Hazing
Encyclopedia
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
and other activities involving harassment
Harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing...
, abuse
Abuse
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...
or humiliation
Humiliation
Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It can be brought about through bullying, intimidation, physical or mental mistreatment or trickery, or by embarrassment if a person is revealed to have...
used as a way of initiating
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
a person into a group.
Hazing is seen in many different types of groups, including in gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
s, club
Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...
s, sports teams
Team sport
A team sport includes any sport which involves players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal which is usually to win. This can be done in a number of ways such as...
, military units, and workplace
Workplace bullying
Workplace bullying, like childhood bullying, is the tendency of individuals or groups to use persistent aggressive or unreasonable behaviour against a co-worker or subordinate. Workplace bullying can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation...
s and fraternities
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, hazing is often associated with Greek-letter organizations
Hazing in Greek letter organizations
Hazing in Greek letter organizations is defined as any act or set of acts that constitutes hazing and occurs in connection to a fraternity or sorority....
(fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
). It is similar to the Indian phenomenon of ragging
Ragging
Ragging is a practice in educational institutions in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that involves existing students baiting or bullying new students. It is similar to the American phenomenon of hazing. It often takes a malignant form wherein the newcomers may be subjected to psychological or...
. Hazing is often prohibited by law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and may be either physical (possibly violent
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
) or mental (possibly degrading) practices. It may also include nudity or sexually oriented activities.
Terms
In some continental EuropeContinental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
an languages, terms with a "christening" theme or etymology are preferred (e.g. baptême in French, in Dutch doop (mostly used in Flanders)) or variations on a theme of naïveté and the rite of passage such as a derivation from a term for freshman (e.g. bizutage in French, ontgroening (de-green[horn]ing) in Dutch (mostly used in the Netherlands)) or a combination of both, such as in the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
mopokaste (literally "moped baptism", "moped" being the nickname for freshmen, stemming from the concept that they would be barred from riding a full motorcycle at their age). In Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n, the word "iesvētības", which literally means "in-blessings" is used, it also stands for religious rites of passage, especialy confirmation. In Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, the term used is "nollning", literally "zeroing". In Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, the term is "novatada" from "novato" meaning newcomer and in Portugal "praxe
Praxe
The Portuguese term praxe describes the whole of student traditions in universities or, more often, to the initiation rituals freshmen are subjected to in some Portuguese universities....
", which literally means "habit". In the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
military, instead, the term used was nonnismo, from nonno (literally "grandfather"), a jargon term used for the soldiers who had already served for most of their draft period. A similar equivalent term exists in the Russian military, where a hazing phenomenon knowing as Dedovshchina
Dedovshchina
Dedovshchina is the name given to the informal system of subjection of new junior conscripts, formerly to the Soviet Armed Forces and today to the Russian armed forces, Interior Ministry, and FSB border guards, as well as the military forces of certain former Soviet Republics, to brutalization...
exists, meaning roughly "grandfather" or the slang term "gramps" (referring to the senior corps of soldiers in their final year of conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
).
Often most or all of the endurance, or at least the more serious ordeal, is concentrated in an orgiastic collective session, which may be called hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
night, or prolonged to a hell week and/or retreat or camp, sometimes again at the pledge's birthday (e.g. by birthday spanking), but some traditions keep terrorizing pledges over a long period, resembling fagging
Fagging
Fagging was a traditional educational practice in British boarding private schools and also many other boarding schools, whereby younger pupils were required to act as personal servants to the most senior boys...
.
Early examples
Francisco de QuevedoFrancisco de Quevedo
Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age. His style is characterized by what was called conceptismo...
includes a scene of students hazing one another in his picaresque novel El Buscón
El Buscón
El Buscón is a picaresque novel by Francisco de Quevedo...
(1626). In 1684, Joseph Webb was expelled from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
for hazing.
