Sorority Uniform

I went to a school that required that we wear uniforms.  This is probably because I lived in a poor area mixed with a rich area, and they didn't want students to display gang related symbols or students to feel bad that they couldn't afford expensive clothes that would be worn if there were no uniform.

To my knowledge Baylor does not enforce a dress code or a uniform policy, so why are all these sorority girls dressed the exactly same?

At the SLC:

If a sorority girl is working out she's wearing below the knee length tights, a t-shirt much to large for her petite size, and the essential newest Nike kicks (heaven forbid they actually be actually made for EXERCISE. These shoes in the world of a real athlete are made for wearing around.  If you wore something like these to do a workout, you'd find yourself with a nasty case of shin splints).  Occasionally a headband will be thrown into the ensemble for an extra attempt at looking like they're doing a real workout. 

Sidenote: Lulumon Athletica is a popular brand of workout clothes that has recently emerged onto the market, it seemingly makes clothes to appease the needs of sorority girls.

I've actually heard someone say: "Omg, I like your tights." Really? You're working out, you should be concerned with the betterment of your physicality, not what the girl on the elliptical machine next to you is wearing. This isn't a fashion show.  You are sweating.

To class (lazy version):

This is a slight variation of "At the SLC."  Usually this involves full-length tights, UGG boots, and a NorthFace fleece (colors can range anywhere from black to pastels). 

If it's a warmer day, you can bet that they'll be wearing one of the same pastel-colored shirts with Greek letters slapped across the front or back, still a little too big, with their Nike tempo shorts (which might I add are also for running). And don't forget your Nike running shoes!  

Backpacks are usually a pattern of paisley, a solid color with the girls initials in leather clearly visible on the front, or simply an oversized purse.

My roommate once told me she was so upset that someone had stolen her NorthFace fleece, a jacket that costs upwards of $90. 

To class:

Maybe class started at 11am this morning instead of 9am and they were feeling a little bit motivated to look presentable. On these kinds of days a sorority girl will wear usually dark skinny jeans or khakis with a societally acceptable shirt or the same-old, same-old pastel shirt depicting the logo of SING! or some "Into the Jungle" themed formal from 2 years ago.  Shoes will either be cute sandals or Sperrys (a shoe made for boating, virtually waterproof that was for some reason adopted by both male and female Greek life as a staple clothing item).

If it's raining:

Rainboots, all different kinds but they have to be cute.  Often times these will be paired with the full-length tights and the sorority issued rain jacket with the oh-so-classy Charlie Brown stripe dissecting the torso lengthways.

Does anybody actually wear rain boots outside of a college campus?

At the game:
Since we are in Texas it's only appropriate to wear cowboy boots (which are completely impractical for riding, as my equestrian team roommate has informed me) even if you have never been on a ranch or touched a horse in your life.  And what's more practical with cowboy boots than a dress?! Nothing I can think of.

Might I remind you that we are a sporting event, not a dance or date.

This is a classic case of conformity.  How many of these girls do you think dressed like this in high school?  Or would dress like this if a precedent wan't set by their sisters before them?  Not only are these outfits ridiculous for the functions they perform, but they also defy the norms of society (we're talking outside the Baylor Bubble).  We go through all these awkward middle school and high school years to "find ourselves" and we finally get to a college that we chose based off of our own likes, dislikes, and interests and lose all that personality in the conformity of Greek life.  Not to mention that as women, we were given great bodies...so why hide underneath oversized clothes that have no place in fashion or society?

How to Get Ready for a Date

Once again, my favorite sociologist: JennaMarbles or Jenna Mourey

She always says the most controversial, but truthful things in her videos.  I think she does a really good job of pointing out what people see in society everyday but tend to ignore because that is exactly what we were taught to do by society itself.  For example, lets take a look at some gender roles for women that Jenna points out:

The first step is to get dressed:
"You can't go like [yourself], you're a sexual object."
When getting dressed for a date you need to make sure to wear something that is "short, tight, and shows off your sweater puppies." Also "wear as much perfume as possible," "...lots of jewelry," and
"Don't forget to wear heels!"
Jenna says that in this step you are trying to make the man feel like he is watching a juvenile video.

Your next important thing to do is pick a bag:
"Pick one that says: 'I paid way too much money for this.'"

Then pack your bag with the essentials:
"Pack a sandwich...this lets him know you can cook, plus he's going to ask you to make one for him anyway." Then go ahead and "throw some rubber gloves and cleaning supplies in there so he knows you can clean too."

Now that you are ready for your date, "you should sext him before he leaves so he can justify buying you an entire meal."

Once you are on the date, "remember...you're a girl.  You're not funny, smart, or interesting." So "get all your fake laughs ready and be super impressed with everything he says." "If he asks you a question, don't panic...When in doubt, just giggle and do something adorable."

"When the date is over make sure you have sex with him, because that's all you're good for."

At the end of her instruction, Jenna implies that showing up like yourself is WAY too risky, you might get hurt! She takes a serious societal view of women's gender roles and turns it into something satirical to point out how wrong it is.  In the modern world it's sad to think that some people view women this way, and sadder still to think that some women allow men to think of them this way.

Outsourcing

In Baby Mama, the movie written by and starring Tina Fey, there is a scene where Tina Fey's character Kate goes to the surrogacy agency and talks to Chaffee Bicknell about how the whole surrogacy process works.

