If you scroll through Instagram, you’re bound to see a few posts promoting various activism initiatives such as signing a petition or donating to a GoFundMe. It’s also possible you’ll see another type of post — an animation or colorful illustration promoting rush events for a Greek life organization or donating to a sorority’s philanthropy.
Lucy Taylor is familiar with this Greek life ritual and the many others, some of which she calls performative. Taylor is passionate about revealing the undiscussed or overlooked parts of Greek life, so she created the podcast Snapped. In season one, Taylor told stories about her experience in Greek life, from the problems she witnessed during sorority rush to her disaffiliation process.
Snapped season one has racked up 17,700 streams across all platforms since its debut in May 2020, Taylor said. Since October, Snapped has gained over 3,300 new streams and confirmed a season two.
“I think that I’ve found a lot of prospective people to interview,” Taylor said. “One of my interviews was three hours long, just a lowdown of the Greek life experience from beginning to end … I’m thinking it would be really cool to compare and contrast [interviews] along the way, and my narration would be what ties that together.”
Taylor hopes to incorporate her opinion and her interviewees’ opinions on important topics like being queer in Greek life, the tier system and the issues with “away weekend,” a tradition where frats host weekend trips and invite women along.
One story featured in season two talks about a student overhearing one of his fraternity brothers shaming another for hooking up with someone in a “lower tier” sorority.
“[His] response was, ‘I’m geeked. I can’t believe you did that,’” Taylor said. “It’s just so demeaning and so sad … You know it before you go in [to Greek life] and if you don’t, you can see because it’s literally [defined] by who is conventionally attractive.”
Taylor also hopes to include elements of Greek life history, psychology and professionals’ insight.
One expert Taylor spoke highly of was author Lisa Wade. Wade’s book, American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus, discusses “a punishing emotional landscape marked by unequal pleasures, competition for status, and sexual violence.”
One of Taylor’s main goals for season two is learning from and including a variety of perspectives.
“I would love to talk to someone from nationals. I would love to talk to people higher up in this whole system … I’m trying to get to the bottom of this,” Taylor said. “[I want] to show how this affects so many people in different ways … The more perspectives shown, the more people will be able to see themselves in the situation and to see this isn’t just one story. It started with my story, but that is only one story.”