In 1873, a New York Times Article read; "West Point.; "Hazing" at the Academy--An Evil That Should be Entirely Rooted Out"
Scope
Hazing has been reported in a variety of social contexts. Sports teams ranging from amateur junior football leagues to professional clubs have used ritual hazing ceremonies to initiate new members, especially when the new person is younger than the rest of the team. Chapters of Greek letter organizationsFraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
have developed a number of complex hazing rituals that range from demeaning tasks to humiliating ceremonies. These practices are most common in, but not limited to, North American schools. Swedish students undergo a similar bonding period, known as nollningen, in which all members of the entering class participate (see fraternities and sororities for more information). College and universities in general, from Ivy league
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
to smaller institutions, such as the officially sanctioned "Kangaroo Court
Kangaroo court
A kangaroo court is "a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted".The outcome of a trial by kangaroo court is essentially determined in advance, usually for the purpose of ensuring conviction, either by going through the motions of manipulated procedure or...
" at Quincy University
Quincy University
Quincy University a private liberal arts Catholic university in the Franciscan tradition. It is located in Quincy, Illinois and currently enrolls around 1,300 students.-History:...
, Illinois have also been associated with hazing rituals . Other groups within university life that have hazing rituals include competition teams, fan clubs, social groups, secret societies and even certain service club
Service club
A service club or service organization is a voluntary non-profit organization where members meet regularly to perform charitable works either by direct hands-on efforts or by raising money for other organizations. A service club is defined first by its service mission...
s, or rather their local chapters (such as some modern US Freemasons
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
; not traditional masonic lodges). While hazing is less common in high schools, some secondary education institutions have developed hazing rituals.
The armed forces in various countries have long had hazing rituals, which often involve violence and punishments. The United States military defines hazing as unnecessarily exposing a fellow soldier to an act which is cruel, abusive, oppressive, or harmful. The Army maintains that they do not condone hazing, as it is not congruent with their value system. In the US hard hazing practices from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
boot camps were introduced into colleges. In Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
army hazing is called Polish fala "wave" adopted pre-World War I from non-Polish armies. In the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
it doesn't have a specific name as it isn't seen as a ritual of any sort, but similar incidents occur in the early ranks. In the Russian army
Russian Ground Forces
The Russian Ground Forces are the land forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed from parts of the collapsing Soviet Army in 1992. The formation of these forces posed economic challenges after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and required reforms to professionalize the force...
(formerly the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
) hazing is called "Dedovshchina
Dedovshchina
Dedovshchina is the name given to the informal system of subjection of new junior conscripts, formerly to the Soviet Armed Forces and today to the Russian armed forces, Interior Ministry, and FSB border guards, as well as the military forces of certain former Soviet Republics, to brutalization...
". Police forces, especially those with a paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
tradition, or sub-units of police forces such as tactical teams, may also have hazing rituals. Rescue services, such as lifeguard
Lifeguard
A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on...
s or air-sea reascue teams may have hazing rituals. The senior ranks within Boy Scout Troops have sometimes developed hazing practices. Some workplaces use hazing to initiate newly hired employees. Inmate hazing is also common at prisons around the world, including frequent reports of beatings and sexual assaults by fellow inmates.
It is a subjective matter where to draw to line between "normal" hazing (somewhat abusive) and a mere rite of passage
Rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's progress from one status to another. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
(essentially bonding; proponents may argue they can coincide), and there is a gray area where exactly the other side passes over into sheer degrading, even harmful abuse that should not be tolerated even if accepted voluntarily (serious but avoidable accidents do still happen; deliberate abuse with similar grave medical consequences occurs, in some traditions rather often). Furthermore, as it must be a ritual initiation, a different social context may mean a same treatment is technically hazing for some, not for others, e.g., a line-crossing ceremony
Line-crossing ceremony
The ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in the Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, and other navies that commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the Equator. Originally, the tradition was created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates...
when passing the equator at sea is hazing for the sailor while the extended (generally voluntary, more playful) application to passengers is not.
"Hazing" refers to any activity expected of someone joining a group (or to maintain full status in a group) that humiliates, degrades or risks emotional and/or physical harm, regardless of the person's willingness to participate. In years past, hazing practices were typically considered harmless pranks or comical antics associated with young men in college fraternities.
Hazing extends far beyond college fraternities and is experienced by boys/men and girls/women in school groups, university organizations, athletic teams, the military, and other social and professional organizations. Hazing is a complex social problem that is shaped by power dynamics operating in a group and/or organization and within a particular cultural context.
