Sister Acts: Resisting Men's Domination in Black and White Fraternity Little Sister Programs

Abstract

Fraternity little sister programs on college campuses both produce and resist gender inequality. This study draws on data from 40 in-depth interviews and participant observation on college campuses in the Southeast to examine race differences in types of resistance. Black little sisters used collective forms of resistance, which had greater success than white little sisters' individual forms of resistance. Structural and ideological differences in little sister organizations account for these different responses, which we trace to different cultural prescriptions for women's reliance on men and different knowledge about individual and collective resistance.