Step Sisters: The Representation Of Sorority Girl

The media has over-represented many groups in negative ways such as sorority girls. Based on how sororities perform their activities, it has been portrayed by the media in an exaggerated way with negative stereotypes about them. In the movie Step Sisters, it is about a girl named Jamilah that is president of her sorority Theta, captain of her step dancing crew, and works for Dean Berman in Student Affairs. When the partying white girls from Sigma Beta Beta embarrass the school by a video going viral online of one of the members having sex on their lawn, the dean orders Jamilah to fix the big problem since she understands Greek culture. The dean tells Jamilah to make the mess go away by creating a distraction of making SBB look like positive

contributors to the community. In the articles “9 stereotypes About Sorority Girls” by Kaley Banna and “10 annoying Misconceptions of Sorority Girls” by Kirsten Corley are them as sorority girls. They both state the top stereotypes they hear in their daily life when telling others they are from a Greek life and clarify each stereotype with their own experiences. In the article “Greeks vs. Non-Greeks: The truth Behind Stereotypes,” Marisa Ross writes about Her Campus UFL investigating to find out what stereotypes greeks hear and whether they’re true or false. The article “The Influence of Cognitive Heuristics and Stereotypes About Greek Letter Organizations on Jury Decisions” by Allison Kramer is about doing a study to see how participants will rate a college boy who was driving under the influence when giving the option that he was a member of a fraternity. The movie often portrays an undesirable perception of sorority girls in Greek culture by representing them as party animals, girly, have everything handed to them, always drinking, and slutty.
The movie’s depiction of sorority girls demonstrates them as they only live to party and act like party animals. At the beginning of the movie, the producer makes a thirty-second video of Jamilah partying hard at an SBB’s party with Corona beer and electro music playing in the background. This small clip creates the depiction that the only thing sorority girls do is party. According to Banna, the stereotype “all sorority girls do is party” is an incorrect fact. “Being in a sorority is so much more than partying, most of [them] are very passionate about [their] philanthropy and try to live out [their] purpose. Don’t get [her] wrong, [they] do go out but it isn’t every weekend or every night like some people assume” (Banna). The way media portrays sorority girls as only caring about partying is unrealistic because they do way more than just party. This creates a false stereotype about sorority girls because not only do they party, but they help out the community, study, have events, and do volunteer work. Just because a stereotype might have a bit of truth in it like they do party but not as often how several people assume. It doesn’t make it a fact.
The character’s actions portray sorority girls as feminine/ barbies.

In one scene, where Jamilah goes to talk to SBB while they are having a meeting, Danielle who is the president of SBB, talks to Jamilah about rehearsal space. Danielle says, “stomping on concrete...should I send you my chiropractor bills” (Step Sisters)? As two members from SBB follow saying, “yes, and it’s killing our pedis. And our knees” (Step Sisters). The viewer believes from this that they want to be treated as barbies and they are way too girly because people who step dance always stomp on concrete. This shows how SBB is being too feminine because they are complaining about their pedis being ruined and knees being killed. The way SBB’s meeting room is decorated everything in pink is further evidence that sorority girls only like pink. As viewers see a room decorated all in pink, people assume they are all girly girls because pink is a feminine color. We can see how this creates the impression of sorority girls being too feminine. Banna states in her article that one of the main stereotypes she hears a lot is “all sorority girls are girly”. According to Banna, “most chapters have a variety of unique girls [and] there are different girls in every sorority, that’s what makes them unique” (Banna). This shows that the media represents sorority girls as all being the same and being too girly when in reality everyone is different in each chapter. It might be true that there might be a few girly girls in