According to stophazing.org, hazing activities are generally considered to be: physically abusive, hazardous, and/or sexually violating. The specific behaviors or activities within these categories vary widely among participants, groups and settings. While alcohol use is common in many types of hazing, other examples of typical hazing practices include: personal servitude; sleep deprivation and restrictions on personal hygiene; yelling, swearing and insulting new members/rookies; being forced to wear embarrassing or humiliating attire in public; consumption of vile substances or smearing of such on one's skin; brandings; physical beatings; binge drinking and drinking games; sexual simulation and sexual assault.
Controversy
The practice of ritual abuse among social groups is poorly understood. This is partly due to the secretive nature of the activities, especially within collegiate fraternities and sororities, and in part a result of long-term acceptance of hazing. Thus, it has been difficult for researchers to agree on the underlying social and psychological mechanisms that perpetuate hazing. In military circles hazing is sometimes assumed to test recruits under situations of stress and hostility. Although in no way a recreation of combat, hazing does put people into stressful situations that they are unable to control, which allegedly should weed out those weaker members prior to being put in situations where failure to perform will cost lives. A portion of the training course known as SERESERE
SERE is a military acronym for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, a program that provides military personnel, Department of Defense civilians and private military contractors with training in evading capture, survival skills and the military code of conduct...
(Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape) simulates as closely as is feasible the physical and psychological conditions of a POW camp. Part of the purpose of SERE training is to train and test soldiers on their ability to resist methods of interrogation.
The problem with this approach, according to opponents, is that the stress and hostility comes from inside the group, from the assumed "good guys", and not from outside as in actual combat situation, creating suspicion and distrust towards the superiors and comrades-in-arms. Willing participants may be motivated by a desire to prove to senior soldiers their stability in future combat situations, making the unit more secure, but blatantly brutal hazing can in fact produce negative results, making the units more prone to break, desert or mutiny than those without hazing traditions, as observed in the Russian army in Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
, where units with the strongest traditions of dedovschina were the first to break and desert under enemy fire. At worst, hazing may lead into fragging incidents.
Outside of the criminal context, a form of the syndrome may take place in military basic training, in which "training is a mildly traumatic experience intended to produce a bond," with the goal of forming military units which will remain loyal to each other even in life-threatening situations. It would be more difficult to make such a case in favour of hazing ceremonies in academic bodies and social clubs, where the origin is imitating educational (parental and school) discipline in substitute households and internal teaching.
In a 1999 study, a survey of 3,293 collegiate athletes, coaches, athletic directors and deans found a variety of approaches to prevent hazing, including strong disciplinary and corrective measures for known cases, implementation of athletic, behavioral, and academic standards guiding recruitment; provisions for alternative bonding and recognition events for teams to prevent hazing; and law enforcement involvement in monitoring, investigating, and prosecuting hazing incidents. Hoover's research suggested half of all college athletes are involved in alcohol-related hazing incidents, while one in five are involved in potentially illegal hazing incidents. Only another one in five was involved in what Hoover described as positive initiation events, such as taking team trips or running obstacle courses.
"Athletes most at risk for any kind of hazing for college sports were men; non-Greek members; and either swimmers, divers, soccer players, or lacrosse players. The campuses where hazing was most likely to occur were primarily in eastern or southern states with no anti-hazing laws. The campuses were rural, residential, and had Greek systems," Hoover wrote. Hoover uses the term "Greek" to refer to U.S.-style fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
. Non-fraternity members were most at risk of hazing, Hoover reported. Football players are most at risk of potentially dangerous or illegal hazing, the study found. In the May issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Michelle Finkel, MD
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
, reported that hazing injuries are often not recognized for their true cause in emergency medical centers. The doctor said hazing victims sometimes hide the real cause of injuries out of shame or to protect those who caused the harm. In protecting their abusers, hazing victims can be compared with victims of domestic violence, Finkel wrote.
Finkel cites hazing incidents including "beating or kicking to the point of traumatic
Physical trauma
Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
injury
Injury
-By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...
or death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
, burning or branding, excessive calisthenics
Calisthenics
Calisthenics are a form of aerobic exercise consisting of a variety of simple, often rhythmical, movements, generally using multiple equipment or apparatus. They are intended to increase body strength and flexibility with movements such as bending, jumping, swinging, twisting or kicking, using...
