Running head: FRATERNITIES’ TOXIC MASCULINITY IN SOCIAL MEDIA 1

Barstool, Old Row, and Total Frat Move: Fraternities’ Toxic Masculinity in Social Media

Savannah E. Matherly

Western Carolina University

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Barstool, Old Row, and Total Frat Move: Fraternities’ Toxic Masculinity in Social Media

According to Rodriguez and Hernandez (2018), fraternities’ usage of social media has

perpetuated toxic masculinity and the objectification of women, such as the Total Frat Move

(TFM) Girls Instagram account, which states, “Tagging ‘the hottest college girls in the world.’

Women appearing in bikinis, short shorts, and halter tops pose in various positions that, to some,

can be seen as sexualized” (p. 1). Fraternity members and alumni operate various accounts like

TFM that perpetuate binge-drinking, risky behaviors, toxic masculinity, and the objectification of

women. Other platforms include Barstool and Old Row, which also include “Jokes, hot takes,

babes” (Old Row, 2018) within the bios on their “entertainment” accounts. Do fraternities

encourage and endorse these risky behaviors by publicly posting them on social media? Does

this further force fraternities to one up each other in terms of drinking behaviors, hazing, and

violence or the sharing of intimate photos of women? Correlations can be seen for social media

perpetuating toxic masculinity within fraternities when constant headlines such as, “Florida

Fraternity Members Posted Explicit Photos of Women on Secret Facebook Page Without

Consent, Lawsuit Says” (Perez, 2018) and “The Objectification of Women in Greek Life,”

(Russian, 2017) are flooding newsfeeds and dominating the conversation surrounding Fraternity

and Sorority Life (FSL). This paper will serve to discuss the connection between fraternities’

social media presence and toxic masculinity by defining toxic masculinity, accounting current

events with fraternities’ social media, and connecting these behaviors with Dr. Lawrence Potts’

Digital and Masculine Identity Convergence theory.

Toxic Masculinity

To begin to understand toxic masculinity, the traditional definition of masculinity must

first be defined. Masculinity encompasses “the dominant culture’s normative definition of

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masculinity” and “is reinforced by and reinforces misogyny and homophobia” (Edwards &

Jones, 2009, p. 211). For these reasons, masculinity typically perpetuates the subordination of

women within a patriarchal system and even marginalizes men who do not fit the traditional

definition of masculinity. Throughout the lifespan of boys to young men, the traditional concept

of masculinity can encourage toxic behaviors such as; emotional illiteracy, a culture of bullying

and harm towards others, overconsumption of alcohol, perpetration of sexual assault, and other

risky behaviors under the influence (Edwards & Jones, 2009). A study on college-aged men of

various racial and economic backgrounds, revealed that they perceived that the “overall

expectations [of being a man] included being competitive, in control of emotions or unemotional,

aggressive, responsible, the breadwinner, in a position of authority, rational, strong, successful,

tough, and breaking the rules” (p. 215).

These expectations are dominant and aggressive, the complete opposite of feminine

expectations, thus encouraging men to perform these expectations in aggressive and controlling

ways. When men are unable to perform these expectations, they feel obligated to

overcompensate and prove their manhood, which can cause more harm to others, thus creating a

more toxic environment. The study also revealed that colleges, specifically fraternities, are

viewed as “four years of freedom” and the perfect medium to “perform their masculinity

according to society’s expectations and view” (p. 217). A participant stated that, “[College men]

try and cram as much of this stereotypical machoness in while they can before I guess, they are

snapped into reality and have to start really living as what they really think a man should be” (p.

