Does Joining a Sorority Cause Body Dissatisfaction?

For many college women, being involved in “Greek Life” is an important part of transitioning to college. Known as being one of the best decisions of your collegiate life, sororities are typically viewed as a representation of the familial aspect of sisterhood. However, when looking closely at certain aspects associated with sorority life such as: the process of joining, the exclusive nature of sororities, and hazing issues (amongst others) you have to ask yourself. Does joining Greek Life have more cons than pros?

Here at Stetson University, there are 7 sororities to chose from. 32% of the school is involved in Greek Life. Recruitment takes place during the first semester of the academic year, so early on girls are thrown into a crazy, competitive, and intimidating atmosphere through the process known as RUSH. Recruitment lasts only 3 days. It begins with open houses, then first rounds, second rounds, preference day, and bid day.

As a sorority member, I can admit the process of finding your home within a sorority isn’t a walk in the park. Starting off with 7 sorority houses, it’s easy for girls to lose confidence in themselves when a sorority doesn’t ask them to come back. Especially when their options begin to dwindle down. I have seen countless girls crying because they felt like they were not good enough to be in a sorority.

With this I decided to take a look at how sororities truly affect girls body images.

In a new study “Here’s Looking At You: Self-Objectification, Body Image Disturbance, and Sorority Rush”, conducted by senior Ashley Marie Rolnik at Northwestern University, 127 girls between the ages of 17–20 participated in a study that examined body image issues associated with membership in a sorority. A total of 68 girls out of the 127 girls were participating in sorority recruitment whereas the other 59 did not. 67% of the participants were white, 16 % were East Asian, 6% percent were Hispanic, 2% were African-American, 4% biracial, and 5% other.

The study attempted to determine whether or not sorority participants were more likely to practice self-objectification — defined as accepting a self-image based on an outsider’s perspective — as well as whether women rushing sororities were more likely to show signs of eating disorders.

The results showed that going through the recruitment process may have profoundly negative effects on body image and self-esteem, as hopeful new members are often evaluated mainly on their outward appearance, putting a great deal of pressure on young women to look a certain way and be a specific size to find their home within a sorority.

The participants of the study “Here’s Looking At You: Self-Objectification, Body Image Disturbance, and Sorority Rush,” were initially asked a series of demographic and personal questions, including their age, height, and weight, whether they planned to go through sorority recruitment, and whether they were involved in other extracurricular activities.

The participants studied were first-year students who were sent email surveys at four intervals: one pre-screening asking if they would be participating in recruitment, an initial study asking about body image and demographics a few days before recruitment, one a few days into recruitment, and after recruitment is over and the new members have found their home, the day that students typically receive their bids to commit to a sorority and a final set of questions one month after recruitment. At the final interview, participants were asked their opinion of the recruitment process and if they had accepted a sorority bid.

The study finds that the mean score on the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), which measures eating habits and opinions for both women going through recruitment and women who are not, was “well below the proposed cut-off score that indicates a clinical level of eating disturbance.”

Only the women who accepted their bids to sororities were included in the sorority recruitment group, and only those who did not participate in recruitment were included in the non-recruitment group. The study further finds that “women who participated in sorority rush had higher levels of self-objectification”, adding that there was a negative correlation between body mass index (BMI) and finishing the recruitment process.

In terms of self-objectification, the group of girls who went through recruitment scored significantly higher. Rolnik also measured body-shame, which was measured by certain variables such as: feelings of guilt and shame in terms of appearance, time, and sorority interaction. As recruitment participants increased, feelings of shame about their bodies grew gradually even as they interacted more with fellow members.

Appearance, or perceived attractiveness, undoubtedly had an effect on those who went through with recruitment. While the study finds no causation between sororities and self-resentment, it does raise some questions about who chooses to go through recruitment: What are these young women looking for? What issues do they experience as a result of joining a sorority?

According to Rolnik “The most consistent finding was that women who chose to rush scored higher on self-objectification and eating disorder behavior and attitudes (particularly attitudes and behaviors associated with bulimia) compared to women who chose not to rush.” “Furthermore, the group differences in these variables were stable throughout rush and at the one-month post-test”.

Another research I found was a 2007 New York Times article that describes how one sorority at DePauw University in Indiana dealt with a body image issue, where some of the sisters in that sorority kicked out their overweight members. According to Delta Zeta, the reasoning for this was some of the members worried about having a negative stereotype within the sorority. Some of the members believed that the overweight members contributed to the decline in membership that had left their sorority house almost empty. Some of Delta Zeta’s national officers interviewed 35 DePauw members, quizzing them about their commitment to recruitment. They judged 23 of the women as “insufficiently committed and later told them to vacate the sorority house,” the article states, “the 23 women evicted were all the sorority’s overweight women, and of the 12 members allowed to stay, 6 quit the sorority out of anger.”

Even though I have not personally experienced body image issues, I know people who have, which is often a serious topic that remains ignored.

I had the pleasure of interviewing two girls, both asked to keep their names and affiliation private. I asked both girls these question: Have any of them experienced body image issues since joining a sorority? and How did it make them feel?

One responded: “I have been insecure about my body since High School and though I have come to grips with loving myself, I can reflect on a time when I joined my sorority, and though entering a sorority did not influence my issues within myself, just seeing girls in my sorority with nicer bodies than myself did make me insecure and put pressure on me to look a certain way. My sisters loved and embraced me the way that I am but I hated how they put emphasis on making sure they ate and dieting, or how they called themselves fat but were 20–30 pounds lighter than me, it made me ask myself should I be just as concerned with my body as they are? Do they really think I’m fat and are just too nice to come out and say it? It for sure put pressure on me to look my best at all times. If they couldn’t love themselves at 120 pounds how could I love myself the way I am at 155 pounds? So I think that many sororities do put unrealistic expectations on body image, I just believe that many don’t intentionally put others down because of it.”

Another responded, “I have never experienced bullying or people putting me down because of my weight. But I have heard horrible stories from my friends at a different schools that have experienced issues with body image”.

Since the young woman I interviewed did not have a personal testimony about experiencing the harsh realities of sororities body shaming them I asked her to tell the story of her friend.

“My friend ended up dropping her sorority due to hazing issues. They literally put everyone on a diet and whoever didn’t lose enough weight were automatically kicked out. Though my friend wasn’t forced to leave, she decided that this was not the sorority for her and that the process was too stressful and she didn’t like how women were picked apart and judged based off of their weight”.

According to Eating Disorder Hope, “The decision to join a sorority involves a social and financial commitment, one that could have emotional and mental implications as well. If you have previously suffered from body image issues, an eating disorder, or low-self esteem, it is important to consider all facets of joining a sorority.” It is important to make sure that you and the young women you will be spending the next four years with have your best interest at heart.