, being forced to eat unpleasant substances, and psychological or sexual abuse of both males and females". Reported coerced sexual activity is sometimes considered "horseplay" rather than rape, she wrote. Finkel quoted from Hank Nuwer's book Wrongs of Passage which counted 56 hazing deaths between 1970 and 1999. Even in the modern western military, which combines discipline with welfare priorities, initiation practices can cause controversy. Although not a part of the training programme of the British Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
, there is a tradition (in many military - especially elite - corps) of subjecting the newly trained ranks to a hell night-like "joining run", a macho preparation of men in the prime of their lives for the ordeals of warfare, going beyond what most civilians (and even many service personnel) would find acceptable; it usually combines humiliation (such as nudity) with physical endurance.
In November 2005, controversy arose over a video showing Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
fighting naked and intoxicated as part of a hazing ritual. The fight culminated with one soldier receiving a kick to the face, rendering him unconscious.
The victim, according to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, said "It's just Marine humour". The Marine who leaked the video said "The guy laid out was inches from being dead". Under further investigation, the Marines had just returned from a six month tour of Iraq, and were in their "cooling down" period, in which they spend two weeks at a naval base before they are allowed back into society. The man who suffered the kick to the head did not press charges.
In 2008, a National Hazing study was conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Allan and Dr. Mary Madden from the University of Maine. This investigation is the most comprehensive study of hazing to date and includes survey responses from more than 11,000 undergraduate students at 53 colleges and universities in different regions of the U.S. and interviews with more than 300 students and staff at 18 of these campuses. Through the vision and efforts of many, this study fills a major gap in the research and extends the breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding about hazing. Ten initial findings are described in the report, Hazing in View: College Students at Risk. These include:
- More than half of college students involved in clubs, teams, and organizations experience hazing.
- Nearly half (47%) of students have experienced hazing prior to coming to college.
- Alcohol consumption, humiliation, isolation, sleep- deprivation, and sex acts are hazing practices common across student groups.
Crime
In the U.S. hazing has resulted in several deaths and serious injuries. Matthew CarringtonMatt's Law
Matt's Law is a California law that allows for felony prosecutions when serious injuries or deaths result from hazing rites. The bill amended the California Education Code and California Penal Code to change charges for some hazing rituals from misdemeanors to felonies, and for the first time gave...
was killed at California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's Chico State University
California State University, Chico
California State University, Chico is the second-oldest campus in the twenty-three-campus California State University system. It is located in Chico, California, about ninety miles north of Sacramento...
on February 2, 2005. As a direct result, a number of colleges and parents, as well as sorority and fraternity members are taking steps to bring an end to criminal hazing practices. Colleges and fraternities have also faced civil liability in actions brought for injuries and deaths caused by fraternity hazing. Hazing is considered a felony in several U.S. states, and anti-hazing legislation has been proposed in other states. SB 1454, or Matt's Law
Matt's Law
Matt's Law is a California law that allows for felony prosecutions when serious injuries or deaths result from hazing rites. The bill amended the California Education Code and California Penal Code to change charges for some hazing rituals from misdemeanors to felonies, and for the first time gave...
, was developed in Carrington's memory, and a bill was put into law to eliminate hazing in California. There is anti-hazing legislation in several countries, e.g. in France (the French term is bizutage) imposing a punishment up to six months in prison or 7,500 €. In the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, hazing accompanied by any forms of temporary or permanent physical injuries (from light injuries to injuries resulting to death), sexual abuse (in any form) or any acts that lead to mental incapacity are punishable by law. Penalties vary depending on how serious the offense is.
In Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, 35 people died since 1993 as a result of hazing initiation rites in the Institute of Public Service (IPDN). The latest is in April 2007 when Cliff Muntu
Cliff Muntu
Cliff Muntu was a sophomore student of IPDN, who died as a result of being beaten by his seniors during hazing. He was a member of the North Sulawesi contingent...
died after being beaten by the seniors.
In India, ragging
Ragging
Ragging is a practice in educational institutions in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that involves existing students baiting or bullying new students. It is similar to the American phenomenon of hazing. It often takes a malignant form wherein the newcomers may be subjected to psychological or...
