PLEDGED: THE SECRET LIFE OF SORORITIES Do the naked pillow fights and purging parties actually happen? Alexandra Robbins, 27, went undercover to write the funny but alarming Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities.
ON PLEDGING Some parents take sorority affiliations so seriously that they hire "rush consultants" to guide their girls through rush. In Texas, when one girl chose a lower-tiered sorority, her mother hissed, "You just ruined your life."
ON HAZING In some sororities girls will still paddle each other till their behinds are bleeding. They will force girls to do things like boob ranking, where they're given five minutes to examine each other's chests and rank themselves by size.
ON EATING DISORDERS The rumors are true. I spoke to countless women who said plumbers had to come to their houses to clean clogged toilets because the girls were barfing too much. One girl said they used to have puking contests after dinner.
ON PARTYING At a Sister Party, once the girls get drunk enough, everybody is going to pretty much be naked and running around, and some of them hook up with each other. I thought the group piercing trips were pretty funny. The girls would convince each other to get private places pierced, then come back to the house and have show and tell.
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