Twisted sisters

Obviously, lots of kids drink a ton in college. Did you have statistics that prove that binge drinking is worse in the Greek system?

I wouldn't want to rail against sororities for alcohol abuse because I think that's a college thing. I was a college student. I know what it's like.

Eating disorders, though, I would guess -- just in my opinion -- are more prevalent in sororities simply because of the emphasis placed on body image and on thinness. You're not going to see a lot of obese girls in these sororities. They look for thinness. There was a girl in Vicki's sorority who found an article of clothing and said, "Laura Ann, is this yours?" And Laura Ann, who was probably the heaviest girl in the sorority, said no. The other replied, "But it's a medium!"

Another issue that figured into "Pledged" was date rape -- two of the four girls you followed had been date-raped.

I didn't know when I chose them that that was the case. Both of those rapes happened after Greek functions. I'm not going to say that rape is more prevalent in sororities, though studies have been done making that accusation. When you have an organization that so hinges on relationships with men and alcohol, you're sort of setting the stage.

The fraternity of the guy who date-raped Caitlin basically took the accusation as if it was by her whole sorority -- so it turned into this huge thing. In terms of attitudes about rape, Caitlin's sorority supported her. The guy had to transfer.

However, you have cases like the one of that girl in the South who was raped and left unconscious. Her sorority sisters found her and left her on the stoop of another sorority's house, rang the bell, and ran away. When she got out of the hospital and told the president, she was told not to tell a single person because they don't want nationals to find out.

You don't name that school. But I will say that Southern Methodist University seemed like one of the worst schools for sorority life and backward values. Why?

It's Texas, it's wealthy, it's tradition. That's why I wanted to mention it because of "Pigs' Run" [where the girls run through the streets squealing to their new sorority while frat brothers drench the girls, wearing mandatory white T-shirts, with hoses]. That's also where you had Ponytail-gate in the 1980s where the sorority sisters were chosen to prostitute themselves to help get athletic recruits to come do the school.

You found the girls in white sororities to be pretty man-centric.

So man-centric that one of the girls I followed felt so pressured to find a date for the event that she slept with the guy who date-raped her. She was so pressured to find a boyfriend and to find dates. Every other week there was a mixer where she needed a date.

So are there efforts to reform these organizations?

A former sorority president and a vice president of a university told me that the women in the national office struggle with change. They want sororities to be throwbacks where girls were prim and proper and wore their pearls. They're just so out of touch with sorority life and the girls as individuals. The changes I suggest are to wipe out pledging, overhaul the rush process, wrest control from the national offices and institute regional control.

One of the most shocking scenes in the book takes place at a Northeast Greek Leadership Association Conference called "The Greek P.R. War Room" where you are undercover. The presenter was so angry about the media.

There I was, an undercover reporter, in a middle of lecture where the guy is railing against undercover reporters. He also said: "One death takes ten thousand hours of community service to make up for the P.R. aspect."

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