Important information for all Wayne State College students: Not every group of women who hang out together are part of a cult. Shocking, I know.   

My sorority was practicing for Greek Olympics on Sept. 19, when a Campus Security vehicle flew around the corner of the back lane of Lot One followed by a police officer.  

Luckily, one of the security officers was an alumnus of the sorority and quickly realized who we were and why we were there. Though the situation diffused quickly and was laughed off, the humiliation that came from having the police called and the anger that came when I was told that the person who had called told them that we were a cult clung to me on my way back to my apartment.   

In all honesty, I could have let this one go. I am used to being insulted and having assumptions made about me and my friends because people have a stigma attached to sorority girls.  

However, when I got back to my apartment, I got several texts letting me know that multiple videos of my sorority had been posted on Yik Yak with captions intended to be offensive. 

 I opened the app and read through each nasty comment about how we must be a cult, how a boy thought we were trying to “put a spell on him” and how we must all be “loose women.” Unprovoked, the first thing that the “men” on this campus decide to do is attack and ridicule women for being out in public in a group larger than three.   

I am so sick of the stereotypes surrounding sororities because, in all honesty, most of them revolve around misogyny. If it had been men out in the back of Lot One doing call-and-repeat chants based on sports, not a single person would have batted an eye. But, because we go to school in the middle-of-nowhere Nebraska, the only entertainment that boys can seem to find on a Monday night is tearing down women and trying to make them feel small for doing and being part of things they enjoy.   

The most hilarious part of all this is none of the cowardly boys who were posting videos of us on Yik Yak had the nerve to say anything of the sort to our faces. They just parked their cars and watched us practice before deciding the most rational thing to do was call the cops. 

 To me, and perhaps to any other reasonable person on this campus, that comes across as if they are scared of women. What other reason would the boys who called have for not simply rolling down their window and either A) asking us to move, or B) asking us why we were there in the first place? Is it truly that much easier to sit in the comfort of your ignorance and pass judgment on others anonymously?   

In the year 2022, I expect better from people, even “men” in the middle of nowhere. It disgusts me that women are not able to go out in public together without constantly being ridiculed and talked about by boys who do not know them. 

I encourage any “man” who interacted positively with those posts or made one to do some self-reflection. I encourage you to think long and hard about why you hate women so much and why you have such an utter lack of respect for any female presenting person on this campus.