Hegemonic+Backdrop+Kylie+Harrington

Hegemonic Backdrop

The current existing discourse surrounding Greek life and sexual assault is portrayed as two sides of a coin; the first side is those trying to eliminate sexual assault on campuses and reacting to sexual assaults occurring on campuses in relation to fraternity chapters by banning Greek life or fraternities from campuses. The second side is the fraternities and sororities on campuses perpetrating or ignoring these problems with sexual assault and instead continuing displaying negative behaviors. This issue is presented as black and white in the media when in actuality it's more nuanced than two sides to a coin. The Greek life system is often presented as directly opposing the prevention of sexual assault, when many fraternity and sorority chapters are actively working against sexual assault on either their campuses or organizations. The assumptions that exist in making these conclusions it that all Greek houses are created equal and can be grouped together, when in reality they often have large differences both between different chapters of the same organization, and among organizations. Additionally, many existing assumptions about rape and sexual assault exist that cloud the perception of this in addition to perceptions about Greek life, thus presenting often dangerous and heavily gendered views of sexual assault, especially when it occurs to a sorority woman or in conjunction with alcohol. An additional discourse within the Greek community is the balance between competition between chapters on campus, and the communal feeling of being part of a larger group of fraternities and sororities. There is also an additional view of Greek life as something for the privileged, white people of America and while this may be largely true to assume that everyone involved in Greek life is white or wealthy is inaccurate and does those that don't fit into those categories a disservice.