(as hazing is called there) is legally banned. However, implementation of the law remains problematic because victims rarely speak out. Recently, the Supreme Court of India directed the police to register criminal cases against those accused of ragging. State governments have also been instructed to take a tougher stance on ragging.
In Russia the victim of a high-profile hazing attack, Andrei Sychyov required the amputation of his legs and genitalia after he was forced to squat for three hours whilst being beaten and tortured by a group on New Year's Eve 2005. The brutal attack on Sychyov, and its horrific consequences highlighted the widespread problem of dedovshchina - or hazing - in the Russian armed forces.
Methods
Before the Great Depression, U.S. hazing achieved an art form status amongst benevolent fraternities such as the MoosesMoose International
Moose International is a fraternal and service organization founded in 1888, consisting of the Loyal Order of Moose, with nearly 1 million men in roughly 2,400 Lodges, in all 50 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, plus Great Britain and Bermuda; and the Women of the Moose with more than...
and the Freemasons. The DeMoulin Catalog is a catalog of many hazing implements used, most famously the electric carpet
Electric carpet
The electric carpet is the archetypical example of device used in hazing, and has been, at least popularly, associated with American Freemasonry . It is a mat through which electric current can be run and people are forced to stand or walk on it...
.
In many cases, the hardest abuse is usually only enacted for a photograph (sometimes even posted on the Internet) or video. Reported hazing activities can involve all types of ridicule and humiliation within the group or in public — many of which could easily be considered abusive if a candidate were not a consenting adult — while others are quite innocent, akin to pranks. Spanking
Spanking
Spanking refers to the act of striking the buttocks of another person to cause temporary pain without producing physical injury. It generally involves one person striking the buttocks of another person with an open hand. When an open hand is used, spanking is referred to in some countries as...
is done mainly in the form of paddling
Paddle (spanking)
A spanking paddle is an implement used to strike a person on the buttocks. The act of striking a person with a paddle is known as "paddling". A paddling may be for punishment , or as an initiation or hazing ritual, or for erotic purposes.A paddle has two parts: a handle and a blade...
among fraternities, sororities and similar (e.g., athletic) clubs, sometimes over a lap, a knee, furniture or a pillow (pile), but mostly with the victim "assuming the position," i.e., simply bending over forward. A variation of this (also as punishment) is trading licks. This practice is also used in the military (where a new round of hazing can follow a promotion, etc.). Alternative modes (including bare-buttock paddling, strapping and switching, as well as mock forms of antiquated forms of physical punishment
Physical punishment
Physical punishment is any form of penalty in a judicial, educational or domestic setting that takes a physical form, by the infliction on the offender of pain, injury, discomfort or humiliation...
s such as stocks
Stocks
Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...
, walking the plank and running the gauntlet
Running the gauntlet
Running the gauntlet is a form of physical punishment wherein a captive is compelled to run between two rows—a gauntlet—of soldiers who strike him as he passes.-Etymology:...
) have been reported in the US and other countries, even though all hazing is officially illegal in many states.
The hazee may be humiliated by being hosed by sprinkler, buckets or hoses; covered with dirt or with (sometimes rotten) food, even urinated upon. Olive or baby oil may be used to "show off" the bare skin, for wrestling or just slipperiness, e.g., to complicate pole climbing. Cleaning may be limited to a dive into water, hosing down or even paddling the worst off. They may have to do tedious cleaning including swabbing the decks, cleaning the toilets with a toothbrush. In fraternities, pledges often must clean up a mess intentionally made by brothers which can include fecal matter, urine, and dead animals.
Servitude such as waiting on others (as at fraternity parties) or various other forms of housework, often with tests of obedience. In some cases, the hazee may be made to eat raw eggs, peppers, hot sauce, or drink too much alcohol. Some hazing even includes eating or drinking vile things such as bugs or rotting food.
The hazee may have to wear an imposed piece of clothing, outfit, item or something else worn by the victim in a way that would bring negative attention to the wearer. Examples include a uniform (e.g. toga
Toga
The toga, a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a cloth of perhaps 20 ft in length which was wrapped around the body and was generally worn over a tunic. The toga was made of wool, and the tunic under it often was made of linen. After the 2nd century BC, the toga was a garment worn...