217). These types of beliefs and hyper-masculinity to overcompensate, either lack of masculine

traits or cramming hyper masculine behavior into four years of college, is what creates a culture

of toxic masculinity.
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Current Events Within Fraternities’ Social Media

According to Zernechel and Perry (2017), “Research has demonstrated that fraternity

membership leads to the potential development of hyper-masculinity or hegemonic masculinity,”

which often is “associated with aggression towards women” and the “sexual exploitation of

women” (p. 1). Within the new rise of social media, with platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat,

and Twitter, fraternities have more opportunities for exposing their toxic masculinity and

objectification of women. When researched, most current events relating to fraternities and social

media encompass racism and/or blackface images (Goettsch & Hayes, 1990; Patton, 2008). In

April 2018, the California Polytechnic State University chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity

posted photos of a member in blackface (see Appendix A1 for photo). These same incidences of

racism have sprung from either shared videos or GroupMe screenshots from both Sigma Alpha

Epsilon fraternity and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity within the last few years.

Social media has been able to uncover the toxic masculinity that breeds within the

groupthink, or the conformity in irrational decision-making and lack of responsibility within a

group of people, and cyclical behaviors of fraternities, and they can no longer hide. Fraternities’

sexual exploitation and objectification of women is even coming to light, such as the

Pennsylvania State University chapter of Kappa Delta Rho fraternity, which has had their two

private Facebook pages exposed. These pages have revealed images “of naked women, not all of

them conscious or awake, according to a search warrant. Some were fellow students, others

strippers the frat hired” (see Appendix A2 for photos).

Delta Sigma Phi fraternity members at the University of Central Florida have also

recently been embroiled in revenge porn lawsuits for operating a private Facebook group called

Dog Pound, where “fraternity members are posting images and videos of their ‘sexual
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conquests’” (see Appendix A3 for photo). In addition to fraternity members utilizing private

accounts, social media accounts on Instagram and Twitter operated by fraternity members or

alumni are also public, and even boast about binge drinking, risky behaviors conducted by

brothers, and sexual conquests and/or sexualizing women. Photos advertising the clothing line

and merchandise for Old Row’s Instagram always portray women wearing the clothing, but

always from the backside revealing their thongs and buttocks (see Appendix A4 for photos).

Videos on this Instagram account also reveal men, and women, chugging whole bottles of

alcohol, men asking women for “anal” sex, drunk college-aged women with captions joking

about their behavior, risky and dangerous behaviors performed by college-aged men, and

mocking hazing and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (see Appendix A5 for photos). Total

Frat Move (TFM) also posts videos mocking the consequences of binge drinking and showing

the risky behaviors associated with the overconsumption of alcohol (see Appendix A6 for

photos). In sum, the current climate of fraternities on social media reveal that their behaviors

perpetuate toxic masculinity on various platforms, whether they want it shared or not, and these

issues include racism, possible hazing incidences, binge drinking, and the objectification and

sexual violence of women.

Digital and Masculine Identity Convergence Theory

Potts (2017) hypothesized a theory about Digital and Masculine Identity Convergence,

based on his PhD research. The theory “reflects the process which college men develop their

gender identity as it intersects with their digital presence on social media” (Potts, 2017, p. 170).

The process is through flexible stages of development as the male student in question is growing

through both self-reflection and how he makes meaning of his identity and overall college

experience. This allows for “individuals to progress and regress, making the model more
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dynamic so as to reflect the dynamic nature of both evolving definitions of masculinity and

digital identity” (p. 171). The model includes four phases: understanding pre-college context,

gathering social capital, defining role on campus and in the world, and understanding context.

These phases explain the overall convergence of masculine and digital identities by

understanding the fluidity through the phases for college men and how their social capital and

contexts can impact their progression through the model (see Appendix B for model). Potts’

research has shown that college-aged males have moved beyond utilizing social media as just a

connection tool to utilizing it as a means of meeting external expectations of masculinity and

fitting in with society. He also noticed how their masculine tendencies, especially in terms

traditional or hyper-masculinity, became exacerbated through online platforms, such as posting

images on Instagram and Twitter with derogatory or inappropriate captions.

Application

Potts (2017) also mentioned how putting just men in either a residence hall floor,

building, or group reinforces masculinity and brings either hyper-masculine or toxic masculine

tendencies to the surface. This statement can be supported by looking at the social media

accounts, like TFM, Old Row, and Barstool, operated by fraternity members and alumni. A

fraternity is a brotherhood of college-aged men whom all believe in the same values and

essentially can be exposed to groupthink and promotion of adhering to hyper-masculine actions.

