By: Elisabeth Steinhardt
Posted In: Entertainment
Photo credit: Chelse Melina
Author: Alexandra Robbins
Publisher: Hyperion Format: Hardcover, 280pp Wanting to find out if the stereotypes about sorority girls were actually true and after the national office forbade locals from cooperating with Alexandra Robbins disguised herself as an undergrad and found four sorority women willing to risk expulsion to help her. Robbins shadows these four women through a year of sorority life and provides examples of various pledge practices and common sorority rituals. Along with the tales of these sorority women are facts and anecdotes about sorority life across the country. Robbins explores the sordid behavior of sorority girls and during her year-long investigation her worst expectations are proven to be true: binge drinking, drug abuse, eating disorders, blind obedience, racism and violence. She discovers that these problems were worsened by an environment which encouraged all of these behaviors. Robbins also dives into the controversy of black sororities versus white sororities. She says that historically, black sororities, have a reputation for promoting community service and sisterhood and historically, white sororities, which Robbins concludes through her research, are really just groups for making friends and meeting men, despite their claims to academics and community service. As a way to reform sororities, Robbins suggests more adult supervision, ending pledging, and thusly, ending binge drinking, drug abuse and the other problems related to these activities. I recommend this book to those who have friends or know women in sororities and/or men in fraternities. Since Salve, obviously doesn’t have fraternities or sororities, it’s interesting to see a life style Salve students aren’t exposed to (on campus at least). Overall, this book is a slow read. I recommend this book for those who need a light mindless read on their spring break.
