Lit Review 4!

Summary: 

This reading provides an overview of fraternities in the United States. It highlights how fraternities are full of stupid boys who pull pranks and “shove a bottle rocket up [their] ass[es]” these same boys.” Yet the article about these same boys states “For every butt bomb, there’s a complaint of manslaughter, rape, sexual torture, psychological trauma.” With so many injuries at the hands of fraternities, to members and not members, this piece explores the question of why colleges don't get rid of these ‘bad fraternities.’ 

Citation: 

Flanagan, Caitlin. “The Dark Power of Fraternities.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 Sept. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/03/the-dark-power-of-fraternities/357580/.

Author:

Caitlin Flanagan, the author of this article is a staff writer at The Atlantic. She was born and raised in California, but she went to school at the University of Virginia.  She was also a staff writer for the New Yorker in 2004-2005. She has written many articles and a few books including Girl Land. Flanigan is a mother of twin sons, something that she writes about a lot. 

Quotes: 

1. “For every butt bomb, there’s a complaint of manslaughter, rape, sexual torture, psychological trauma”
2. “Fraternity tradition at its most essential is rooted in a set of old, deeply American, morally unassailable convictions, some of which—such as a young man’s right to the freedom of association—emanate from the Constitution itself.”
3. “While the fraternities continued to exert their independence from the colleges with which they were affiliated, these same colleges started to develop an increasingly bedeviling kind of interdependence with the accursed societies.”

Value:

I used this essay to highlight the overwhelming picture of fraternities. While their members may be painted as regular college students, behind their doors lies a whole world. I took the story of the member who made a dumb decision with a bottle rocket to show the immaturity of the boys, but I immediately showed that they boys are the same people who are raping and attacking women. I later used this work to talk about the lack of responsibility that fraternities face on campus. Using the Jane Doe story I showed the full circle of what happens with an attack on campus.