Secret Sisters: Stories of Being Lesbian and Bisexual in a College Sorority

Their first book 'Out On Fraternity Row,' exposed the problems faced by gay men in colleges and universities and now in this new volume the editors tackle the issues faced by lesbian and bisexual... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555835880
• ISBN13: 9781555835880
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Alyson Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

When diversity is strength sororities benefit . . .

In Out on Fraternity Row: Personal Accounts of Being Gay in a College Fraternity (Alyson Publications, 1998), editors Shane Windmeyer and Pamela Freeman shattered the silence of gay men within college fraternities. Now they have turned their attention to lesbian and bisexual women within college sororities and the equally homophobic and heterosexual atmosphere that these sisterhoods often engender. Like its predecessor, Secret Sisters presents the first-person accounts of 25 women, along with information and resources designed to promote greater tolerance of diversity within the college fraternal movement. It is still sad to note, however, that the use of pseudonyms by some of the writers shows that homophobia exists as strongly in women’s organizations as in men’s chapters, despite the fact that various research quoted in the book shows that heterosexual women are less homophobic than heterosexual men.In Secret Sisters, the stories have been grouped into five distinct sections according to each writer’s personal stage of development and her range of experiences. These sections include "Questioning," "Anger, Fear and "Rejection," "Sisterly Love and Friendship," "Out and Proud," and "Straight Sister’s Perspective." Nancy J. Evans, associate professor and coordinator of the higher education program in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State University wrote the introduction based upon her scholarly work on sexuality and the experiences of college students.The editors of the anthology acknowledge the limited diversity of organizations represented within this book. Nearly all sororities represented, under real or assumed names, are member organizations of the National Panhellenic Conference. This was despite a concerted effort by Windmeyer and Freeman to attract writers from member chapters of the National Pan-Hellenic Council and other multicultural sorority organizations, specifically the historically African-American and Latina groups, but without success. The collection does include, however, a story from a member of Lambda Delta Lambda, a sorority designed for women of any sexual orientation. The writers also represent a variety of groups in terms of era of sorority membership, geographic location, religious backgrounds, ethnicity, and college attended, as well as different stages of the coming-out process and sexual identity. Even with these differences, however, certain themes remain common. Lesbian and bisexual women join sororities for the same reasons as heterosexual women – for that close bond of sisterhood and the companionship that sororities can provide. Whether the reluctance of women to submit their stories was related to characteristics associated with gender, such as reluctance to take risks, or whether it was related to the nature of sororities, the editors do not make any presumptions. What is deeply worrying, however, is the text of an email that is included in the anthology that was