Forbes Writer Canned After Blaming Fraternity Woes On Drunk Girls
Look, we all know that drunk girls are a force of nature. One of them can be a nuisance, but a gaggle of them could bring down ISIS if you airdropped them in. But Bill Frezza, a (now former) writer for Forbes, made a classic mistake this week when he wrote a controversial post blaming…well, basically all of the current fraternity system’s problems on drunk females.
Come on, Bill. Be smarter than that. First, let’s talk about Bill’s weird use of the word “females.” It’s oddly clinical, and it makes his post sound like he’s talking about some unknown entity. I blame it on his alma mater being MIT, but still, they’re just babes, Bill, not experimental variables. The problem Bill has is that he makes some decent points and sincerely means well, but all of that gets lost in a jumble of jackassery.
Here are a few nuggets:
“As recriminations against fraternities mount and panicked college administrators search for an easy out, one factor doesn’t seem to be getting sufficient analysis: drunk female guests.”
See? Weirdly clinical, right?
“But it is precisely those irresponsible women that the brothers must be trained to identify and protect against, because all it takes is one to bring an entire fraternity system down.”
Ah, the old “drunk chick who launched 1,000 anti-frat ships” argument.
“…the best way to reduce the incentive to furtively chug half a bottle of vodka before going out for a night of fun is by lowering the drinking age to 18 while encouraging the consumption of beer over distilled spirits.”
First off, no amount of beer availability is going to convince me to give up hitting the liquor bottle–not in college, not now. Secondly, how does lowering the drinking age help? I mean, I’m for it, I’m just not sure how it factors into your argument.
“And so, any time a fraternity hosts an open party, wet or dry, brothers must assume that the house will be filled with ticking time bombs.”
Uh oh, Bill just objectimorphized women. Bad move. Do you want to end up on Jezebel, Bill? Because that’s how you end up on Jezebel.
“False accusation of rape months after the fact triggered by regrets over a…”
You know what? Let’s stop there. Is false accusation of sexual assault a real fear that guys have? Absolutely. Is it so prevalent that you should use it as a pillar in your argument? No.
Ultimately, drunk girls are about as much of a liability to your chapter as drunk guys, because drunk people are morons in general. The only way to mitigate risk isn’t to target one group over another, it’s to monitor your parties carefully. That includes everything from not letting in people who are clearly already trashed, all the way up to protecting both your female guests AND male brothers from potential sexual assault.
It really is that easy. If Bill had said, “drunk people are stupid and sex should always be consensual,” he might still have a job..
[via NY Mag]
He has an editor. Why did they publish then?
11 years ago at 10:21 amEveryone in the office hated Bill and wanted him fired. They knew this would do the trick so they let it fly.
11 years ago at 11:08 amI get what he’s trying to say, he’s just really bad at saying it (MIT will do that to you).
We had a similar incident when I was an undergrad. We have rules (our own as well as school enforced) at parties that prohibit hard alcohol consumption, so a group of girls decided to get their hard alcohol drinking out of the way before coming over, and threw back a shitload of shots in a hurry at their own house. Shortly after they arrived at our party, the alcohol had enough time to inebriate them to a sloppy, black-out state. The next day there were allegations they threw around claiming they were roofied, and we had to plead our case to the school that no one actually got roofied, and they were just being silly, young, inexperienced drunk bitches.
11 years ago at 10:35 amTo be clear, no one was accused of rape, but they were accused of drugging or “roofie-ing.”
11 years ago at 12:11 pmI hate silly, young, inexperienced drunk bitches.
11 years ago at 12:57 pmi just dont get it why girls will claim they were roofied when in fact they just blacked out. most of the times these girls dont even know what blackout is and automatically assume that they were drugged when in fact it was just all the fireball shots they killed before the party
11 years ago at 3:29 pmBecause they’re stupid
11 years ago at 12:03 amI think the problem is that idea that rape is taught, or a product of culture, or “boys being boys.” No it’s not. Rape is evil. If you can bring yourself to commit rape either through force or deliberate coercion (i.e., date rape drugs), then there is something about your brain that works differently than the brain of normal people. People need to stop pawning responsibility for rape off on societal and cultural factors, all in a not so subtle ploy to shame masculinity and male sexuality. Rapists have something wrong with them. Call it psychopathy, call it mental illness, call it evil. But the point is, bad people do exist, they aren’t a product of fraternity culture because bad people have always existed, and will always exist, and that’s why we have prisons, and the death penalty.
11 years ago at 10:36 amExactly. Rape isn’t something guys do to prove they’re manly, it’s the result of being an evil person in need of control. It’s the same thing with child abuse. Statistically, most child abusers are women. Men rape women, women abuse children, it’s all about who they have the power to physically control. I definitely do think there’s a difference between being an evil person and being mentally ill though. Mostly in that mentally ill people go to institutions and receive help, where as bastard that rape and abuse children should be thrown in jail to rot.
11 years ago at 1:49 pmAbsolutely, but I can tell you the extreme majority of these cases aren’t the kind of rape you are referring to. They aren’t incoherent girls being taken advantage of. They are simply a girl and guy who are both intoxicated choosing to have sex. When drunk, a person cannot consent (legally) to having sex and thus if it comes before the university it was rape. I find this mind numbing especially since when both parties are drunk the guy is charged (almost always). Secondly, this is why there is such a disparate number of these cases prosecuted by law enforcement vs. the University. With law, you actually have to prove it happened but with the University you don’t.
