Analysis of Traditional Greeks
Note: Underlined words are defined in the Background page.
The most obvious cases of transphobia can be found within structures of traditional Greek organizations:
1. ) Traditional Greek organizations fail to acknowledge transgender existence in their initiation documents.
a.) "Male” and "female” are not defined as self-identified. These documents make an assumption that all prospective members are cisgender.
b.) No mention is made of genders other than male and female. The gender binary is further perpetuated.
c.) No information is given on whether transgender students can join.
2.) Heavily gendered language/terminology exist in organization documents as well as in person at events.
a.) Within initiation documents and all over organization websites, emphasis is placed repeatedly on words such as "male", "men", "brotherhood", "female", "women", "sisterhood", etc.
b.) During in-person events and activities, speakers, hosts, MCs, and others address the crowd with "Ladies" or "Gentlemen".
Check out some initiation documents for yourself:
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Beta Theta Pi
Gamma Phi Beta
3.) Specific activities and organization as a whole are unnecessarily gendered.
Landyn, Emma, and Friend weigh in on their personal experiences:
We interviewed our friend, Addie, who is a senior genderqueer, transfeminine person who prefers they/them/their pronouns. Here's their story:
Addie wanted to join Greek life because of the increasingly high amount of Greek participation at Chapman University. Even though they identified as genderqueer instead of a binary woman, they gravitated towards sororities and sisterhood because they are transfeminine. When the sororities were aware that a trans person was rushing, many seemed to be supportive and the leaders made sure everyone referred to Addie as a woman, used she/her/hers pronouns, and treated them the same as everyone else. Still, Addie didn't identify as a woman and did not want to use she/her/hers pronouns. It was problematic of the sorority leaders to assume that Addie identified that way and assume that Addie preferred a certain type of pronouns based on the way they looked/dressed.
There were 10 sororities overall and the national/international organizations allowed each chapter to make their own decision on whether or not to allow trans members. While many girls were supportive, some complained about their discomfort of having an assigned-male-at-birth person in their sorority. Because of this, only one sorority continued to let Addie rush. In the end, Addie was not given a bid.
Looking back, Addie feels they might not have fit in all that well with a sorority mainly because they do not identify as a full binary woman. During the rush, they felt that cisgender women always pushed and policed femme culture and that might have been unhealthy for them in the long run. They don't believe that there is a place in traditional Greek life for non-binary people, but binary trans people could find a fit in traditional Greek life if it were more inclusive and educated.
Landyn: I felt the pressure to rush a fraternity because 1) everybody at the time talked about rush and 2) looking back, I felt like I almost wanted cisgender men to validate my male identity or that being in an exclusive men's space would validate my identity. I read in Kate Bornstein's My New Gender Workbook that your gender is a performance that changes depending on who you are interacting with (pg. 114). I found that to be very true at the one rush event I attended. I knew that the specific fraternity I was rushing was very liberal and open, so I felt free to express that I wanted to be active in Queer Straight Alliance and Chapman Feminists, but I still deepened my voice when talking and talked in a monotone (which is what I notice many cisgender men talk like). Knowing Addie's story and becoming aware of the stigma surround trans people in sororities, I couldn't bring myself to say that I am trans. I also remember distinctly the feeling I had when a couple guys took their shirts off, since it was a service event and we were working on plants in the hot sun. I haven't had top surgery yet, so I can't take my shirt off and while not everyone at the event had their shirt off, everyone could if they wanted to and I was the only one who couldn't. Automatically, I felt more excluded and wanted to hide myself. Even though everyone was open and accepting (at least I was told), I was free to express myself in a lot of ways, and nobody said anything remotely homophobic, queerphobic or transphobic, just the idea of the men's only space put a lot of pressure on me to act more masculine. I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Emma: When I initially decided to rush a sorority, I knew of the gender binary but had never considered the idea of transphobia, like many of the other girls. Leading up to rush, we had to go to several mandatory meetings which covered what events were to transpire within the following days. A huge topic of conversation at these meetings was what to wear and we were told to wear dresses, from casual to formal and it was suggested that we wear heels on the final day. This would pose as a problem not only to a trans student, but also to any girl who felt as though this did not fit her personality or her identity. In these meetings, I was first exposed to the constant use of the terms “ladies”, “women” and “sisters”. No one, while briefing us on what sororities were all about, mentioned what it meant to be any of these terms or mentioned anything trans-related.
