The Greek system is full of many amusements — silly rush costumes, bizarre rituals, spirited binge drinking, the occasional racist party theme — but emails are particularly entertaining. They lift the veil on the internal doings of a purportedly special club, the existence of which thrives, in large part, on its exclusivity. And people love getting a peek of something unseemly, particularly when it proves that the overblown, sunny concept of a big ol’ “sisterhood” is a joke.
There’s no greater testament to this fascination than the exceptionally deranged tirade from University of Maryland student and Delta Gamma member Rebecca Martinson that went viral last week (and gained the attention of no less than Michael Shannon, who did a fantastic reading of the email). While vicious listserv emails certainly aren’t limited to sororities, the delighted frenzy surrounding Martinson’s email suggests that there’s something particularly compelling about sorority rage. Beneath the well-polished veneer of pretty party girls (who occasionally do charity work), darkness simmers. Granted, this tension is not a universal sorority condition — it depends on the house — but social pressures and expectations, combined with the all-too-true stereotype of competition amongst girls en masse, creates a volatile environment prone to explosion.
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