Breaking Down Washington Post’s Call To Ban Frats For Promoting Rape Culture, Sexism, And Drinking

Harrison Lee8 years ago

I honestly feel sorry for the guys in fraternities these days. We never faced the media backlash you guys get today. Nobody was crying from behind their computer saying “abolish frats! Frats are bad! All frats do is rape!” Like Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post did when she caught wind of the lame email Richmond KA sent out to the chapter.

The buffoons of fratland intent on proving every rape culture thesis ever written struck again, this time at the University of Richmond.

“Tonight’s the type of night that makes fathers afraid to send their daughters away to school. Let’s get it,” Bozo the Frat Bro wrote in an invitation to his Kappa Alpha rager last weekend.

I totally forgot that Richmond KA included the line “and then we will rape every girl in sight because that is what we stand for and that is what fraternities are meant to do.” What was Bozo the Frat Bro thinking by putting that line in there? Oh yeah, Petula, it wasn’t in there. They’re terrible at humor, sure, but they definitely don’t promote rape culture.

She mentions the “lodge virginity” line, which is presumably a reference to virgin women who live in a college residence known as “the lodge.”

And just a few days after that, the Kappa Alpha bros put their bearskin thongs on and declared war on virginity.

Reading the email’s context “so we’re looking forward to watching that lodge virginity be gobbled up for all,” could it be possible that “gobbling up the lodge virginity” means hosting the first party at the lodge this year, considering he led the email with “lodge season is finally here”?

She also makes mention of other incidents where KA got in trouble, even drops an 1873 story on us about when KA killed a kid. After that, she brings up Brock Turner because he partied at KA before committing his sexual assault. So let’s just bring KA down because of him, even though you went on to say that there are sexual assaults that happen on campus that don’t deal with fraternities. Which is it, Petula?

KA wasn’t the only target of her attack, the whole Fraternity system was. She brought up hazing suspensions, blackface parties, etc. She even brought up the Welcome Week signs.

Or the gentleman of Sigma Nu at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, who draped signs outside their fratcave on the first week of school last year that read: “Rowdy and fun, hope your baby girl is ready for a good time,” “Freshman Daughter Drop Off” and “Go ahead and Drop Off Mom Too.”

Just a harmless sign. Once again, the sign didn’t say “Drop off your daughters and mom here so we can take them to a room and violently rape them against their will.” Why do people make this connection? Has reasoning just disappeared in America?

It took her half of an article to get to the truth.

But here’s the truth. Fraternities and sororities are self-selecting, self-segregating institutions that usually require a little (or a lot of) money, and they are a way to perpetuate America’s increasingly two-tiered society.

Yeah, so are country clubs, club sports, and basically anything else you need to pay to get in. We don’t turn someone away who wants to join if we like them and they can’t pay. In my fraternity, we would figure out ways where the kid wouldn’t have the huge financial burden but could still do things to make sure he was a brother.

She does point out the good things we do, like network and raise millions for charity. But that was just in passing because those points don’t add to her narrative. Without the Greek system, how could a nation of Greeks and non-Greeks come together to help a girl raise almost $30K to help her family after being diagnosed with a rare cancer? That’s what we do. We aren’t monsters who are only concerned with our own interests.

Here’s the thing, if fraternities did promote sexism, racism, rape, and all the bad things these anti-Greek folks hate, then why do our Nationals, chapters, and individuals all do our best to kick out the bad apples when they come along? So no, it’s not time to abolish fraternities from existence..

[via Washington Post]