Stop stereotyping Greek women as materialistic

Yesterday, while I was scrolling through my Instagram feed I saw a few posts from Bluetique about their sorority benefit night being held that evening. They were promoting an event which was a competition to see which organization would have the highest attendance.

The winner would be given 10% of the profits from that night toward their philanthropy. Girls had been reminding us about it all week, and I was about to go to the store to grab a few things.

Until I saw this post.

“Do what you do best and…SHOP!”

Apparently what sorority women do best is shop! Never mind our contributions to the Chapel Hill community, our commitment to academics and our promotion of high standards among members. What we care about most is using daddy’s credit card to shop until we drop, because to us, what matters most is looking good and being well-dressed.

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “This isn’t a big deal at all, so why are you making it one?” In fact, none of my friends I’ve spoken to noticed this comment until I pointed it out to them. But this is just one small example of how misogyny and the stereotype of sorority women as egotistical, materialistic, rich girls is still prevalent, even in an open-minded place like Chapel Hill.

Yeah, I do like to shop. I love to buy new clothes and jewelry and feel pretty, because who doesn’t? But for Bluetique to insinuate that that’s what I’m BEST at – that my writing skills or my sense of humor or my commitment to service all come second to my ability to swipe a credit card – is pretty damn insulting.

Sorority women constantly hear snide comments about wearing our letters, the way we dress and the way we act when we are around each other, but if it’s “lighthearted,” no one says anything. Television shows still promote an idea that sorority women aren’t concerned with anything but getting drunk and looking good. Just yesterday I watched an episode of New Girl where a bunch of sorority girls listed fake names on a voter registration sign up, instead of actually registering to vote. Because, you know, who actually cares about voting?

Never mind that last year, Greek life at UNC logged over 24,000 service hours, maintained a higher GPA than non-Greeks and raised over $1.1 million for their respective philanthropies, according to the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.

Sorority women are already stereotyped as focused on their looks, not substance. For Bluetique to promote this idea at an event designed to support philanthropy is offensive to our women who organize 5Ks, plan Galas and do as much as they can to raise money and awareness for children, or heart health, or breast cancer.

Because while we may be good at shopping, we’re the BEST at practicing compassion, pursuing our future careers and supporting each other.