From: kristyp@coos.dartmouth.edu (Kristy Patterson)
Newsgroups: soc.college
Subject: Re: Frats
Date: 6 Nov 92 19:24:07 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

In article <IeyddWS00WB717aaRo@andrew.cmu.edu> es2q+@andrew.cmu.edu (Erik Warren Selberg) writes:
>kristyp@coos.dartmouth.edu (Kristy Patterson) writes:
>> fraternal (for lack of a gender-neutral term) organization is at all.  You say
>> that the fundamental purpose of your organization is male bonding, and that
>> women would screw it up if they were allowed to join.  But if they were, male
>> bonding wouldn't be the purpose of the house any more.  You seem to be
>> envisioning a house in which the brothers are still the foundation, and the
>> few token women are there to date the brothers, and that the problem with this
>> would be "[putting] the brothers at each others' throats."  Well, in a coed
>> house, women are full members, not play-toys of the brothers.  Inter-house
>> relationships can, of course, cause problems, but the sole problem is NOT
>> that it puts the men at each others' throats.  Try imagining a house where
>> the men and women are EQUAL.  The women aren't little sisters, and the
>> men aren't the "real" members.
>
>I am thinking of a house in which they are equal. The point I'm trying
>to make is that the addition of women into an all-male fraternity
>(likewise, men into a sorority) would cause more internal problems
>than I think it is worth. Also, in response to your point, the one of
>the purposes of a fraternity IS male bonding, and I see no reason why
>someone should try to change that purpose. If I want to bond, then
>that's my right.

I'm not trying to tell you not to bond; frankly, I don't really care if you
go coed or not, since it has nothing whatsoever to do with me.  The point
I'm trying to make is that you don't seem to have an understanding of what
a coed house is about at all.  Male bonding is NOT it.

>> And how do you expect anyone to gain the maturity to deal with relationships
>> if they don't experience them?  My house has had LOTS of great internal
>
>A fraternity shouldn't be a proving ground for love! A social
>fraternity should provide you with EXTERNAL OPPORTUNITIES for
>relationships, and should not be something like a "dating club."

WOMEN HAVE A PURPOSE BEYOND DATING.  A coed house is NOT a dating club, it's
NOT coed so that the members don't have to look outside for dates.  This is
exactly what I'm talking about; you're making statements about coed houses,
when you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.  Did I say
ANYTHING about fraternities or their purpose?  Only in quoting what YOU said.
I have no interest in telling you what to do, or in telling your fraternity
what to do; I would just ask you not to make ridiculous, untrue statements
about coed houses.  You're asking Ted and others not to make unfair general-
izations, and I would ask you to do the same.


-- 
   +==========================+============================================+
   |Kristy Patterson          |"One more date and we would have had a Greek|
   |kristyp@mac.dartmouth.edu |tragedy on our hands."     -Jeffrey Anderson|
   +==========================+============================Soapdish========+