Gender in Fraternities Regarding Rape Article Review

Sociology

Rape Culture & Frat Culture

The undergraduate experience is an important one for many young people in America and in the world. When young people go off to college, they have opportunities to have many experiences as well as experience the great array of college/university traditions. Unfortunately, there are a number of unsavory undergraduate traditions that many American youth experience. The subject of this paper will be upon one of the more pejorative and horrific traditions of rape and the sustainment of rape culture on undergraduate campuses, with specific focus of rape culture in the Greek (fraternity) systems. Joining a fraternity, known by a shorter moniker among young people, "frats," is a high point of many young men. Fraternities throw parties, participate in community service, and are one of the most likely places for an undergraduate woman to be raped and otherwise humiliated, assaulted, or disrespected. The paper will explore the differences among high risk and low risk fraternities as a means of analysis and ultimately conclusion as to what precise factors contribute to women's safety and overall fun at frat parties.

The 1996 article, "Why are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?" provides insightful and very useful research with regard to rape culture, fraternities, and the undergraduate experience. This article displays research into Greek culture and local bar culture for a specific undergraduate institution, which up until approximately three decades ago did not even admit women as students. The authors' research shows clear differences and patterns in Greek culture, frat culture, and local bar culture with respect to women's safety, positive co-ed socialization, and undergraduate sexuality. It is common knowledge among American youth and undergraduates that fraternities are places where youth use drugs, use alcohol, have sexual encounters, and socialize without adult supervision. What may not be common knowledge is that there are significant differences among fraternities.

Boswell and Spade identify two types of frats when considering the safety of women; they are "high risk" frats and "low risk" frats.(1996) The risk describes the relative probability that women will be forced into a sexual encounter, that there will be a high probability of gender segregated socialization, that there will be reckless ingestion of drugs & alcohol, and that the primary goal of co-ed socialization is sexual consummation rather than conversation, interaction, and other forms of non-sexual fun. (Broswell & Spade, 1996) As readers may infer, members of high risk fraternities are more likely to regard women as nameless, faceless objects who are worthy of ridicule, abuse, and to be the willing subject/participant in any and all of their sexual advances and/or desires.

Brothers at high risk fraternities do not perceive women as three dimensional or real people. Women who attend parties at high risk fraternities are rated on their physical appearance and their perceived willingness to participate in sexual activities with the brothers, such as "hooking up," which the authors demonstrate to be a relative term among males and females, as well as among males at high risk frat and those at low risk frats. Brothers at low risk fraternities are relatively less competitive than their high risk counterparts. Brothers at low risk fraternities have cleaner spaces for women, such as the bathrooms and main dance or socialization areas. (Boswell & Spade, 1996) This is just one of many ways that high risk frats demonstrate their primary objective for women which to satisfy them sexually, in a one dimensional manner that involves the abrasive and direct dehumanization of the women in attendance of their parties.

From the perspective of this author, the identification of the main source or cause for the problems described in the article is very difficult. From my perspective, before I can answer or try to answer what causes the problems….....