From the Duh! department are the following excerpts from the an interview with the author of Sister's Keeper
In her book, Robbins goes undercover at a college she calls “State U.” during the 2002-2003 school year to find out whether the stereotypes—binge drinking, drug use, eating disorders and promiscuity—are true.
NEWSWEEK: What kinds of things did you witness?
Alexandra Robbins: I really hadn’t expected to find the level of "Animal House" campiness that I did in some groups. They had a tradition called boob ranking where pledges had just a limited amount of time to strip off their shirt and bras to examine each other topless so that by the time the clock was up, they were basically lined up in order of chest size in order of the sisters to inspect. Some sororities hold what they call “naked parties,” during which after a few drinks sisters and pledges strip off their clothes and basically run around the house naked, some of them hooking up with each other before they let the boys in.
NEWSWEEK: Isn’t there a constant emphasis on boys?
Alexandra Robbins: From the mixers to the formals to the homecomings to fraternity parties—there’s frequently a race to get dates from a limited pool of acceptable fraternity guys. And white sororities are so centered on relationships with their ceremonies and rituals and songs to celebrate specific relationship milestones. By comparison, in at least one white sorority, the award for getting the highest GPA was a bag of potato chips. And you have to wonder what’s the point of a girls-only organization if it revolves around men.
NEWSWEEK: How prevalent are eating disorders?
Alexandra Robbins: I had heard urban legends about plumbers having to come clean out the pipes ever month or so in sororities because they get clogged with vomit. A lot of girls told me that was true. Eating disorders are so popular that some houses have puking contests after dinner. At State U., every single one of the 18 sororities had eating-disorder problems.
The entire premise of the book reminds me of an episode of the Maury Povich show, an excercise in voyeurism.