, especially in Greek societies); a leash and/or collar (also associated with SM bondage); infantile and other humiliating dress and attire (e.g., diapers, underwear (sometimes of the opposite sex; sometimes wet to make it see-through) or a condom on the head); cross-dress or fake breasts; wearing just a box or a barrel; bunny costume; a phallus or dildo, even in explicitly homo-erotic poses. In some cases, the hazee may be completely or partially in a state of nudity
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
(with or without cupping of the genitals). A variation in use in Germany is the "clothesline", i.e., contributing garments (usually remaining decent, e.g., in swim suit) to form a long line. In Sweden, gymnasium (high school, 16 to 19 years old) and university also use the clothes line. Girls strip to their thong
G-string
A G-string is a type of thong underwear or swimsuit, a narrow piece of cloth, leather, or plastic, that covers or holds the genitals, passes between the buttocks, and is attached to a band around the hips, worn as swimwear or underwear by women and men...
, but may keep their bra on if they wish; boys are always expected to finish up naked, thus being jeered at and humiliated by the crowd. Holding lowered trousers, shorts and/or underwear up "revealingly".
Tarring and feathering
Tarring and feathering is a physical punishment, used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. It was used in feudal Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance .-Description:In a typical tar-and-feathers attack, the...
(or rather a mock version using some glue) or branding
Human branding
Human branding or stigmatizing is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron...
. If half-naked, topless or with bare feet, the victim may be subjected to thorough and prolonged tickling until helpless with laughter.
Submission to the seniors is common. Abject "etiquette" required of pledges or subordinates may include prostration, kneeling, literal groveling, kissing/licking/washing/worshipping/massaging/rubbing/sucking/ body parts usually genitalia.
Other physical feats may be required, such as calisthenics
Calisthenics
Calisthenics are a form of aerobic exercise consisting of a variety of simple, often rhythmical, movements, generally using multiple equipment or apparatus. They are intended to increase body strength and flexibility with movements such as bending, jumping, swinging, twisting or kicking, using...
and other physical tests, such as push-ups (sometimes a hazer keeps his/her foot on the pledges' back), jumping jacks
Jumping Jacks
Jumping Jacks is a 1952 film starring the comedy team of Martin and Lewis. The movie was released by Paramount Pictures.-Plot:Chick Allen is a paratrooper. He invites his former partner, Hap Smith , to help out with a show that he and the other soldiers are preparing...
(under near impossible conditions), sit-ups, mud wrestling
Mud wrestling
Mud wrestling is defined as physical confrontation that occurs in mud or a mud pit. The popular modern interpretation specifies that participants wrestle while wearing minimal clothing and usually going barefoot, with the emphasis on presenting an entertaining spectacle as opposed to physically...
, forming a human pyramid
Human pyramid
A human pyramid is a type of gymnastic formation in which the participants kneel together in a row or other formation, forming a base for another tier of participants who stand or kneel on their shoulders, backs or thighs. A human pyramid is very difficult to make. In case that the participants...
or dog piling, climbing a greased pole, skinny diving, leap-frog, human wheel-barrow etc., often with some twist. Exposure to the elements may be required, such as swimming or diving in cold water or snow. Degrading positions and tasks include being locked up in a cage or barrel, commanded to move on all fours or crawl on their bellies, eat or fetch "doggy style", kiss or urinate in public.
Orientation tests may be held, such as abandoning pledges far or fettered without transport, in the dark and/or in a public place. Dares include jumping from some height (bungee or in water), stealing from police or rival teams and obedience. Blood pinning
Blood wings
Blood wings is a traditional initiation rite that is endured by many graduates of the United States Army Airborne School and sometimes practiced in other elite military training environments, including the Army Aviation and Aviation Logistics community. It is called blood pinning in the United...
among military aviators (and many other elite groups) to celebrate becoming new pilots by piercing their chests with the sharp pins of aviator wings.
On his first crossing the equator in military and commercial navigation, each "pollywog" (sailor; sometimes even passengers) is subjected to a series of endurances usually including running and/or crawling a gauntlet of abuse (soiling, paddling, etc.) and various scenes supposedly situated at King Neptune's court. A pledge auction is a variation on the slave auction, where people bid on the paraded (often exposed) pledges. It is held either as an open fund raiser where the general public (or just an invited sorority) can bid, or internally to decide which brother can impose his fantasies on which pledge. Sometimes, male pledges' prices depend on how little clothing the boy is allowed to wear. The "slaves" must do whatever the master orders, such as bringing drinks or preparing food.
