Frat accused of asking: Who do you want to rape?

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A University of Vermont fraternity has been suspended while school officials, national organization leaders and police investigate allegations that a survey was circulated among members asking them who they would like to rape.

Now, I know how the wording gets downplayed and put into slang with us youngsters these days, so it could be that a more accurate interpretation of their meaning was in more of a kinky or rough way rather than a forced, non-consensual way. All you have to do is play video games to know that the word "rape" is bandied about quite freely these days.

On the other hand, I've seen what some fraternity cultures can do to people firsthand. One of my best friends growing up, one of the sweetest guys I've ever known, turned into a total douchebag after joining one. From my own experience, I'm tempted to chalk this up to yet another example of why fratboy culture routinely breeds sociopathic pigs that think it's cool to treat "non-brother" guys and women in general like crap.

A Burlington feminist organization named FED UP Vermont and other groups posted an online petition seeking to shut down the fraternity chapter. By Wednesday afternoon, it had more than 1,500 signatures. Organizers planned a news conference to speak out against "rape culture and sexism" Thursday afternoon on the steps of the university library.

Implying rape only happens to women.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize what a bad ideas frats are, especially at the age of stupidity


Majority of frats are downplayed to keep the schools name clean as much as possible.


They self regulate to minimize the public damage. Not surprised at all by this story or the countless others


But hey its america ! Where double standards run rampid

While I can attest that there are some real scum bag frat guys (and sorority girls for that matter), I know from my college days that a lot of it is exaggerated by people who either just hateful or are jealous of the exclusivity (no matter what they will say). I know when I was a freshman other guys on the football team would tell me that X or Y frat was a bunch of rapists and such. I of course avoided them only to find out the original guys where the rapists and creeps and had been rejected by the frat for those reasons. I think it has less to do with the bro culture of frats and more to do with the amount of jerks in college in general, especially at lower ranked schools. Now a days anyone who wants to go to college is admitted for the most part. I remember my friends, who went to a low end massive state school, raging on me for joining a frat and being a bro and all that good stuff. I would go to visit them and they would act like frat boys from movies, breaking stuff, starting fights, their buddies taking advantage of girls, that kind of stuff. Frats in most of the country just arent that cool any more and it seems to me the only diff between the groups in a lot of cases is one group wears letters. It becomes a lot more public in cases with frats but I think its much more about dumb college students

As for sociopaths.....exaggerate much

reply to post by onfire49


Actually, this comes from half the fraternities at my college being suspended for a semester while I was there at various times because every other semester we'd have stories of massive and serious hazing going on in some random one of them.

It got so bad that the college was talking about banning the Greek system altogether.

Sometimes criticism and suspicion is born from experience and reality rather than jealousy.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


Yes I understand that things get out of control in many frats and sororities. However, I know that a lot of people like to throw things out of proportion because they hate the greek system. While I was an undergrad they talked about getting rid of the greek system every year, and there had been no real incidence to spur that on. I know that what some people say is serious hazing is absolute bull. While I was in college a group of pledges for one frat went and talked to the student newspaper because they felt they where being terribly hazed. You know what was happening? they werent allowed to use the front door of the building, they had to go through the basement and give a password. They claimed they felt it was like segregation, even though they where all white. I still stick by my statement that sociopath is a complete overstatement....takes a little more than some frat hazing to be a sociopath. But my original point was this wasnt a symptom of the greek culture, that even independents do some pretty messed up things. I am willing to bet they also do it in higher percentages or even with the greek community.

Originally posted by eNumbra

Implying rape only happens to women.

I hardly think that that group of frat boys ran around talking about which guys they wanted to rape Male on male rape does happen, mostly in the prison system, the rest in Boy Scouts troops (I jest, I jest...sorta). Male on female rape seems to be more an socially accepted norm, relegated to to the ole 'boys will be boys'.

Originally posted by Cascadian

Originally posted by eNumbra

Implying rape only happens to women.

I hardly think that that group of frat boys ran around talking about which guys they wanted to rape

Male on male rape does happen, mostly in the prison system, the rest in Boy Scouts troops (I jest, I jest...sorta).

The fact that you can openly make jokes about prison rape and pedophilic rape in the boy scouts proves the inequity of how rape is perceived in this country.

Haha! Prison sodomy!
Survey about which women you'd rape? That's a no-no.

But apparently you missed the part where the feminist group used this phrase.

"rape culture and sexism"

Implying it only happens to women. Where in reality, it's not okay to joke about raping women, but it is okay to joke about raping men.

The Boy Scout thing was tongue in cheek, given the rash of lawsuits. In no way meant to trivialize it, more to highlight it. Could've use the Catholic Church instead but that would have been inflammatory - it's about outing the infrastructures that perpetrators use. If it seemed as though I was making fun of it, I apologize - quite the opposite.

Your righteous indignation about my apparent slight pretty much equates to how women feel about the frat-boy (and other) 'fun and games'. So we're really on the same page.