Are sorority life and feminism compatible?

Sorority life. Feminism. Many would say that the two ideas are incompatible, that a system based on placing women into groups based on a pre-established social hierarchy has no place in the empowerment of the modern day woman. In some regards, that statement rings true. Sorority life can reinforce unrealistic and outdated stereotypes: that women must remain pure and virginal (which contradicts the stereotype that, according to popular culture, they are the exact opposite), that beauty comes from following idealized Western beauty standards and that the only way to belong is to be willing to conform.

Recently, students at Duke have challenged these notions and how they play out in organizations on campus. Posters put up around campus criticize Duke sororities for being cult-like and predominantly white and have suggested that being in a sorority means members have no personality and do not have to deal with the struggles associated with being an independent woman. The posters also cited problems involved with Greek life in general: that belonging to a Greek organization is a risk factor associated with on-campus sexual assault and that parties thrown by Greek organizations can sometimes have politically incorrect themes.

I belong to Greek life on campus, and I will be the first to criticize the system in general as well as the faults of my own sorority. But I had a problem with these posters; although they bring up important points that have been and continue to be dealt with within the Greek community, they paint Greek women as one-dimensional and fail to mention any of the benefits being in a sorority can offer. Not one girl I know in a Greek organization fits the mold of a “stereotypical sorority girl” or joined their organization because they wanted to fit in and have their social calendar planned for them. Personally, my sorority is one of the more diverse organizations I belong to on campus, both in terms of background and of personalities and interests of the women who belong to it.

Because of my sorority, I have been able to have open conversations about issues on campus that I wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable discussing with anyone else: issues of sexual assault, of eating disorders on campus and of the complexities of being a woman in a world of high academia, among others. I have been able to engage in dialogue with women completely different from me, women who have offered me perspectives that I never would have considered otherwise. Contrary to the stereotype of having to conform to belong to a sorority, the reason that I joined and continue to belong to my organization is because every woman in it is different.

So can you be in a sorority and still be a feminist? Are the two ideas inherently contradictory? I would argue no, and moreover, that it’s difficult to be in a sorority and not be a feminist. It’s easy to look at sororities from the outside and say that the institution perpetuates conformity and unnecessarily pits women against each other; it’s harder to be in one and be surrounded by smart, motivated women and say the same thing. The belief at the basis of feminism is a belief in equal rights for everyone, regardless of gender expression or race or sexuality, and being in a sorority with a group of diverse women has only reinforced my advocacy of these ideals. Even simply in the context of networking opportunities, sororities empower women by connecting them with successful alumnae, something that may not have been possible without membership in the organization.

Obviously, there are some flaws in the system: the entire recruitment process is still slightly superficial and divisive, and the high price of membership and low incidence of scholarships means that sorority life is not open to everyone. My argument, though, isn’t that there are no problems with sorority life, or that sororities are the epitome of feminism and women’s empowerment; it’s that being in a sorority does not automatically make you a lesser woman devoted to the perpetuation of demeaning stereotypes. You can be Greek and still be feminist, and you can belong to an organization and still be strong and independent. I would contend that two ideas are not inherently at odds— that they are, in fact, complementary.

Georgina Del Vecho is a Trinity sophomore and Playground editor.