11 years ago at 9:07 amWhile false rape accusations may not be prevalent enough to “use it as a pillar of your argument”, their impact is undeniable. Males are pretty much convicted in the court of opinion as soon as their names are mentioned with “rape or sexual assault” behind them. I had dudes in one of my classes last semester, that were cleared of their “rape” charges 6 years ago, but their names are still on the sex offenders lists. They even showed us in class. What happens to the false accusers? Nothing. There doesn’t have to be any physical evidence, if she accuses you of rape, you will more than likely be charged. Haven’t you been keeping up with the amount of schools that are expelling dudes because of accusations? Not convictions, accusations. Get accused, college career over. Good luck finding a job. That’s why he can use it in his argument.
11 years ago at 10:43 amBefore I went to college, my father had a talk with me, and warned me that sleeping with a drunk girl was like playing Russian Roulette. It used to be that rape wasn’t taken seriously. Now, in an attempt at justice, the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction, to the point where rape is the only crime in America where you are considered guilty until proven innocent. And even if you’re proven innocent, you’re still not considered innocent.
11 years ago at 10:46 amAn excellent point. Essentially Americans have forgotten the “innocent until proven guilty” statutes of our law system. Sexual assault/rape happens. It is horrible and I am fully behind any punishment the Justice System and universities hand down to these vile men and women. But we act as if one has already been convicted when they are accused. Let the evidence convict them before assumptions are made.
11 years ago at 12:39 pmPersonally, I think that aggravated rape and clearly premeditated rape (i.e., seeking out date rape drugs and using them), should be one strike and life without parole. There’s no rehabilitating someone from having that lack of empathy and respect for another human being.
11 years ago at 1:12 pmSorry but I agree with Bill. Girls can mostly do whatever they want and not many guys are gonna tell them no. But as soon as the girl gets in trouble with the cops and/or the school, its always “well I was at this frat, then that frat and they gave me this.” The girl never says “well I drank a half gallon of vodka with my sisters at our pre-game, and could barely walk through the door of that fraternity at 9:30. So I guess it’s mostly my own fault.”
Everyone knows this is true, but its still always the fault of the fraternity at the end of the night. Then Panhellenic tries to make these ridiculous rules to make it appear that their women aren’t the problem. When all that does it create fraternities that bend those rules to get more girls over and soon every fraternity is following suit.
Did Bill go about it a little bluntly? Absolutely. Sorry that people are more concerned with being politically correct and that it means you can’t be honest anymore.
11 years ago at 10:47 amWell fucking said. You can actually manage a blackout asshole from your own chapter. I would say at least 1/3 of our female guests have shown up to our parties completely wasted, and if something bad happens to them at a different place later in the evening, guess who gets blamed?
11 years ago at 10:57 amMy point exactly. Fraternities are held liable for a girl’s activities after leaving the house every time, regardless as well. Its a biased system that no one wants to say anything about because you’ll either get fired like this poor guy who was trying to make a decent point or it’s a way to discourage girls from wanting to come to your parties at all
11 years ago at 10:59 amNothing says women’s equality like the patriarchy protecting them from themselves.
11 years ago at 12:37 pmaaaaand thats why we’re on suspension AND probation this term!
11 years ago at 1:11 pm^whiteknight
11 years ago at 1:45 pmI agree with what youre saying, but responsibility does fall on the shoulders of brothers who allow someone to get that fucked up in the first place. Risk management at our chapter makes sure that if someone gets that fucked up at our house, whether its from drinks they had there or prior, we find there friends to get them the fuck home.
11 years ago at 1:27 pmHis point in the article was that these girls are pregaming, not getting drunk at the event. I know it happens, but in his article he specifically referenced alcohol controlled events and pre-gaming.
11 years ago at 1:44 pmI guess I never really experienced this. My worst worry was whether or not they were going to get up early enough to pack up what was left of the dignity and GTFO.
11 years ago at 11:00 amThat Jezebel comment just made my day
11 years ago at 11:08 amDrunk girls aren’t an issue that needs to be dealt with, sober ones are.
11 years ago at 11:27 amYou’re the reason we get in trouble. By making it look like you have to be drunk to have fun, not that it’s just one way. Keep your mouth shut
11 years ago at 12:53 pmOnce as an undergrad there was a chubby girl who had been following around this good looking football player all night. She stalked him to a dorm bathroom stall. He passed out and she started giving him head. One of his brothers saw that she was taking advantage of him and said, ” you are raping him.” She took off. Ten minutes later she comes back with an RA and the police and claimed she was assaulted. She wanted the school to convict him but refused to cooperate with the police. Luckily the brother got a lawyer who got the police involved and the detectives figured out what happened.
11 years ago at 11:47 amThe other part of this problem is that the Feminazi groups have convinced women that a “victimhood” is a
resume builder.
happens all the time: http://www.thefire.org/falsely-accused-of-rape/
11 years ago at 12:06 pmNo she was not. But she does claim she was an assault victim (whose attacker is on the loose) in various blogs. Many chapters do not realize where the real threat is coming from. It is coming from the Feminazi groups who convince women that any encounter with a man constitutes grounds for rape.
11 years ago at 1:19 pmWas she charged and convicted?
11 years ago at 12:39 pmNo she was not. But she does claim she was an assault victim (whose attacker is on the loose) in various blogs. Many chapters do not realize where the real threat is coming from. It is coming from the Feminazi groups who convince women that any encounter with a man constitutes grounds for rape.
11 years ago at 1:17 pmThe ideology that “Rape is an evil act committed by evil people.” is just something that people need to have drilled into their heads. A person does not commit rape because of their gender or Greek affiliation or lack there of.
11 years ago at 11:49 am