[20351] in APO-L
All Male Thread
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Christopher Jon Stromberg)
Wed Mar 24 14:43:03 1999
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 11:42:50 -0800
Reply-To: Christopher Jon Stromberg <cstrombe@LELAND.STANFORD.EDU>
From: Christopher Jon Stromberg <cstrombe@LELAND.STANFORD.EDU>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
Brothers,
I feel I have to step in here, as a brother who has been found to
be in the minority on this issue many times.
I have pretty severe reservations about all male chapters to begin
with (now, before everyone jumps on this statement, hear me out, there is
good reason for this). Beyond the discussion of chapter rights versus
discrimination, there are other issues here. The biggest of these being
that I have seen SOME (and I emphasise some, not all, not even most, not
even a large minority) brothers in all-male chapters treat female brothers
in my former chapter with disrespect. This attitude can be fostered by
the mere existance of all-male schools. Female brothers are seen, by some
(again, look at my previous explanation of some) as not being real
brothers, or not being deserving of that title. There are some people who
think that all-male chapters are the only "true" chapters, in the spirit
that Frank Reed Horton envisioned. These attitudes have been shown in
conversations with female brothers, all the way down to brothers from an
all-male chapter consistently picking on (for lack of a better
description) one of the female brothers from my chapter on the floor of
the national convention.
I really, strongly believe that, unintentional as it may be, the
existance of all-male chapters fosters these attitudes. I say this,
because, in my experience (which is, of course, not the experience of
everyone, just myself), these attitudes have never come from a brother in
a co-ed chapter.
I understand that, at some institutions, it would be difficult to
implement a co-ed chapter. I happen to disagree with the campus attitudes
that would make this the case, but these campus attitudes are something I
cannot change. I do think, however, that the benefits of being a co-ed
chapter far outweigh the challenges.
Just my $2 (inflation).
Chris Stromberg
