Talk:Rape Culture in Fraternities

Hello!

Great topic, and very interesting wiki to read. As a sorority woman myself, this is definitely a topic that is well-discussed in the Greek community, but is still an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed on many college campuses across Canada and the U.S. I personally found the statistics that you included in the Wiki shocking, but also very intriguing because it really shows how serious, and important this issue is. Also, great references that you used in this topic!

Hello!

Thank you for discussing such a controversial issue that most universities tend to be quiet about; this is such a real issue that needs to be properly addressed with great consequences. The different age groups and ethnicities that you wrote about were interesting for me to read, and it was interesting that examples were used to better exemplify such a toxic culture in post-secondary frat houses. I would suggest to double check for grammar (eg: 'who does it effect?' should be 'who does it affect?'). Thank you!

I am really glad you pursued this topic, as this is still a very relevant and often ignored SJ issue, especially as UBC is very much implicated in this. I would suggest moving the "rape culture" section to the introduction, and then shortly discussing what the rest of your page will cover. There are so many concepts in the page, such as the "Greek system" that reader might not know about, so linking it to Wikipedia pages might be an idea! I like your "what type of men join frats" section, as it explains much of the homogeneity that is present and the cult-likeness of frats. I would suggest making the Turner case study a subsection of section 3, as it would make it easier to read. I like the way you layed out the "how frat men endorse rape culture," and the points you've made. It might be worth expanding the "alcohol" section to consent in general or impairedness, as that pertains more to the section information, rather than solely alcohol (e.g. would drugs be included in this idea of 'working out a yes'?). I'm glad you added the "who does it effect?" section, as an intersectional analysis provides even greater levels of understanding.

Hello,

I enjoyed reading your wiki page as I find that not many people have the guts to broach this topic similar to that of an elephant in the room. You hear stories while attending post-secondary of occurrences of sexual assault and rape happening at fraternity parties but I never consciously linked it to the title rape culture. The statistics you include in this topic are very useful and informative for readers as you can see the high probability of sexual assaults and similar happenings occurring in places where rape culture is very prominent. One thing I could suggest is how hazing rituals for newly joined members may be related to this topic.

I chose your wiki page because being a woman who was in the greek system once, your topic interested me. I appreciate the amount of references you used because before I read your piece, I did not agree with all your points as it has not been the experience I have been exposed to at UBC. The research is compelling and has really shifted the way I view rape culture on university campus. However, I would note that some of the terminology is generalizing hundreds of men into a single category, so insure that you are cautious of this. Great piece, keep up the good work!

Hello Aly! I want to first say how this is a great topic as it is such a prevalent and important matter to constantly bring awareness too. I think you did a great job in explaining your topic and it's different components in detail. I do appreciate the amount of well incorporated references in supporting your wiki page because I have come to see topics being ignored when there isn't a sufficient amount of information at your hands which I think you did great on! I think it would be interesting to see what other minority fraternities are like or fraternities in different geographical locations if that changes anything at all depending on the culture of the country and city.

Hi Aly,

Great job on your page thus far. I agree with Avneer, in that I appreciate the amount of references you included. It is very helpful as it gives readers the opportunity to expand beyond your post and indulge into the world of knowledge. I encourage you to check out the book Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood and Privilege on Campus. It is another relevant resource to your chosen topic that I noticed you have not mentioned in the references.

Great work, Krysten.

Hi Aly, I am so glad you did all this research to expose the Universities' little secrets about how many fraternies have this sort of obscene "rape culture" not only existing, but imposed on their new pledges and members. Your analysis of the songs they teach new pledges makes it clear that women are objectified and the fraternity "brothers" think sexually assaulting women is something they can joke and sing about. This sort of "rape culture" is why my parents chose not to send me to an American university but decided Canada is a safer place for a single female university student. The high percentages of women who have either been raped, assaulted or pressured into having sex which you included in your Wiki report makes me ill. Thank you again for tackling a difficult topic and showing how some men, especially privileged white young males, think about women and use their high social status to force women to have sex with them. Your post is well researched, well organized, and dealing with a topic that is very relevant to this course and to our classmates.

Hi Aly!

Thank you for your contribution, I think you've done a great job at discussing the way rape culture manifests and is often promoted in fraternities. You've done a great job with taking an intersectional lens to the subject as well. Your mention of the Brock Turner case was a very good example of how rape culture perpetuates particularly for white fraternity members.

One topic that I think would be a great addition to your Wiki entry is media and popular culture representations of rape culture in fraternities. For example, many very popular films from the '70s such as Animal House and the National Lampoon series heavily idealized fraternities that were heavily entrenched in rape culture. I know that when I was in first year university, many of the men I lived in residence with loved those films and looked up to those characters. In reality though, the films promoted facets of toxic masculinity like binge drinking, as well as rape culture through objectification of women and "hooking up" with women too intoxicated to give consent. It might be interesting to look at the impact that can have, and the use of movie stills would add some visual appeal to your entry.

Hello Aly,

I think you have done a very good job on your wiki post. Your post is detailed and well organized. You have clearly explained what rape culture is and how this serious issue is more prominent in fraternities with several factors/examples. What I like in particular is the adoption of intersectional analysis of race, social- economical status, gender and education level to explain which type of people are more likely to be offenders and victims. Good work!

Hello hello!

First of all, this is such an important topic to tackle, and you did so very well! Your Wiki page is extremely detailed, very well-written and you did a good job in applying an intersectional lens to your discussion. Indeed, rape culture at university and most importantly in fraternities has been a topic that has slowly come to light, despite the huge and urgent progress that needs to be made. It would also be interesting if you discussed a bit the differences (if there are any) between the institutional structures encouraging rape culture in predominantly white fraternities with the institutional structures in predominantly black or other minority fraternities (as suggested by Talia). Moreover, you could also bring up why and how the universities themselves have mostly remained silent on the issue, while in reality, they should be the first ones to raise awareness and act. You already wrote quite an extensive amount, so these are just suggestions!

Best of luck!

Hi Aly, this is a great Wiki page and a really interesting topic. You bring up the subject of race a number of times and it got me thinking about how rape culture may look different in black fraternities compared to the those dominated by upper-class white men. I came across an article which I think highlights the ways in which the institutional/structural factors that perpetuate rape culture among predominately white fraternities may be less present among black fraternities. Here is the citation in case you are interested:

Ray, R., & Rosow, J. A. (2012). The two different worlds of Black and White fraternity men: Visibility and accountability as mechanisms of privilege. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 41(1), 66-94.

Best,

Talia

Thanks Talia!

Hi Aly,

This is such an important topic and you did a really good job breaking it down into a very indepth conversation. I think one thing we all forget about is that, just like sexism has a movement, or racism has spokes people, intersectional issues also needs to be changed. However, since it seems like an issue much larger than us, people may be afraid to address it. But I like how you address it and did research on it! :)

Cheers,

Thushara