Abusive Sorority Reminds Everyone That Hazing Isn't Just For Dudes

If there was any doubt that sororities can be every bit as bad as frats, let’s dispel it with this tale of all-female hazing.

According to The Smoking Gun, San Jose State University student Courtney Howard is suing some of her ex-sorority sisters at Sigma Gamma Rho for subjecting her to disturbing hazing rituals. TSG writes,

According to her complaint, she and fellow pledges were punched, slapped, kicked, slammed into walls, struck with a wooden spoon and a cane, and had books and coins thrown at them during a series of 16 nighttime initiation sessions. Howard recalled one evening when a sorority sister told her to close her eyes. She was then struck on the buttocks with what she later learned was a kitchen pot. The pledges were also frequently struck with a wooden paddle, Howard said, blows that left her with welts on her buttocks.

Sorority members also told Howard not to say anything to anyone about the hazing, because “snitches get stitches.” They said if she failed to take part in some of the pledge activities, everyone in the sorority would beat her up. And when she told school officials about the hazing, they threatened her some more. Possibly the worst part: Howard had originally planned to pledge with a different sorority, but was scared off by reports of — you guessed it — hazing. Clearly Sigma Gamma Rho wasn’t the refuge she’d hoped for.

While it’s true that the Greek system can be a positive experience for plenty of people, some organizations apparently remain hotbeds of institutionalized violence. And while some think of such violence as a guy thing, it’s obvious that women are capable of it as well. Sororities can keep up with frats when it comes to disgusting, bodily-fluid-stained parties, and we shouldn’t be surprised that they can also give the guys a run for their money in the senseless abuse department. The moral, if there is one: never underestimate a group of young people’s capacity to be assholes to each other, regardless of gender.