After being accepted into my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, I began to realize how the topic of trans people was being completely looked over. In fact, it seemed as though it was a general assumption that all of the members are cisgender and straight. No information at all was supplied to us about gender or sexuality within the numerous books and handouts that we were given. A closeted trans person or even a gender non-conforming person would most likely feel stifled in such an extremely traditionally feminine environment, and anyone who does not present as femme would most likely not fit in either.
After we all spoke about the different events that we do throughout the year, it became more obvious that there was no real need for the binary system to be in place. We volunteer together for our philanthropy, have study hours, bonding events and go to dances, none of which have anything to do with gender. However, the gender binary is so instilled in the member’s heads that it will continue to exist.
The most obvious cases of transphobia can be found within structures of traditional Greek organizations:
1. ) Traditional Greek organizations fail to acknowledge transgender existence in their initiation documents.
a.) "Male” and "female” are not defined as self-identified. These documents make an assumption that all prospective members are cisgender.
b.) No mention is made of genders other than male and female. The gender binary is further perpetuated.
c.) No information is given on whether transgender students can join.
2.) Heavily gendered language/terminology exist in organization documents as well as in person at events.
a.) Within initiation documents and all over organization websites, emphasis is placed repeatedly on words such as "male", "men", "brotherhood", "female", "women", "sisterhood", etc.
b.) During in-person events and activities, speakers, hosts, MCs, and others address the crowd with "Ladies" or "Gentlemen".
Check out some initiation documents for yourself:
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Beta Theta Pi
Gamma Phi Beta
3.) Specific activities and organization as a whole are unnecessarily gendered.
Landyn, Emma, and Friend weigh in on their personal experiences:
We interviewed our friend, Addie, who is a senior genderqueer, transfeminine person who prefers they/them/their pronouns. Here's their story:
Addie wanted to join Greek life because of the increasingly high amount of Greek participation at Chapman University. Even though they identified as genderqueer instead of a binary woman, they gravitated towards sororities and sisterhood because they are transfeminine. When the sororities were aware that a trans person was rushing, many seemed to be supportive and the leaders made sure everyone referred to Addie as a woman, used she/her/hers pronouns, and treated them the same as everyone else. Still, Addie didn't identify as a woman and did not want to use she/her/hers pronouns. It was problematic of the sorority leaders to assume that Addie identified that way and assume that Addie preferred a certain type of pronouns based on the way they looked/dressed.
There were 10 sororities overall and the national/international organizations allowed each chapter to make their own decision on whether or not to allow trans members. While many girls were supportive, some complained about their discomfort of having an assigned-male-at-birth person in their sorority. Because of this, only one sorority continued to let Addie rush. In the end, Addie was not given a bid.
Looking back, Addie feels they might not have fit in all that well with a sorority mainly because they do not identify as a full binary woman. During the rush, they felt that cisgender women always pushed and policed femme culture and that might have been unhealthy for them in the long run. They don't believe that there is a place in traditional Greek life for non-binary people, but binary trans people could find a fit in traditional Greek life if it were more inclusive and educated.
