College is meant to be an experience where one can learn, be free, feel safe and find out who they really are. There are many different paths one can take in their freshman year that will effect their entire experience at a university. Millions of people throughout the years have chosen to take the greek path, including myself. Aside from the diminishing presence of greek life in colleges, I love every aspect about it. But I can also see how some of the aspects can get guys into trouble if they aren't careful. In the reading Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture, it talks about how the atmosphere and conditions of a fraternity party can lead to trouble. A fraternity party is made by the members and therefore caters to the members. The males of the party consists of members, so all of them know each other. And females are usually girls from one or more sororities. All with the end goal of getting nice and drunk. Being at a party full of guys you are friends with, and girls that are attractive, is the optimal party situation for any male in college. This makes the guys feel comfortable and like the article states, dominant. To add fuel to the mentality of dominance, any fraternity party that occurs is destined to have alcohol. The alcohol usually consists in two forms: Natural Light, and a cooler full of "jungle juice", which is a mixture of liquor and juice or soda. The jungle juice can be problematic because of the liquor to juice ratio may be off. If the ratio is not correct, a single cup of juice can be equivalent to three drinks worth of liquor, causing someone to ingest three times alcohol than they think. On top of that, a typical female will prefer the taste of the jungle juice over the beer. And since the juice usually runs out before the beer, they will drink faster so they don't have to resort to Natty's in order to get drunk. And on top of THAT, the alcohol is provided free of charge for the females, so why not drink more now and spend less at the bars. This can lead a female guest to drink over their limit and do something they regret or don't even remember. That being said, the same thing can happen to a guy at a party, which can lead to an incident. If a guy becomes more and more drunk, it seems his superego and ego fade away and he is only left with his id. The id is ones instinctual and basic thoughts, the superego consists of ethical and moral values, and the ego is the organized, realistic part that balances desires from both the id and superego. A man that is too drunk will have similar desires to that of a neanderthal: food/water, sex, fights, or sleep. And their primitive states of mind can lead them to irrational assumptions and poor decisions. These factors combine to lead an individual to a night of fun or regret, and that is why fraternities get a negative stigma attached to them.
I think your post makes a lot of assumptions. Women are not the sole consumers of sugary alcoholic beverages, many men drink punch as well as mikes hard lemonade and reds apple ale, which both market themselves to men. As someone who has worked at a job where we sold alcoholic beverages, I have seen how effective said marketing is. I would say our perceptions of gender skew how we perceive who is drinking what. The punch is really present because many guests of all genders will leave if beer is the only option. I would agree that jungle juice is dangerous, but many people will not drink canned beer, which is probably the safest option.
ReplyDeleteMy other critique would be that these conditions are in no way unique to fraternity parties. The main difference is that at non-Greek parties there is no name to put to the hosts and their is no collective punishment if one host abuses this relationship, or if a guest causes harm to another guest. You also write as if sexual assault is caused by alcohol consumption in of itself, instead of the initiators inability to conduct themselves while intoxicated.
I completely disagree with this post. Personally, being your so called "target" of these parties is disrespectful and upsetting. Although maybe some men may have their main goal be to get wasted and end up with a girl by the end of the night, it is not everyone's. I agree with Kelley when he says that this post makes way too many assumptions. Being in a sorority It's sad to see that my fellow Greek Life member has such a different view in comparison to my own. In opposition to what you stated, I do not feel like I am the only intended drinker of your jungle juice nor do I agree with your statement that these conditions are only practiced at Greek Life parties and events. Kelley explains that the difference is that the other parties may not have a known host which is as to why there may not be a single person or group to blame for any harm occurring at the gathering.
ReplyDeleteI also disagree with this post. I feel as if alcohol is being blamed for the cause of gender based violence. Alcohol is a factor, however it is not the only factor. It does not matter what kind of drink is being consumed. Alcohol has an effect on the mind and can cause poor decision making, but it was chosen to be consumed. I would also like to add that these parties are not exclusive to only Greek life. Any party can turn into bad situations. The article you stated does only talk about Greek life but not for the reasons you exemplified. Yes, members in Greek life tend to consume more alcohol and drugs but some women find safety in some fraternities and feel as if they can drink and be safe around them. Like Kelley mentioned, Greek life is only blamed because other parties may not have a known host and cannot be targeted as easily. Not every person wants to get drunk and hook up with someone. Not every individual can be changed and respect both genders. We need to promote settings where we facilitate positive gender relations and interactions. Then Greek life would be less targeted.
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