I'm not a fan of the book, however, I've seen more "secrets" revealed online...

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

That was just mean-spirited and offered nothing to the plot of the book- such as it was. It seems clear that the author had to talk to a lot of sorority women to get those details since I am sure most would not have said anything, so from day 1 she was up to no good.

I agree that it was mean-spirited, but as I read it, I could pick out girls from college that fit nearly every character in the book. It was not one chapter, but girls from several chapters. And yes, some of these girls were mean.

[AOII Angel]

The secrets part of her book was sensational anyway, and added NOTHING to the supposed "true story." Who knows whether or not the secrets are true. She could have made all of it up just to sell books to the ten people who are interested.

As for the truthfulness of sorority life...maybe she did meet some sorority women with that point of view and experience, but it is ridiculous to paint the entire greek system with that tiny little brush. An expose that expansive should really require a little more research than she claims.

[groovypq]

I read this about three years ago, before I started advising. I'm not going to lie -- it was fascinating. But I also coach college athletes and I can tell you - NONE of that stuff is specific to Greek life! I seriously do not understand how she can claim that with a straight face. Heck, I used to coach at a school with no Greek system whatsoever and I think I heard worse stories there than I do now!

[LΩVE]

The stuff she wrote about I've never experienced. I have very few friends or family members that were Greek at large schools, so I don't have a huge pool to pull from, but they didn't experience the kind of drama she writes about.

[FlaGirl07]

I thought the book was interesting, but I've never experienced anything her characters have. My GDI boyfriend is slightly more gullible, he thinks my sorority sisters will try to pressure me into breaking up with him "to have more fun". So silly!

[tlw23]

To give my two cents...

I recently went through rush (ended last Friday actually) with my roommate who wasn't orgionally interested in Greek Life and was freaked out by the whole 'hazing' thing for most of the week of and leading up to. A friend of hers gave her the book and it did two things for us:

1.) Scare her even more (though not anymore since being with sisters)

2.) Make an awesome connection between some actives and us when we talked about it and then brought it to a girl we had been talking to just about everyday about hazing and the like...(apparently there's a whole chapter or at least a section about various kinds of 'rape' pledges might have to endure...hm)

Oddly enough our new chapter runs rampant in that book...very few things we read seemed accurate but most else was not at ALL.