Digital and Masculine Identity Convergence theory can explain the development of fraternity

members’ toxic and hyper-masculine digital presences throughout their college careers and how

student affairs professionals can help steer them toward Phase 4, or an integration of social

conscience into digital presence. In Phase One, all fraternity members begin as new members or

associate members, in other words, men who are not yet initiated into the fraternity. These men
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enter into FSL groups with pre-conceived definitions that are socially-constructed, either learned

from popular culture or media. Phase Two is when these new members are trying to gain

approval, or social capital, from the brothers of the organization. They want to be accepted, so

they will obey and carry-out any orders or expectations set-out before them by the brothers.

Thus, the new members begin to establish a new sense of identity, as they are adhering to a

different set of norms and social expectations of the fraternity. Once accepted and initiated,

fraternity members enter Phase Three where they begin to actually take note of the rest of the

social norms on campus. Members in this phase can begin to redefine their identity, as they

notice an emergence of social conscience in digital presence. They begin to realize that perhaps

the videos they are posting of their risky behaviors with binge drinking or the photos of

sexualized women are looked down on in the real world and their contexts begin to collapse.

Once members can begin to discern and understand what happened in Phase Three, they begin to

integrate social conscience into their digital presence, thus entering into the final phase where

their focus changes to the real world and how they should develop a social conscious on social

media to perpetuate positive masculine traits. The members then begin to ditch their old hyper-

masculine tendencies and presence on social media, thus redefining masculinity in terms of the

outside world and their expectations for life after college.

Conclusion

This paper discussed the connection between fraternities’ social media presence and toxic

masculinity by defining toxic masculinity, accounting current events with fraternities’ social

media, and connecting these behaviors with Potts’ Digital and Masculine Identity Convergence

theory. Further research is needed to help fraternity men move along the paths of the Potts’

theory so that they may redefine their masculine identities on social media. While practitioners
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support young women on college campuses in terms of sexual assault and positive body image,

they often allow young men to miss out on not having these crucial conversations (Zernechel &

Perry, 2017). Mentorship programs are needed where fraternity members can understand

masculinity and how it impacts their fraternity experience, outward presence with others

(including on social media), and with themselves. An example of this can be seen with Omega

Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., which has established the Omega Lamplighters, a youth leadership

organization for young men on breaking misguided traits of masculinity and establishing

mentorship with positive male role models (Duckett, 2018). Within these programs, workshops

on digital citizenship education also need to be had so fraternity members are learning how to

integrate social conscience into their digital presence. Based on the social media accounts

operated by fraternity members, alumni also remain highly active and involved in encouraging

the toxic masculine behaviors. Practitioners should look to include fraternity headquarters and

alumni in workshops so that they, too, can be educated on digital identities and how they may

perpetuate or breed toxic masculine behaviors. With these remedies for fraternities’ social media

usage and the application of Potts’ theory to fraternity members’ digital identity development,

hopefully fraternity members and alumni can truly begin to understand the impact of hyper

masculine stereotypes, toxic masculinity, and groupthink in regard to fraternity culture and its

exposure on social media.

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References

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harveys-camp-attendees/815833002/

Edwards, K. E., & Jones, S. R. (2009). Putting my man face on: A grounded theory of college

men's gender identity development. Journal of College Student Development, 50(2), 210-

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Ferreira, G. (2018, April 8). Cal Poly investigating photo on social media of frat member in

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Goettsch, J. M., & Hayes, M. A. (1990). Racism and sexism in Greek events: A call for

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Potts, L. (2017). The influence of social media use on male college students’ gender identity and

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Appendix A

Current Events Within Fraternities’ Social Media

Photo A1

California Polytechnic State University Chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity: Blackface

Photos A2

Pennsylvania State University Chapter of Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity: Facebook Pages
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Photos A3

Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity at the University of Central Florida: “Dog Pound” Facebook
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Photos A4

Old Row Instagram

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Photos A5

Total Frat Move Instagram

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Appendix B

Digital and Masculine Identity Convergence Theory