Digital Culture: "Bama Rush-Tok" and Southern Greek Life Culture

Sororities have been common in higher education ever since women started attending college. The first sorority is widely considered to be Kappa Alpha Theta, which was the first organization to be established as a Greek-letter women’s fraternity. While the organization Gamma Phi Beta was the first to call itself a “sorority”. The south specifically has a strong Greek life culture. At the University of Alabama, 36% of undergraduate students are affiliated with a Greek-letter organization, compared to the national average being around 10-15%. With the growth of a more personal form of social media posts, and “Get Ready With Me” videos, in August of 2021, these Potential New Members (PNMs) shared their outfits and experience going through sorority rush at the University of Alabama on TikTok. Prompting an internet-wide fascination with the process.

@kylan_darnellBama rush day 1 #bama #bamarush #rush #bamarushtok

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The videos these girls created took the internet by storm. Wearing thousands of dollars worth of clothing and jewelry while having perfect hair, makeup, and nails. To those outside of the exclusive club of southern Greek life, putting this much effort into rushing a sorority seems benign, but southern Greek culture is a large part of their college education. Southern women have always held themselves to a high standard, in terms of beauty, manners, and persona. The PNMs rushing these sororities are simply assimilating to an already heavily rooted culture of perfectionism. The outfits, makeup, hair, and jewelry are not excessive like many would think: they are essential. And that’s a large reason why so many have found a fascination with the process.

“Bama Rush-Tok” has become such a topic of interest on the internet that many users now anticipate what sororities these PNMs will receive bids from. This para-social relationship that many viewers have with these girls speaks heavily to digital culture. Being enthralled by a culture (southern Greek life) many of us are not a part of and placing ourselves in the shoes of these PNMSs and creating personal and emotional connection to these girls, creating celebrities and idols out of them. The trend became so large that in May of 2023, filmmaker Rachel Fleit created a nearly two-hour documentary dedicated to the process of rushing at The University of Alabama. The explosion of “Bama Rush-Tok” shows just how closely connected we are to social media personas, and how fascinated we are by being let into a world of excess and exclusivity.

Murray, Conor. “It’s ‘bama Rush’ Season Again-Here’s Why Sorority Recruitment Is a Viral TikTok Phenomenon.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 Sept. 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/08/18/its-bama-rush-season-again-heres-why-sorority-recruitment-is-a-viral-tiktok-phenomenon/?sh=31ebd53913ac.

Bellows, Kate Hidalgo. “Paranoia Struck the U. of Alabama over a Greek-Life Film. Here’s ...” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 30 May 2023, www.chronicle.com/article/paranoia-struck-the-u-of-alabama-over-a-greek-life-film-heres-whats-actually-in-it.

Darnell, Kylan. “Make Your Day.” TikTok, 6 Aug. 2022, www.tiktok.com/@kylan_darnell/video/7128750420545097003?embed_source=71929437%2C121374463%2C121351166%2C71838017%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_blank&refer=embed&referer_url=cdn.iframe.ly%2Fapi%2Fiframe%3Fmedia%3D1%26app%3D1%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.tiktok.com%252F%2540kylan_darnell%252Fvideo%252F7128750420545097003%253Fis_from_webapp%253D1%2526sender_device%253Dpc%2526web_id%253D7276097742199440927%26key%3De27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd&referer_video_id=7128750420545097003.