Racism Meets Misogyny

Where Racism Meets Misogyny

Young America may be the last place one would think to find a group with undertones of misogyny and white supremacy in their social interactions, especially if said group was an approved organization at an elite 4-year institution. However, the racism and sexism rampant amongst Greek social fraternities would prove otherwise. Women are often degraded, and in many cases, abused, at the hands of these organizations, with women of color receiving a particularly dehumanizing form of treatment. Of course, many conclude that the treatment of women of color by such organizations is the same as the treatment of white women because of their gender commonality. However, race and sex tend to be measured separately in the minds

Back in 1991, the Iota Chi chapter of Sigma Chi at George Mason University, held a sexist, and extremely racist, “ugly woman contest”, in which members dressed as caricatures of different types of women, with one member noted as a highly stereotyped and sexualized caricature of a black woman. The man, in blackface, stuffed pillows down in his outfit to “exaggerate a woman 's breasts and buttocks” (Cehdclass.gmu.edu). This disgusting act demonstrates the unique experience of women of color of being simultaneously sexually and racially

For example, in the Kappa Sigma email discussed earlier, the author wrote, “*Don 't fuck middle-eastern targets. […] You want your cock smelling like falafel? Filth” (Hartmann, “Frat Email Explains Women Are "Targets," Not "Actual People"). It is clear that the author saw Middle Eastern women as sex objects who, due to racist ideology, are not worthy of even that distinction. Earlier in the email, the author explained, “I will refer to females as "targets". They aren 't actual people like us men. Consequently, giving them a certain name or distinction is pointless” (Hartmann, “Frat Email Explains Women Are "Targets," Not "Actual People") Thus, even if it were Middle Eastern men who were discussed, they would have at least received the status of ‘human’ instead of sex “targets” before being demoted from that status based on