[UPDATE: I forgot to source this. The discussion thread at the link is interesting.]
Shaping them into what is the question. My sense is, frats are breeding grounds for alcohol abuse, regressive attitudes towards women, homophobia, narrow-minded group-think, and generally help propagate a social order that should be ripped apart ASAFP.
Case in point.
Based on my personal experience, this sort of thing very much represents fraternity culture. Not to say there are no positives (I don't know what they are, but I won't say there are none), but I think the harm to society handliy outweighs the good.
Well, I kinda sorta share your prejudice. Bonding and organizing on the basis of gender alone, especially masculinity, is at best retrograde. Members of socially dominant groups tend to behave especially badly when they get together in exclusive cohorts. On the other hand, Greek culture tends to vary pretty widely from campus to campus. (Although the fact that this happened at UVM, of all places, puts a dent in that caveat.)
ReplyDeleteMy "Angry Blogging" tag is meant to indicate my state of mind at the time I wrote the post, and that the post is not calm, rational analysis. That said, I remain unconvinced that the benefits (which clearly exist) of frats cannot be replicated, or enhanced, in a different structural arrangement.
ReplyDelete