apology
ok, so i've been a major bitch recently, and i know i've bummed quite a few people out. i'm just bitter and i'm trying to get over it. so i'm sorry if i've hurt your feelings recently or blown you off. i didn't really mean it. it's not you, it's me. haha, thats always fun to say.
ok, on to better things
review of pledged: the secret life of sororities
first and foremost, this book proves that publishers are prey to good looks as much as anyone else (the photo on the back book sleeve was illuminating and probably the only reason why this book was published). robbins has nothing new to say and relies on the shock value of her material to sell books. the media has used the greek system as a scapegoat for years now, and she definitely does not buck that trend. while she claims neutrality, really she reams the sorority system and then puts a disclaimer in her final chapter that states that she is not pro- or anti-greek. for every positive sentence she might put in to keep that objective stance, there are chapters dedicated to her "revealing" the injustice of the system. she often comments on her outsider, insider, outsider status. labeling it that way implies a certain mentality, does it not? it would be better if some academic infiltrated the system.
her observations are trite and basically a compilation of every news article that has been written before on the subject. most importantly, while she chronicles the lives of a few sorority girls, she speaks nothing of her own experience. she freakin lived there for an entire year, is she saying that she did not participate at all? and if she didn't, how could she possibly uphold that she spent a year undercover? the only time she mentions any part of her own behavior in the house is when she tries to "talk some sense" into the girls, definitely speaking to her own insecurities and desire to be viewed a certain way by her readers. while her list of references is impressive, thank goodness she had that many otherwise i would have been bored to tears with her insights.
something that she did not take into account when considering why sororities were formed was that it was a way to empower women - a counter to the "men only" mentality. they formed their own clubs, so why not us too? it is a feminist movement cloaked in antiquated practices that protected it in its infancy. it was a way for women, having been isolated and controlled by fathers and husbands for so long, to attempt to coalesce and protect each other. though it often fails, how is trying a bad thing?
also, no system is perfect. look at our freakin government, for example. interestingly enough, the majority of political players are greek. so what does that say about the nature of power? yet, the exposes about the government are few and far between and completely arbitrary, often because of clearance issues. i believe that robbins could have wasted her time on a much more worthy agenda...how about the iron fist of media control?
(Read comments)
|
