More Than Meets the Eye: Breaking Sorority Stereotypes

Photos and Writing by Vanessa McMahon

For this project, I wanted to create a photo series that highlighted a few exceptional sorority women at Washington State University. Through my photos, I wanted to show that sororities can be very diverse, with so many bright, interesting women that bring their own unique personalities and skills to make up the organization. Being a sorority woman often comes along with a negative connotation. People are sometimes quick to stereotype sororities as a house full of partying, ditzy women, who are all alike, due to implicit bias as well as misrepresentation in the media. I wanted to do a spotlight piece on women that I thought combat stereotypes, break gender norms, and show that there is more to sorority women than some might think. In turn, viewers may gain a new perspective on sorority members or Greek students as a whole.