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Whilst I was studying abroad in 2010 a new format of reality television, partly scripted, swept the genre in the UK. With the likes of The Only Way is Essex, Geordie Shore and Made in Chelsea exploding in popularity, the country was gripped to their screens watching scenes which were often “created for entertainment purposes” rather than actual reality. This autumn, now fully immersed back in English television, I saw an advert for an upcoming show on e4 titled Sorority Girls. Having partaken in Greek rush week, and joined a sorority while in America the previous summer, my interest was piqued. Due to an immensely busy first semester I have only just gotten the chance to watch any of the show; I say down to watch the first episode yesterday after a friend asked me if it was anything like reality. In straight and immediate answer to her, no it is not. That is not to say that the show is a complete breach of anything sorority-related, or that it hasn’t even attempted to stay faithful to the concept it is based on, but the truth is that sororities and fraternities are just an inherently American notion, one that does not translate easily across the Atlantic. 

Now I am only reviewing the show based off of the first and last episodes, so please forgive me if I have been too quick to judge and it becomes a completely different program between episodes 2 and 7! From what I have seen from the first show, five American girls from sororities at different universities in Florida, Washington, California and Colorado travel to Leeds to create a new sorority and run a form of Rush Week. The idea of a Rush Week on American campuses is to visit each and every one of the sororities on campus, meet with the girls and through a process of mutual elimination choose a sorority that suits you personally. The recruitment process is completely different to the one shown on the program, it is much more official, professional and overseen by the Pan-Hellenic council that administer Greek life nationwide.

My experience of Rush Week at Louisiana State University in August of 2010 was an eye-opening one. Hundreds of freshmen girls and some sophomores and juniors take part in each year, with nearly every single girl finding a place at one of the ten sorority houses on campus. LSU has a strong Greek presence with approximately 17% of undergraduates partaking in Greek life. The girls rushing are split into groups of approximately twenty led by a Gamma Chi (an initiated sister from one of the sororities who is forbidden from revealing her sorority or attempting to influence the choices made by any potential new members.) Rush week is broken down into five sections: two days of “Ice water” round, two days of the “philanthropy” round, one day for the “skit” round, and “preference” round is held on the Friday night before bid day. “Ice water” are casual thirty minute meetings between the sisters of a house and two or three Gamma Chi groups, you are required to wear smart day-appropriate clothing with flat shoes and this round is where first impressions will be made. Each Gamma Chi group will visit each sorority house once over the two days and talk with the girls of each house after being greeted with a door chant and a glass of iced water, the ice water is a southern tradition due to the intense Louisiana heat of august.

At the end of the two days, each potential new member will rank every sorority in order of preference. The sororities will also do this, and once the answers are matched up girls will then be cut: if you are not favored by one of your top preferences then you are likely to be cut, but also if you do not rank highly a sorority that ranks you as one of their best then you will not be invited back to their house either, it is a process of mutual selection. The next day all potential members will be given a list of the sororities to which they have been invited back and a timetable of when to visit these houses. This continues throughout the next two rounds of “philanthropy” and “skit” until finally it is preference night where most girls are left with one, two or three choices and once the evening is over they must finally rank them. The morning of bid day each girl remaining (the year I took part every girl that was left on bid day –some had dropped out- was given a bid) is given their bid and is collected by one sister from their chosen sorority and taken down to the house for a day of celebrations and getting to know all the new pledges.

This process of mutual selection is one that has not, but also could not, be emulated in the UK. Due to there being no certified sororities in England, there is no sense of a balance of power, the girls competing to join the sorority have no other choices so the whole selection process can be turned into often humiliating television. The practice in the show of open judging also completely contradicts the experience I had. The most secretive part of sorority life at LSU is rush week: most sorority girls disable their Facebook accounts so that potential new members cannot contact them. Contact between sisters and potential new members outside of official Greek events is strictly forbidden, this is to create the professional atmosphere required and also to stop any form of corruption in the form of promised bids or coercion of the potential new members. Obviously it would be difficult to have a rush week with just one option for which sorority to join, however turning the whole tradition into a televised reality competition truly goes against what sororities themselves stand for.

The secrecy of sororities has been very much played up in the show and Sigma Gamma has been given an atmosphere of the occult: the blessing of the house by the girls whilst wearing capes demonstrates this, this is not a usual sorority practice and I for one definitely never saw a cape around campus. Although there are some elements of secrecy to Greek life, such as the pledge ceremony, there are no secret passwords to enter the house, unless the backdoor alarm code counts! In the final episode the pledges are asked to partake in a ritual of lying in a coffin for an hour: this is quite frankly ridiculous and no sorority would ever ask its pledges to do this, not least because it would constitute a form of hazing, a practice completely banned from Greek life. Although I do not doubt that the five girls drafted from American universities are sorority girls, some of the practices and rituals that were performed on the show seemed from my perspective to go against everything I saw of Greek life last year. Sorority girls on LSU’s campus are encouraged to be friendly to everyone (some are even banned from walking around with headphones in, in case this is deemed rude), welcoming and kind. Obviously this is not the case all the time, and in the instance of the show the girls are creating a sorority from scratch, however it does not feel very much like the idea of a sorority from how I have observed them.

So to answer the question I pose in the title of this post, should we go Greek? The answer is a no. Greek life is one of those aspects of American university life that make it so different from the UK experience. The show, although it does fight against the stereotypes of sorority girls as blonde idiots, it highlights the drastic differences between American university girls and their British counterparts. Sororities are based upon family ties and history dating back to the formation of the first American colleges; created around the ideas of philanthropy and sisterhood, sororities do not sit well in the culture of UK university life. Without a strong base of several sororities, Greek life cannot be true or effective and the culture of British universities, a much stronger focus on drinking than on charitable acts, means that the very principles of sorority life could not easily sit on UK campuses. 

The already initiated Kappa Alpha Theta members greeting the bid girls on bid day 2010.

The lawn decoration at the Kappa Alpha Theta house.

Each sorority creates a lawn decoration and decks their house with welcoming decorations for the new members on bid day.

The new members of Kappa Alpha Theta on bid day, August 2010.

The goody bag given to every bid girl.

The Kappa Alpha Theta house, situated on Sorority Row that overlooks the large lake on LSU campus.

“Sorority Girls” started airing tonight, and after seeing about five minutes of it I wanted to gag.

I would make a really long, strongly worded post about how horrendous it is right now, but frankly I’m too tired at the moment, and I don’t have time to find/watch the whole episode so that I can make a proper outcry against it here.

It will be done, however.

For now, people please don’t watch it, or at least if you do, don’t believe anything it shows you.  From what some of my sisters (and friends from other sororities that I have on facebook) have been saying it’s completely awful and incorrect and terrible.  

MJ EPISODE OF GLEE NIGHT IS RUINED.