The New Scarlet Letter
“At the time I had never heard of Greek groupies. Greek groupies were girls who were called hoes for dating fraternity guys. Whether they wanted to they were judged and labeled.” Solomon Hillfleet, Fuck Boy
The following is an excerpt from my book Fuck Boy. The chapter known as Greek Girls examines a relationship I had with a girl I dated in college. Her relationships with various guys who were a part of various fraternal organizations led to whispers from guys and girls alike. They called her and women like her greek groupies or Greek hoes. Curiously enough for all the vitriol spewed by men, women led the charge in a lot of cases, giving them the same hate given to women accused of only dating athletes.
The hierarchy of college campuses and in particular HBCU campuses dictates that the athletes and “Greeks” remained the highest prospects. Comparable to the dynamic of athletes and rappers in the real world, many people seek these people for the same reasons. For some women the allure of dating someone in these organizations was appealing. They dated someone who was deemed important and so they received power by proxy. (Thank you for introducing the term to me Nathan Villainosa). For others, the allure lied in their perceived sex appeal. Being desired by other women made them desirable. It is trivial but logical. Still, even more, puzzling is how this same dynamic goes unanswered on the other end. Individuals around me dated girls for the same reasons, dating women to boost their personal status (clout chasing as they say) or dating them for their sexual appeal. Solomon’s admits to doing the same in the novel, pursuing Lita after she crosses a sorority on campus.
Why then are women forced to endure societal judgment? Women face enormous pressure already to be appealing but not promiscuous. Are we relegating women to such medieval practices and telling them to be cognizant of who they date for fear of how they’ll be perceived? I say that it seems we are. Slut shaming is real and persists more than we care to acknowledge.
Much in the way Hester was castigated out and destroyed for her actions, women in college are judged for who they date and who they mate with. The only difference know is the letter isn’t an A. It’s Alpha, Kappa or Omega. Shoutout to Sigmas too.
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