MTV and Sororities - Page 2

DeltAlum · #16 06-07-2002, 01:58 AM

Sisters and Brothers,

It was obvious from the producers' website, and has now been proven by the on-air promotion, that the content and storyline for this series was pre-determined by the producers. It is also obvious that it isn't likely to be positive for the Greek System.

If the women of this local think otherwise, I'm afraid they're dreaming.

In any event, it's probably too late to do anything about the damage which almost certainly will be done. The question is how to react to it and counteract that damage.

With no disrespect intended, it seem obvious to me why the producer picked a local -- no national would allow one of their chapters to be involved. And wisely so.

#17 06-07-2002, 02:34 AM

About 5 minutes after I got done reading this thread the first time, I turned to MTV to see what was on, and there was the commercial for it.

I think my fave part was when after they said, so what's the real reason you joined a sorority, and one of the girls said quote,"It's an excuse to party"

I mean yeah, many do join at first b/c of the social aspect, but for the love of G@d! Talk about seeing your stereotypical sosority girls.

I hope no one takes offense to this but... I give major props to Alpha Epsilon Phi nationals for getting rid of them when they did.

Sorority Life
MTV channel
10:30/9:30pm EST (either 9:30 or 10:30)
Monday, June 24

I'm not gonna lie when I say I'll be checking it out. Not that I'm going to write, but judging from the commercials MTV better be prepared for feedback on this one. I agree with DeltAlum in saying this isnt going to be pretty.

josh8o · #18 06-07-2002, 03:02 AM

ok i'm gonna break it down for all of you...
sigma alpha epsilon pi is a jewish sorority. there are 2 chapters, 1 in davis where the show takes place, and 1 in san diego. there is no nationals. these girls have no direction....what do you expect? i know 2 of the san diego girls very well, they will be on the show too. they did not like the idea on MTV too well, and said all the cameras wanted was drama, not the sorority. the show is set up like the real world...there are 2 houses, an actives house and a pledges house. so the cameras can capture whatever they want. are you telling me that 24/7 some of you dont do or say anything that may not look appropriate? also, we don't know if MTV is taking any of this stuff out of context...it was just a commercial.

NoShame_Gamma · #19 06-07-2002, 04:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MUPhiMuKHap
Man, when I saw the ad tonight for their new sorority show I can definately say I was less than impressed. The whole "reasons to join a sorority" and then the "REAL reasons to join". That just made me sick almost. Yes, I will admit it, I love the social aspect of my sorority, without a doubt. But I didn't join because of that. Maybe some people did, but when MTV presents the info they have the way they did, it makes sorority girls look like flaky bimbos who only care about "frat boys and parties". Yuck. I don't even want to watch this show in fear that they will only throw out more and more stereotypes and pass them off as truth. Maybe I am overrreacting, but it just makes me so mad. The same way it did when I was considered "dumb and stuck up" in high school b/c I was a cheerleader. Ack, ok, enough ranting for now! Sorry, just need to get this off my chest.

I FEEL YOU! I just hope the whole show isn't one big stereotype, but by the looks of the commercials...

sundevil2000 · #20 06-07-2002, 04:19 AM

I just got back from my sorority floor after watching the MTV awards and the commercial for this new show. We found it funny that you could tell these girls were most likely saying one thing and they portrayed it as another. No one in a sorority comes out and says "I joined for the PARTIES" I don't know if this happened at your schools but MTV was contacting mine to get sororities to do this type of program and none of us were allowed to even talk to them. A sorority is something special to everyone involved in their chapters, not something that you want to put on tv to expose your secrets. Thats what sororities are, secret societies. A chance for women to engage in rituals that people did 100 years ago. I guess because they don't have nationals they dont really have any guidance on the issue.

HBADPi · #21 06-07-2002, 09:35 AM

I didnt realize that they were already finished filming this show. Our nationals sent our chapter a letter that they received from MTv for permission to follow our sisters and portray sorority life. Our nationals said no they didnt want their sorority houses disrupted. I'm curious to see how the show is going to end up, I have a lot of friends from home who are non-greek and I was the first one in my family to go greek so I hope it's not to bad of an image.

33girl · #22 06-07-2002, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by UMgirl

I hope no one takes offense to this but... I give major props to Alpha Epsilon Phi nationals for getting rid of them when they did.

Sorry, I take offense...

