Kipling once said “the female of the species is more deadly than the male” and in light of the accusations brought against members of Tri Phi, I do protest that these things are true.

In the games of cruelty, the brutal physical punishments boys can inflict always rank far second to the torturous mind games females are capable of playing.

Females are socialized to want to belong. An entire generation grew up reading “Sweet Valley Kids” and “Sweet Valley High” thinking what a wondrous thing it would be to have their girls there to protect them. People one could whine to when the world seemed to be against you – those with whom one could share the common fears of cellulite and abandonment over late night snacks.

That is the beauty of girlfriends, but alas, I think the price of belonging to any all-girl exclusive group comes at too high of a price.

Maybe I am jaded because I attended an all-girl high school and experienced firsthand how cruel girls can be.

It is the all-consuming fear that you will be excluded from all the coolest things, punished by the all-knowing eyes, which watch you but you cannot see. Your social life will be doomed to become that of a deracinated foreigner. Such an emotional strain is something that few can manage to cast asunder.

So when the fear of this is coupled with physical torture, I find it impossible to believe that the subjected individual is expected to pass muster.

Organizations that encourage such torture should not only be illegal on college campuses, but they should also be outlawed in the whole of modern society.

Or have we as a people decided to devolve into the wilds of prehistoric time with diabolic creations of a modern mind?