Landyn: I felt the pressure to rush a fraternity because 1) everybody at the time talked about rush and 2) looking back, I felt like I almost wanted cisgender men to validate my male identity or that being in an exclusive men's space would validate my identity. I read in Kate Bornstein's My New Gender Workbook that your gender is a performance that changes depending on who you are interacting with (pg. 114). I found that to be very true at the one rush event I attended. I knew that the specific fraternity I was rushing was very liberal and open, so I felt free to express that I wanted to be active in Queer Straight Alliance and Chapman Feminists, but I still deepened my voice when talking and talked in a monotone (which is what I notice many cisgender men talk like). Knowing Addie's story and becoming aware of the stigma surround trans people in sororities, I couldn't bring myself to say that I am trans. I also remember distinctly the feeling I had when a couple guys took their shirts off, since it was a service event and we were working on plants in the hot sun. I haven't had top surgery yet, so I can't take my shirt off and while not everyone at the event had their shirt off, everyone could if they wanted to and I was the only one who couldn't. Automatically, I felt more excluded and wanted to hide myself. Even though everyone was open and accepting (at least I was told), I was free to express myself in a lot of ways, and nobody said anything remotely homophobic, queerphobic or transphobic, just the idea of the men's only space put a lot of pressure on me to act more masculine. I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Emma: When I initially decided to rush a sorority, I knew of the gender binary but had never considered the idea of transphobia, like many of the other girls. Leading up to rush, we had to go to several mandatory meetings which covered what events were to transpire within the following days. A huge topic of conversation at these meetings was what to wear and we were told to wear dresses, from casual to formal and it was suggested that we wear heels on the final day. This would pose as a problem not only to a trans student, but also to any girl who felt as though this did not fit her personality or her identity. In these meetings, I was first exposed to the constant use of the terms “ladies”, “women” and “sisters”. No one, while briefing us on what sororities were all about, mentioned what it meant to be any of these terms or mentioned anything trans-related.
After being accepted into my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, I began to realize how the topic of trans people was being completely looked over. In fact, it seemed as though it was a general assumption that all of the members are cisgender and straight. No information at all was supplied to us about gender or sexuality within the numerous books and handouts that we were given. A closeted trans person or even a gender non-conforming person would most likely feel stifled in such an extremely traditionally feminine environment, and anyone who does not present as femme would most likely not fit in either.
After we all spoke about the different events that we do throughout the year, it became more obvious that there was no real need for the binary system to be in place. We volunteer together for our philanthropy, have study hours, bonding events and go to dances, none of which have anything to do with gender. However, the gender binary is so instilled in the member’s heads that it will continue to exist.
What About When Traditional Greek Accept Trans Students?
Take a look at the following article: Trinity University Sorority Opens Up Rush to Trans Student
Pay attention not to the article itself, but more to the letter written by Trinity U’s Dean of Students, David Tuttle. On the surface it appears that the Zeta Chi sorority is making a progressive step, but we have reason to believe they aren’t as trans-friendly as the appear.
1.) The letter refers to Kwame, the trans prospective member, as a "male student" and uses he/him/his pronouns.
The Queerty article author refers to Kwame using she/her/hers pronouns and notes that Kwame approved the message so it means she was okay with being referred to as male adding that “pronouns can always be tricky for the unfamiliar”. This is true, but Dean Tuttle could have easily explained to the Greek Council Leaders that Kwame is male assigned at birth, but identifies as female and therefore prefers she/her/hers pronouns. Instead, it is clear that no effort is made to educate the “unfamiliar” about very basic trans knowledge and Dean Tuttle chose to tailor to these students rather than to respect Kwame’s identity. Kwame might have approved the message because she felt unsafe or uncomfortable asking the Dean to respect her pronouns or felt it was necessary to first tailor to cisgender students before herself because of internalized transphobia from being brought up in a transphobic, binary-enforced society.
2.) There is a lack of education and understanding when it comes to transgender issues because of this line: “Zeta Chi has made its identity distinctive for embracing all students, regardless of sexual identity.”
Being transgender is a gender identity, not a sexual identity. Failure to acknowledge that these two are different shows that Zeta Chi lacks even the most basic queer knowledge.