Kate asks why these women do it, why would they carry someone else's child. 
Chaffee Bicknell, a woman obsessed with her own class, asks Kate if she plans to hire a nanny. 
Kate replies "Of course I do, I have to go back to work."
Bicknell then explains that as successful women in the workforce they outsource, they hire others to do their dirty work for them.  She says that hiring a surrogate mother is the same thing as hiring a nanny, it's someone to take care of your child before they're born versus the nanny to take care of them after they are born.  She tells Kate that Kate's job is probably hard but she likes it and is good at what she does.  A surrogate mother is just the same with her job.
Kate then takes this analogy to the literal sociology definition of outsourcing and asks: "You don't mean my child will be carried by some underprivileged, white trash woman do you?"

Yes. Yes, she does.

In economic terms, wealthy countries used to have separate colonies which they used for outsourcing.  Now countries use corporations to outsource by having poorer nations do the manual labor parts of the job for less money.  Essentially they are exploiting workers from other nations by taking advantage of the fact that they will work for less pay and in worse conditions.  Unfortunately, a great example of economic outsourcing is Nike.

Athlete In-Group

Recently someone came up to me and said: "I wish I could wear sweats to school everyday and get away with it like athletes."

I guess by definition Baylor Athletics would be considered an In-Group.  Most athletes feel an affinity or closeness to other athletes purely for the reason that they understand the dynamics of each others lives, and it's easy to make friends with people who function with a similar mentality.  And as with many In-Groups, there is often an In-Group Bias.  Not to say that all athletes hold an In-Group Bias, but I definitely would say that it is present at Baylor.

For example:  Often times when being introduced to a friend of a friend (who is also happens to be an athlete), the first thing that will be said is "This is Jenn, she runs track."  Or if I am not introduced by my affiliation with athletics the friend will ask "Oh what sport do you play?" What if I wasn't in athletics?  Does that mean I'm somehow not worthy to be part of your tight-knit group of friends?

I'll admit it, sometimes I carry an In-Group bias.  I'll ask people what sport they play and if I receive an answer that "I don't," yeah I'm less interested in their life.  This doesn't mean that I like the person any less because they aren't in athletics, but I often times find it difficult to spend time with people who aren't currently in a sport.

Personally I think the reason that athletes hang out with other athletes is because

• Our schedules mesh. Class in the morning, practice in the afternoon, tutoring at night. Repeat.
• We have similar eating and habits. Carbloading.
• We spend a WHOLE LOT of time together working hard at practice and it creates bonds other people wouldn't understand unless they physically endured the pain along with us.
• Game days mean no party nights and when everyone else is out, you have your hang out with and head to bed early along with you.

So maybe there's an Out-Group bias that certain people find it okay for athletes to wear sweats everyday because we work out everyday?

Why Girls Hate Each Other

JennaMarbles, aka Jenna Mourey, is my all-time favorite sociologist. 

"First of all, girls, it's not your fault that you hate girls. You were taught how to do this."

Jenna explains that "everyone was taught to do this," when we grow up we are taught to be competitive in school and on soccer teams, etc.  You are taught to try to be better than the person next to you.  This is a great example of primary socialization teaching children the norms of society. "And when we grow up this doesn't go away."  In college we are judged by our looks, in the professional world you want to move up in rank and get a better job than your peer, celebrities are constantly criticized for their appearance, there is always a winner and a loser.  This is secondary socialization proliferating our idea that competition is natural in society and apparently needed.

When girls hate each other they simply say, "I'm going to take that [thought of judging people and competing with them], and I'm done thinking about it."  Kohlberg's conventional level of moral development is based on using the lens or norms and rules to determine right and wrong, and Jenna basically says that this is what we're doing.  It's not our fault that we're judging people, we're just using what we know as right and doing it without thinking.

Girls that hate each other do so purely out of competition.
She's prettier than me, she has a hot boyfriend, she's more popular than I am, yoga pants look way better on her than me.
And what do we do?  We want that girl to crash and fail.
Why? Competition.  Society taught girls to hate each other, to compete with each other and desire for each other to fail.

Jenna says to combat this natural competition we simply have to accept that we are ourselves and there is just one of us, instead of letting society tell us what to do.  Let everyone else compare you to others, fight the cat apocalypse 2012.

Backstreet's Back?!

Before the time of WhichWich or Moe's, the BSB was a quiet place for science majors to study at one of the many OPEN tables in the the atrium.  Now the place is overrun with loud sandwich-eating invaders from distant parts of campus, but that's a story for another time.

WhichWich opens at 10:30, so us science majors are given a few quiet study hours before the lunch rush. But, this morning there was a blatant disturbance.

Some guy walking through the BSB, minding his own business, earphones in, backpack on, ready to go for the day was BELTING out Backstreet Boys music.  The people sitting around me and myself tried to quietly chuckle and not look up from our work, but he just kept on belting 90s Pop music.  At this point I noticed that almost everyone looked up at each other with puzzled looks on their faces and blatantly burst out into laughter together.

Come to find out, this guy was doing a project for his own Sociology class in which he had to break social norms (good job!) to see how others reacted.  Our negative informal sanction to him for breaking the silence, the norm of morning hours in the BSB, was laughter at his expense.

Suave on a Skateboard? Not So Much.

Today when I was on my way to class I happened to overhear an interesting conversation:

This girl was telling her friend the story of how she and another of her female friends were walking to class and a guy on a skateboard rode up in between the two and said "well hello ladies," with a smug grin on his face.  After making this awkward declaration, the guy attempted to push off the ground and smoothly ride away.  But, apparently he caught his foot on the other which led him to flip over on his back onto the hard sidewalk, with his skateboard flying 30 ft in the other direction.

This a perfect example of front stage performance.  This random guy attempted to look cool in front of total strangers by putting on a suave act, which unfortunately for him miserably failed.


From what I heard, after falling flat onto the ground he quickly got up and exclaimed "I...I have to go find my skateboard" and ran off in that direction.  This is face-saving work at its finest.