In a recent column for Politico, writer Peg Tyre defended fraternities from the many stereotypes which are heaped upon them.

Don’t Blame the Frats

This year’s monster: Fraternities. As Gawker put it, “No fraternity, no gang rape.” As the Guardian said, “It’s time to talk about banning fraternities.” Bloomberg View decided: “On balance, most campuses would be better off without [them].”

To hear some tell it, fraternities are filled with gangs of leering, entitled deviants who have traded their individual morality for the opportunity to engage in a frenzy of wanton assault. They lie in wait, red plastic cups in hand, preying on defenseless young women. To read the commentary about sexual assault on campus, we’ve never encountered anything quite this bad. The victims are “everywoman”—young, bright-eyed ambitious female students. The evil-doers are made all the more insidious because they hide in plain sight—masquerading as sexually inexperienced 19 years olds.

Actually, we have encountered this before. Just ask comic book writers—the victims of a crusade in the 1940s and 50s that blamed comic books for everything from juvenile delinquency to teen homosexuality. Spurred by Congressional hearings and comic book burnings, the panic upended an industry.

Just ask the operators of the McMartin pre-school in California, who, in the middle 1980s, were accused of performing satanic rituals with their young charges. Or revisit some of the fear mongering journalism about “wolf packs” circa late 1980s New York City. In a crime ridden city, groups of young African-American men were the object of great fear and intense law enforcement scrutiny. Now, you can now add fraternity members to the list. We’ve seen moral panics before. And we are seeing one again.


 
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Read the original article:
Don’t Blame the Frats (Politico)