{"id":2236749,"date":"2024-05-03T17:15:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T21:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-they-can-erase-sisterhood-they-can-erase-women\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T17:18:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T21:18:48","slug":"if-they-can-erase-sisterhood-they-can-erase-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-they-can-erase-sisterhood-they-can-erase-women\/","title":{"rendered":"If they erase sisterhood, they erase women"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fif-they-can-erase-sisterhood-they-can-erase-women%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2236749&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Tenth Circuit allowed a groundbreaking court battle for the right to live and associate with women. The sorority faced challenges when pressured to initiate a male member, leading to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-canvassers-rescind-their-votes-to-certify-wayne-county-michigan-results\/\" title=\"Republican Canvassers Rescind Their Votes to Certify Wayne County, Michigan, Results\">legal action<\/a>. The\u2063 importance of female-only\u2064 spaces and the impact on\u200b members&#8217; lives are highlighted. A public \u200coutcry for women&#8217;s rights in private domains\u2062 and beyond is emphasized. The\u2062 Tenth Circuit enabled a significant legal struggle for\u2062 women&#8217;s living and social rights. A sorority encountered dilemmas over \u200dinducting a male \u200cmember, prompting legal intervention. The significance of exclusive female spaces and the personal \u200drepercussions are underscored. A vocal demand for \u200cwomen&#8217;s rights in both \u2063private and public spheres\u2062 is at the forefront.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Tenth Circuit finally gave us a day in court to fight for something we never thought we\u2019d have to: the right to live and associate with other women. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">See, we joined Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming because we wanted to learn and grow with other women. Women have done this for ages: Kappa itself was founded in 1870, and when Title IX was passed in 1972, generally outlawing sex-based associations, sororities were explicitly exempted from the law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But that all changed for us in the fall of 2022. Our sisters were pressured by the Kappa Kappa Gamma headquarters to initiate a male\u2014going so far as to force our votes to be public and warning us that voting against the male would be a sign of bigotry, a basis for expulsion from Kappa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But headquarters does not have to live with its decision. We do. They had their female-only environment when they were at college. We do not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The benefits of female-only living are self-evident, but they are also scientifically backed. Personally, we want a place to be ourselves. We want (and deserve) freedom from a male gaze in private environments. These emotional needs manifest themselves in concrete ways. Research <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/american-political-science-review\/article\/abs\/gender-inequality-in-deliberative-participation\/CE7441632EB3B0BD21CC5045C7E1AF76\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">shows<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  that women are much less likely to speak, especially authoritatively, in mixed-sex settings. And women are 200% as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.monash.edu\/__data\/assets\/pdf_file\/0012\/2368569\/14-20-The-Gender-Leadership-Gap.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">likely<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  to accept a leadership role in single-sex settings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maybe we wouldn\u2019t have noticed what we had until we lost it. We felt uneasy walking into bathrooms, knowing that our privacy there had been dissolved. Our bedrooms don\u2019t have locks, and it was hard to fall asleep without that layer of protection in our intimate environment. Some sisters are sexual assault victims, and were forced to constantly shoulder the unease of trauma by having been stripped of their female-only environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So after months of begging for the sorority we were promised, we <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org\/westenbroek-v-kappa-kappa-gamma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">sued<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And we\u2019re speaking up publicly too. Because this case, this issue, isn\u2019t just about opportunities being stripped from us in college and in sorority houses. It\u2019s also about being able to speak out and defend your beliefs without intimidation. We are women who want our constitutionally protected right to speak out and associate freely, including in women-only spaces. We have heard from hundreds of other women who share our views but fear speaking out and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/indiana-supreme-court-to-hear-arguments-this-week-on-reinstating-delphi-murder-suspects-original-attorneys-removing-judge\/\" title=\"Indiana Supreme Court to consider reinstating Delphi murder suspect's original attorneys and removing judge\">facing public shaming<\/a> and persecution. We want them to find their voices and lead the way by taking this stand now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The four of us, and the other women who joined us in speaking out, have put a lot on the line with this lawsuit. At the outset, the court dismissed our concern for privacy in rejecting our request to proceed anonymously. We were just normal college girls who wanted everyone\u2019s privacy protected, including the male\u2019s. When we were forced to be public, we were then shamed for seeking publicity. We felt like we couldn\u2019t win.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our lives have all been affected beyond the court case.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hannah made the hard decision to transfer to the University of Nebraska, where they have yet to initiate a male, fortunately. Maddie, the trooper among us, still lives in the same house as the male that Kappa initiated. Words cannot describe the tension of constantly seeing someone whose membership you\u2019ve challenged in court. Jaylyn ultimately resigned her membership, leaving behind the house she was once a leader in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We don\u2019t want this to happen to others. This issue is also bigger than Kappa, or sororities, or what\u2019s happening to women on college campuses. It\u2019s about women\u2019s spaces nationally, and, more critically, whether women\u2019s biological existence matters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just this week, the Biden administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/sarah-parshall-perry-on-the-sweeping-changes-to-title-ix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">released new regulations<\/a> that will push our college campuses further in the wrong direction. The Department of Education reinterpreted Title IX so that rather ensuring women have equal opportunity and don\u2019t face discrimination \u201con the basis of sex,\u201d now they have elevated the concept of \u201cgender identity\u201d so that any man who decided to claim to be a woman can access our spaces, our sports team, and our dormitories. Women\u2019s interests are once again pushed aside to accommodate men.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is wrong. Women have to stand up for ourselves, our sisters, and our rights. Calling women bigots for refusing to pretend that the stronger, bigger, testosterone-driven, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trans-golfer-says-biological-males-competing-in-womens-sports-is-a-slap-in-the-face-to-women\/\" title=\"Trans Golfer Says Biological Males Competing In Women\u2019s Sports Is \u2018A Slap In The Face To Women\u2019\">male-bodied person<\/a> next to them is a \u201cwoman,\u201d threatens and belittles us and our experiences. Biological realities have tied women together since the beginning of humankind. We know that men have the potential to overpower us. We know that we need to be careful and aware of those vulnerabilities wherever we are. Our nation\u2019s policies, norms, and culture shouldn\u2019t make this harder by forcing us to ignore biological reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This lawsuit is the beginning of the fight, not the end. With Independent Women\u2019s Forum, we will work to define women in state law, we will make the case to the public and the courts, and we will not rest until young women once again are recognized in law and in society as unique, deserving, and equal\u2014not interchangeable\u2014with men.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p><em>Jaylyn Westenbroek, Hannah Holtmeier, Allie Coghan, and Maddie Ramar are plaintiffs in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwf.org\/westenbroek-v-kappa-kappa-gamma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma<\/a> and ambassadors for Independent Women\u2019s Forum (<a href=\"http:\/\/iwf.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iwf.org<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tenth Circuit granted us a day in court to defend our unexpected battle: the freedom to live and bond with fellow women. We chose Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming to evolve and thrive alongside other women. Throughout history, women have united to learn, empower, and support each other<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2236750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-2042770127.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2236749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-2042770127.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2236749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2236749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2236750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2236749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2236749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2236749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}