of frats, rape culture and #tfm

[niyad]

Of Frats, Rape Culture and #TFM

Freshman year of college, as I was on my way to my first fraternity party, I remembered the rule: Don’t bring any guys. Only girls would be let in to drink the free “jungle juice,” concocted by the fraternity guys. Looking back, I now realize what this rule was for: more chances for the frat guys to score.

There have been a number of headlines lately about sexual assaults filed against fraternity members. Two Yale students reported a sexual assault at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house; a Montana State University student was drugged and raped at a Pi Kappa Alpha house; three sexual assaults were reported in less than a month at Sigma Phi Epsilon of the University of Texas-Arlington, and the list goes on. Studies have found that 55 percent [PDF] of campus gang rapes are committed by fraternity members, and fraternity members are three times more likely than non-fraternity members to commit rape.

So why are the sexual assault rates in fraternities so high? For one thing, fraternities tend to enforce gender norms of men showing off their masculinity and power over women. Take the hot-spot website for fraternity members, totalfratmove.com. Popular columns such as “An Ode to Shackers” explain the all-too-common embarrassment felt when a frat brothers realizes he slept with a girl who was than a “10? and not “anything to boast about,” but, hey, she was there, so why not? The article explains:

You figure you might as well take advantage of the situation. You’re still a tad drunk, and some morning sex wouldn’t hurt. … Alright, sexually dissatisfy her and get her the hell home.
Pronto. The website also includes a wall that fraternity members can post to with the hashtag #TFM (total frat move). #TFMs include such gems as “Your friend having a ‘very important and private question’ for you as soon as the ugly girl starts talking to you,” or “Complimenting a pledge’s girlfriend on her cleavage.”
. . . .
Sexual assault should not be #TFM


http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/03/03/of-frats-rape-culture-and-tfm/

[Sherman A1]

1. Interesting report

I thought many of the comment were good responses to an interesting piece.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Followed one of the links back to a CNN page and found this:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/09/opinion/foubert-fraternities-rape/

What was particularly remarkable about our study is that we found that it was the fraternity experience that led men to be more likely to rape. We traced entering freshmen from the time they got to campus through their first year of college. We asked them whether they committed acts of sexual violence before they got to college (many had). We then compared the rates of sexual assault among men who joined fraternities to the rates of sexual assault among men who did not join fraternities.

In 2011: Vermont fraternity chapter closed over rape survey

What we found was highly instructive. Before they got to college, fraternity men were no different from other male students. They committed the same number of incidents of sexual assaults before college. But here's the difference. Guys who joined a fraternity then committed three times as many sexual assaults as those who didn't join. It is reasonable to conclude that fraternities turn men into guys more likely to rape. Our study confirmed that fraternities provide the culture of male peer support for violence against women that permits bad attitudes to become treacherous behavior. And that should concern everyone.

"Male peer support for violence against women"? Just ick.

[niyad]

3. when I was in college, one of the fraternities was almost disbanded nationwide for excessive

drinking. I want to know why the national governing bodies are not taking action now. . .

silly me, what the heck was I thinking???