"The House Bunny" - Not so funny?

In movies, sororities and the girls in them are typically portrayed as slutty, popular, party girls.  One of these movies is the well-known comedy "The House Bunny".  In this movie, a former resident of the Playboy Mansion takes a "reject" sorority made up of "weird" girls under her wing and becomes their house mother.  Or rather, under her paws.  (Get it?  The House BUNNY?)  After the typical trials and tribulations that girls go through in order to become popular, the sorority reaches the high status that they so yearned for, under their house mother's care.

                 Before:

                 After:

Now, throughout the movie the house mother and former Playmate, played by Ana Ferris, teaches her sorority girls how to be stereotypically feminine/slutty sorority girls.  But why was it not good enough for them to just be themselves?  It is my opinion that movies like "The House Bunny", however hilarious they may be, are giving sororities the wrong idea.  After seeing this movie, many sororities undoubtedly tried to replicate the crazy parties that were advertised or to act the way Ana Ferris' character tried to get her girls to act.  They also may be more likely to reject those "weird" girls.

Sororities already have so many negative stereotypes attached to them; movies like "The House Bunny", although humorous, are only adding to the problem!

"The Look"

I've often wondered why girls have this sick desire to all look alike.  But, after coming to college, I've realized this: if a girl wants to get into a sorority, she has to have the look.  The straight, typically blonde hair, the tan skin, the excessive amounts make-up, and the skimpy clothes.  These are all physical attributes that nearly all sorority girls have.  I have yet to meet a sorority girl who looks, for example, like me: curly reddish hair, freckles, pale complexion, short and petite.  I do not fit into the stereotypical sorority girl form.  But why do sororities have this stereotypical image that their members must have?  Is it that they need to attract the most attractive males?  Do they feel the need to think that their sorority is the "prettiest"?  Do they seek to set high expectations for all other girls in the way they think they should look?  And is it fair to be exclusive based so heavily on appearance?

Walking around campus to my classes, I am struck by the girls who I pass.  Why do they all look so similar?  Each face is unique, but covered in too much make-up to really see the differences.  In many, many cases, all I see is blonde hair, heavy make-up, and tan skin.  Is this an attempt to reach the "ideal beauty" that is advertised in magazines and commercials?  My thought is this: why are sorority girls so predisposed to trying to look as "beautiful" as possible, instead of being naturally beautiful with what they were born with?  There are plenty of things about my appearance that I dislike, but because I believe in loving myself for who I am, I deal with what I have.  I make it work.  I feel like sororities put so much stock in appearances that their members can not truly embrace who they are.  How is this okay?

Gender roles in sororities

Have you ever noticed that there are few tom-boys, if any, in sororities?  I'm sure that there are also few, if any, lesbians.  Everyone is afraid of what is different, to an extent, and sororities are no different.  No girl wants to worry about whether or not her sorority sister is checking her out as they get ready for formal, or have fun in the sun on their beach day.  So sororities are biased against lesbians.  They have to worry about the comfort of most of their girls, so they exclude those who are different.  And as much as these girls can say that they have no problem with gay people, when a lesbian checks her out, she's running for the hills.

Sororities also have a stereotypical look (which I will most likely go into more detail about on a later date) that all of their sisters apparently need to confine themselves to.  Straight, silky hair, unnecessary amounts of make-up, tight, skimpy clothing.  Tom-boys do not fit into this ideal sorority girl standard.  And you never see a sorority girl dressed like a tom-boy.  But just because of the way they dress?  Yes, this is how shallow sororities can be.  Rush week is almost entirely based on looks and first impressions, and I can guarantee that a tom-boy would give the wrong first impression, despite how nice and charming she may be.

How is this okay?  People are so afraid of what is different that they are no longer even trying to broaden their horizons?  This looks bad for American society, and it looks straight up terrible for sororities.

Changes

In an attempt to narrow down the subject matter that I will be talking about, I have chosen to discuss only the most obvious stereotype on any college campus: Sororities.  Florida State is not an exception to this stereotype; it is evident almost everywhere on campus that sororities control a nice percentage of the females on this campus and that they more often than not conform to the "sorority girl" stereotypes.

With that in mind, I'll begin by posting this video:

In this video, the narrator outlines all of the "top reasons to join a sorority" all the while making fun of sorority girls through the way she talks, the way she acts, the way she looks, and what she is actually saying.  In future posts (probably the next post) I plan to analyze the points that this YouTuber makes about so-RAWR-ities.  For now, watch the video and laugh.  She's pretty funny.

The beginning

So here we go.  This blog will be all about the college experience and the stereotypes that are embedded in it.  And there are a lot of them, so get excited.  Hopefully nothing that I say will come off as offensive, but if it does, I am sorry in advance. 

So many things are subjective in today's society and there can be many opinions on any one topic.  To start, I would like to identify some of the main stereotypes that I will be adressing:
- Greek life
- Philanthropic organizations
- The different colleges within the university (College of Engineering, College of Music, etc.)

Of course, I'm not limiting myself to only talking about those listed above but I wanted to give some examples of what I will be discussing.  This is what I'm planning, so I hope you all enjoy reading it or at least understand where I'm coming from...