Their website says the AEPhi chapter closed in the mid 90's and the current group of girls didn't start up again till 1998 - not necessarily to revive AEPhi but to have an outlet for Jewish women. Their name comes from AEPi fraternity, not AEPhi. And as the AEPhi's on here have stated...it's definitely not a bound brother/sister relationship, even though the names are similar.

We have no idea why the AEPhi chapter closed - it could have been numbers or finances or something relatively benign. They don't deserve to be maligned because a decision that women who have no association with them have made.

aephi alum · #23 06-07-2002, 10:21 AM

33girl makes a very valid point. Most, if not all, of the AEPhi's from the chapter that was closed would have graduated by the time SAEPi was founded.

That said, it's still more than likely that this show will reflect negatively on AEPhi in particular, in addition to the greek system as a whole. People will remember that AEPhi used to have a chapter there, and will link SAEPi to AEPhi in their minds. SAEPi's website explicitly mentions the closing of the AEPhi chapter as part of its history. There is also the similarity in names, and SAEPi's link to AEPi, which a lot of people assume (wrongly) is a brother fraternity to AEPhi.

I haven't seen the ad... but why am I so not shocked that MTV is portraying sorority women as a bunch of party animals?? Whatever boosts their ratings, I guess.

ZTAngel · #24 06-07-2002, 10:35 AM

I was watching the MTV Music Awards with a few sisters and were all in shock when we saw that commercial. One of the girls was like, "Oh my gosh, I hope they're not ZTAs!" But, I'm assuming that all 26 NPC sororities put out a notice to their chapters that MTV would not be allowed to film them. It's just disappointing to see that these women would feed into a stereotype like that.

DeltAlum · #25 06-07-2002, 10:44 AM

Of course all the wanted was "drama." And, of course many of the comments (probably) were taken out of context.

A show without "flash and trash" that shows sorority women sitting around talking about philanthrophy ain't gonna have anyone watching. Period.

They're looking for dirt. And they'll produce it whether it's there or not.

We all talked in advance about selective editing, etc. Get ready for it.

XiLovin · #26 06-07-2002, 10:53 AM

Well, I sure hope that those girls are happy with the outcome because MTV sure made them look like idiots. With one comercial they have already portrayed them as a bunch of bimbo, beer chuging party hounds. I really hope that the comercial was just and advertising stunt and not a true insight to how the show is going to go. It was pretty obvious that the girls were just being interviewed and their words were edited into what would fit the format of the commercial. Did they expect anything less? How embarassing. I would never degrade my letters, my sisters, or myself for a TV show, no matter their reason for making it. What goes on in my sorority is our business. If someone is so curious about what a sorority entails, they should go and rush. Otherwise they will never find the true meaning.

maggieaxid · #27 06-07-2002, 11:53 AM

i just think that these girls have no idea what they got themselves into. And, honestly, in their press release, it says that they think this will boost their membership and be a positive refelction, when in all honesty, i think if they look as bad as they did in the commercial, their membership may infact go down.

And i am sorry, and this will sound harsh, but it's a local sorority, not NPC, NPHC, IFC, or MultiCultural. Not even a local with a lot of chapters or national headquarters, as some do. This is a perfect reason why there needs to be a national local governing board of some sort!

MooseGirl · #28 06-07-2002, 11:54 AM

MTV is getting just what they want - ratings...so many are offended but will probably watch it too, just to see how horrible it is...
(un)fortunately, I won't be watching....don't get MTV in Canada(well not on regular cable). although Muchmusic will be showing the MTV awards on saturday, they rarely show other mTV programming

shadokat · #29 06-07-2002, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cream
The truth is that one of the main reasons why I rushed was to meet people and for the parties and mixers. I later found out that there was so much more to sisterhood. As long as this MTV show isn't like those commercials for 'Girls Gone Wild' videos than I won't be too worried about it.

I couldn't agree more!!

TrojanGirl · #30 06-07-2002, 01:32 PM

I had a conversation with a girl who was on the Real World when she came and spoke to us at our campus Women's Leadership Conference. She told me almost every member of her cast (Boston) hated the way the show came out. She said that some of the cast members that were portrayed as real B*tches were not that bad. They basicly showed the drama and nothing else. I immagine that will be the case with Sorority Life. I mean, as a viewer, would you rather see a cat fight or girls sitting arround doing homework?

TG