sororities, but that doesn’t portray everyone who is in one. The media portrays all sorority girls as too feminine when in reality they are all unique.
Sorority girls are portrayed as having everything handed to them without any effort or complications. In the movie, Jamilah tells SBB that the props and costumes will be a total of three grand and asks them how much they have in their special events account. One of the members in SBB, Libby, responses that they do not have an account. However, Danielle says “every month [they] make a video for Libby’s daddy asking him for money. He wires it, and then [they] all go out for a fancy dinner” (Step Sisters). This creates the image that they don’t have any complications in earning the money and they get everything handed to them by Libby’s rich dad. Jamilah response “ladies, trust [her]. Raising money [themselves] is a lot more rewarding. It can be fun like a karaoke night or something. And [she’ll] organize a real community service project” (Step Sisters) adds further evidence that SBB doesn’t raise money on their own. To further the evidence, even more, all the members of SBB replies back to Jamilah saying “noo..” (Step Sisters). This shows the viewers that sorority girls are lazy to raise money on their own and they rather have everything easy by having money handed to them by a sorority’s rich dad. Writing about the same topic, Coley clarifies in her article about the stereotype “all sorority girls are spoiled.” She makes it clear that “[she] do[esn't] get things handed to [her] on a silver plate. [She] works [her] ass off day in and day out for the things [she] [has] and the things [she] want[s] in life” (Coley). This becomes prove that the media portrays sorority girls as getting everything handed to them without any effort. That is not the case, sorority girls work and do fundraisers to raise money on their own. They work for what they have and want. The stereotype that sorority girls are spoiled is not true, it became a stereotype by society because of the way media portrays them.
The media over-represents sorority girls as always being drunk and only care about drinking. All the girls from SBB gasp when Jamilah tells them that they don’t drink during the week because stepping requires an astonishing amount of discipline. First Libby says, “[she’s] sorry, but Margarita Mondays at Borracho’s… that’s an SBB tradition.” Then Saundra says, “Turnt up Tuesdays at Fleck’s? Hello?” Lastly Amber says, “and if [she] thinks [they’re] missing wine down Wednesdays at Bedspins” (Step Sisters). This scene creates the image that sorority girls can’t live without drinking. The way they gasp when Jamilah tells them they can’t drink during the week paints the image that they care about drinking a lot. This scene not only shows that sorority girls drink during the week, but it shows that they drink every day and it is something big for them. According to Kramer, “due to how Greek life (activities performed by members of a fraternity or sorority) has been portrayed by the media, people might have begun to associate fraternities and sororities with problem behaviors such as binge drinking” (Kramer). The media portrays the activities Greek life does, but they exaggerate it even more in movies. For example, in Step Sisters sorority girls are depicted by drinking every day of the week. They paint the image of them to always be seen as drunk girls and care about drinking a lot. The stereotype of sorority girls always being drunk is only viewed that way because of the media.
A part of society believes that sorority girls are always getting laid and seen as sluts.

In the movie, as SBB walks into a bar, two men start saying mean things about them getting around. Right as they walk in a man says, “Hey, SBB. There’s a ficus in the corner start screwing.” Then another guy says, “Oh, where’s Tyler? He’s gonna get some!” The man replies, “I thought Devin nailed her!” The guy response back saying, “I think they both hit it!” Lastly, everyone in the bar shouts, “SBB, STD” (Step Sisters). This scene at the bar creates the diption that sorority girls get around with plenty men and are disrespected by being seen as sluts. This gives a false belief to the viewers because not all sorority girls are getting around with every guy as others are. According to Ross, “most greek interviewed agreed sororities are more promiscuous than non-Greeks. Some explained ‘slutty’ actions stem from their tendency to go out and drink more, as well as regularly interacting with fraternity brothers at parties” (Ross). The way media overrepresents sorority girls seen as sluts is false. Just because sorority girls drink and interact with fraternity brothers at parties people start assuming they are hooking up. Just because someone hangs out with the opposite gender doesn’t make the assumption that they are sluts. This stereotype might be true to a few individuals from sororites, but it does not portray sororites as a

whole.
In conclusion, after analyzing Step Sisters it is clear that almost every illustration of sororities within the media is stereotyped and inaccurate, that impacts the manner society views sororities by providing incorrect data that considerably effects negative views on sororities. Although a number of these stereotypes may exist, they do not represent all sorority girls. Therefore the thought that all sorority girls are party animals, sluts, and girly is totally inaccurate. Sorority girls do way more than just partying. They get involved in the community, work for the things they have and want in life, offer sisterhood, volunteer, and get taught about financial responsibilities. Society should improve the way sororities are viewed so they can stop being viewed as stereotypes and be viewed for all their achievements instead.