Tokenism is a symbolic effort to appear more diverse and inclusive. Our conclusion:
Towards the end of the letter, the Dean praises the Zeta Chi sorority and urges other Greek organizations to follow them in the lead to being more inclusive organizations. On the surface it sounds nice and progressive, but when looking more into it, it’s rather tokenizing. They are letting a transgender student rush for the sorority, but yet they know very little about queer and trans issues and do not seem to have real respect for her. Failure to use correct pronouns in order to tailor to people unfamiliar with trans issues shows that they are tailoring to an outside world rather than really trying to help transgender causes or be inclusive to this particular trans person. The letter could have easily been an effective platform to shed light on transgender issues and give basic trans 101 education on things like pronouns. Instead, there is too much emphasis on the sorority merely letting someone rush and too much praising.
Pay attention not to the article itself, but more to the letter written by Trinity U’s Dean of Students, David Tuttle. On the surface it appears that the Zeta Chi sorority is making a progressive step, but we have reason to believe they aren’t as trans-friendly as the appear.
1.) The letter refers to Kwame, the trans prospective member, as a "male student" and uses he/him/his pronouns.
The Queerty article author refers to Kwame using she/her/hers pronouns and notes that Kwame approved the message so it means she was okay with being referred to as male adding that “pronouns can always be tricky for the unfamiliar”. This is true, but Dean Tuttle could have easily explained to the Greek Council Leaders that Kwame is male assigned at birth, but identifies as female and therefore prefers she/her/hers pronouns. Instead, it is clear that no effort is made to educate the “unfamiliar” about very basic trans knowledge and Dean Tuttle chose to tailor to these students rather than to respect Kwame’s identity. Kwame might have approved the message because she felt unsafe or uncomfortable asking the Dean to respect her pronouns or felt it was necessary to first tailor to cisgender students before herself because of internalized transphobia from being brought up in a transphobic, binary-enforced society.
2.) There is a lack of education and understanding when it comes to transgender issues because of this line: “Zeta Chi has made its identity distinctive for embracing all students, regardless of sexual identity.”
Being transgender is a gender identity, not a sexual identity. Failure to acknowledge that these two are different shows that Zeta Chi lacks even the most basic queer knowledge.
Tokenism is a symbolic effort to appear more diverse and inclusive. Our conclusion:
Towards the end of the letter, the Dean praises the Zeta Chi sorority and urges other Greek organizations to follow them in the lead to being more inclusive organizations. On the surface it sounds nice and progressive, but when looking more into it, it’s rather tokenizing. They are letting a transgender student rush for the sorority, but yet they know very little about queer and trans issues and do not seem to have real respect for her. Failure to use correct pronouns in order to tailor to people unfamiliar with trans issues shows that they are tailoring to an outside world rather than really trying to help transgender causes or be inclusive to this particular trans person. The letter could have easily been an effective platform to shed light on transgender issues and give basic trans 101 education on things like pronouns. Instead, there is too much emphasis on the sorority merely letting someone rush and too much praising.
Still, there is a right way for traditional Greek organizations to be inclusive to binary trans people, without tokenizing them. Take the brothers at Phi Alpha Tau of Emerson College for example. One of their fraternity brothers, Donnie Collins, is transgender. At first, Donnie's insurance denied coverage for top surgery (removal of breasts to create masculine chest), but later changed so that they would cover most and leave Donnie with $2,000 left to cover. The fundraiser started with a goal of $2,000. Looking at their IndieGoGo fundraising page, here are many things this fraternity does right.
1.) It is evident that they actually care about trans people.
The first piece of evidence is that the fraternity brothers took the initiative to help their trans brother achieve the goal of getting surgery. Second, they note Emerson College's insurance policy language was changed after Donnie's insurance rejection incident. It is not said who worked to make these changes or whether or not Donnie and the fraternity brothers made that change, but clarifying that the policy language was changed proves that they are mindful of future Emerson trans students who opt for surgery. Third, the brothers gave nearly $20,000 in excess funds raised to the Jim Collin Foundation, an organization that gives surgery grants to trans people who can not afford it.
