Sororities play an important role in the process by which sorority women
become gendered by influencing members' ideas about what it means to be a
woman. Women and men become gendered through regular social interaction with
other women and men, and sororities have a particularly strong impact on their
members because sorority women spend nearly all of their time with other Greeks.
Gender is one of the major ways that we organize our lives and gender is the
texture and foundation of our social, political, and economic worlds. This is why
we must consider the consequences of gender negotiation in all arenas, including
sororities.
For the most part, the sorority women who participated in this study
negotiated traditional gender arrangements and constructed conservative identities.
Sororities on this Pacific Northwestern university created and perpetuated
conformity, dependence and political apathy in their members. These organizations
developed an environment in which gender stereotyping and victimization was
learned and then legitimized. Within these organizations, however, are pockets of
resistance, non-compliance, empowerment, and what could be called "potentially
feminist" gender negotiation. / Graduation date: 2003
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/28638 |
| Date | 05 June 2002 |
| Creators | Gilmore, Jennifer |
| Contributors | Shaw, Susan |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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