Robbins who states that she could pass for 19 went undercover as a college student to blend in with some of America’s largest and oldest sororities to see what being Greek was really about. She discovered first and foremost that sorority acceptance comes down to money and race. Most of the long-established sororities still only accept Caucasians. Rich Caucasians. These organizations are profitable businesses and if you can’t pay up, you’re not a runner up to even bid. As a result sorority girls are trained by their chapter heads on how to zone in on the rich during Rush. Robbins also shows how sorority sisters are taught phony methods by organization heads to hard-sell their sorority (like advertisers do a product) to ignorant, non-sorority girls. Even if the sisters don’t like the girls interested in joining, they are trained to pretend to like them so that they in turn are liked and desired as the number one sorority to get into.

Robbins report goes beyond the numerous hazing accounts cited (such as forced porn-viewing, alcohol poisoning, deaths, blood mixing, etc.,) to delve into the minds of these young women. What she discovered is that sororities often aren’t the root cause of low self-esteem since many who join up have low self-esteem to begin with. The book mentions more than once that most pledges were drawn to Greek life because they lack artistic, athletic or intellectual depth. Thus, unable to fit in with the art pack, humanitarians or the jocks -- sorority life is their last resort. She also reports on the bizarre coincidence many sororities seem to have of accepting women who physically look and dress exactly like them. Through conversations Robbins had with some little sisters, they conveyed to her their disappointments after realizing that sorority acceptance isn’t true acceptance or real friendship. Rather once you move in with the gang, inner-house politics leads to a circle of women that bully and dominate over the submissive ones in fear of being ostracized if they dare speak up. In essence conformity not creative independence is the key to sorority survival.     

Robbins also inspected the family and cultural pressures on southern women to enter sisterhood. For it is especially in the Deep South that sorority life to this day not only rules college campuses, but is also considered vital to the rest of a female’s life. I personally was surprised that in this day and age, upper-class mothers and grandmothers in Bible Belt states still stress upon their young women the importance of getting accepted into the sorority they went to, and are known to hire professional Rush Consultants to help ensure admittance when not stooping to bribery. If a girl only gets admitted into a less-than-prestigious sorority or even worse --not any -- many southern parents consider their daughter’s future to be ruined. Southern Methodist University is an example in this book where mothers and daughters publicly break down into tears (if the woman is rejected) on the night when Big Sisters announce before hundreds of spectators the ones they’ve chosen to join their clans.     

Using case studies, sociological observations, and journalistic research, Robbins successfully deconstructs the happy-girl sorority myths we've falsely come to know from Hollywood.  Her findings of this femme, secret world are startling, and sometimes shocking in a post burn-your-bra era.  This is why it is no wonder that already her account is becoming a mainstay in the Women's Studies section of bookstores everywhere.