2.) They shed light on trans issues rather than bring attention to the fraternity itself.
Right from the beginning, they begin to shed light how even when insurance companies claim they cover trans health, rejection of coverage is still widespread. It sheds light on how language plays a big role in whether or not claims are rejected. While the fundraiser page does not give much background or history about insurance discrimination, it starts a conversation that leads to a bigger issue. The page includes links to the Jim Collins Foundation, so viewers can learn more about the struggles trans people face, especially in the financial and insurance discrimination realm, as well as to news articles about the fundraiser and Donnie’s videos, so viewers can learn more of Donnie’s back story and hear things from his perspective. At the bottom of the page, they even encourage discussion on the topic and allow viewers to contact them. This is a contrast to Zeta Chi, who did not leave contact information. The invitation for contact and discussions is a sign that the brothers at Phi Alpha Tau are open to educated others and helping others understand the issue.
Besides in the title of video found at the top of the IndieGoGo page, the name of the fraternity is not mentioned anywhere else. They speak of brotherhood and the value of supporting each other, but they do so in a universal sense that has nothing to do with their specific fraternity. They even mention that the fundraising endeavor is brought on by active brothers themselves rather than an event sponsored by the Phi Alpha Tau organization. Under a section titled “The Impact”, it reads “If you are on this page, it is most likely because an active brother has reached out to you. If you stumbled upon this page, even better.” This implies that unlike Zeta Chi, who appears to have used a trans person to bring attention to Zeta Chi, Phi Alpha Tau uses the fraternity’s name and network to bring attention to Donnie and trans issues.
1.) It is evident that they actually care about trans people.
The first piece of evidence is that the fraternity brothers took the initiative to help their trans brother achieve the goal of getting surgery. Second, they note Emerson College's insurance policy language was changed after Donnie's insurance rejection incident. It is not said who worked to make these changes or whether or not Donnie and the fraternity brothers made that change, but clarifying that the policy language was changed proves that they are mindful of future Emerson trans students who opt for surgery. Third, the brothers gave nearly $20,000 in excess funds raised to the Jim Collin Foundation, an organization that gives surgery grants to trans people who can not afford it.
2.) They shed light on trans issues rather than bring attention to the fraternity itself.
Right from the beginning, they begin to shed light how even when insurance companies claim they cover trans health, rejection of coverage is still widespread. It sheds light on how language plays a big role in whether or not claims are rejected. While the fundraiser page does not give much background or history about insurance discrimination, it starts a conversation that leads to a bigger issue. The page includes links to the Jim Collins Foundation, so viewers can learn more about the struggles trans people face, especially in the financial and insurance discrimination realm, as well as to news articles about the fundraiser and Donnie’s videos, so viewers can learn more of Donnie’s back story and hear things from his perspective. At the bottom of the page, they even encourage discussion on the topic and allow viewers to contact them. This is a contrast to Zeta Chi, who did not leave contact information. The invitation for contact and discussions is a sign that the brothers at Phi Alpha Tau are open to educated others and helping others understand the issue.
Besides in the title of video found at the top of the IndieGoGo page, the name of the fraternity is not mentioned anywhere else. They speak of brotherhood and the value of supporting each other, but they do so in a universal sense that has nothing to do with their specific fraternity. They even mention that the fundraising endeavor is brought on by active brothers themselves rather than an event sponsored by the Phi Alpha Tau organization. Under a section titled “The Impact”, it reads “If you are on this page, it is most likely because an active brother has reached out to you. If you stumbled upon this page, even better.” This implies that unlike Zeta Chi, who appears to have used a trans person to bring attention to Zeta Chi, Phi Alpha Tau uses the fraternity’s name and network to bring attention to Donnie and trans issues.