The Happy Corner, known in Taiwan as aluba ("hitting the tree"), Hong Kong (as corning or being corned), and Norway (as "stolping", "poling" or "gjelling", "gelding
Gelding
A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday...
"), involves rubbing a lifted boy's groin against a tree or pole. Treeing
Treeing
Treeing is a method of hunting where dogs are used to force animals that naturally climb up into trees, where they can be shot by hunters. Particularly used with coonhunting, treeing dogs are selected for the instinct to not cease barking at an animal after it has escaped into a tree...
is binding up with ropes, chains, handcuffs or other means, to a tree or pole, or in some variations on a cross (mock crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
) wearing only a loincloth, underwear, a diaper, or sometimes even nothing at all, to be helplessly abused and/or bound.
The term tunnel seems to have various meanings in different traditions, such as a spanking tunnel or belt-line
Belting (beating)
Belting is the use of belts made of strong materials as a whip-like instrument for corporal punishment . It is most often associated with educational institutions where it has been used as disciplinary measure but it has also been applied domestically by parents...
. It may be appealing as a symbolic rite of passage: one goes in as a rookie and emerges as something of a brother or teammate.
Hazing also occurs for apprentices in some trades. In printing, it consists of applying bronze blue to the apprentice's penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
and testicles, a color made by mixing black printers ink and dark blue printers ink, which takes a long time to wash off. Similarly, mechanics get their groins smeared with old dirty grease.
Psychology, purpose, and role
Hazing often serves a deliberate purpose, of building solidaritySolidarity
Solidarity is a Polish trade union federation that emerged on August 31, 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa. It was the first non-communist party-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country. Solidarity reached 9.5 million members before its September 1981 congress...
. Psychologist Robert Cialdini
Robert Cialdini
Robert B. Cialdini is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University.He is best known for his popular book on persuasion and marketing, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Influence has sold over 2 million copies and has been translated into twenty-six...
uses the framework of consistency and commitment to explain the phenomenon of hazing, and the vigor and zeal to which practitioners of hazing persist in and defend these activities even when they are made illegal. Cialdini cites a 1959 study in which the researchers observed that "persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort."
Fiction
Films where hazing plays an important part in the plot and/or constitutes a forceful scene include if...., Fraternity Row (film)Fraternity Row (Film)
Fraternity Row is a 1977 film drama portraying life in a 1950s fraternity at a fictional college.-Plot:This movie tells the story of one college student and his trials and tribulations as he pledges the Gamma Nu Pi Fraternity at a fictional Eastern school.Originally this film was Charles Gary...
, National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. The film was a direct spin-off of National Lampoon magazine...
, Hell Night
Hell Night
Hell Night is a 1981 American independent horror film . Tom DeSimone directed the film, which was written by Randy Feldman and stars Linda Blair. The film depicts a night of fraternity hazing set in an old manor, during which a deformed maniac terrorizes and murders many of the college students...
, Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...
, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama
Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is a 1988 sci-fi/horror B movie directed by David DeCoteau, loosely-based on the classic short story The Monkey's Paw....
(female pledges paddled during initiation ritual), Dazed and Confused
Dazed and Confused
"Dazed and Confused" is a song by Jake Holmes, which was covered by The Yardbirds, and later reworked by Led Zeppelin who hold a separate copyright on the song.-Jake Holmes:...
(high school freshmen are put through many rituals, including fake "air raids", being covered in food, spanked with a paddle, and forced to lie in a trucks bed while it goes through the car wash), A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men (film)
A Few Good Men is a 1992 drama film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore. It was adapted for the screen by Aaron Sorkin from his play of the same name. A courtroom drama, the film revolves around the trial of two U.S...
, The Lords of Discipline
The Lords of Discipline (film)
The Lords of Discipline is a 1983 film based on the novel by Pat Conroy and directed by Franc Roddam. The film stars David Keith, Robert Prosky, Judge Reinhold, Bill Paxton, William Hope, Michael Biehn, and Olympic boxer Mark Breland...
, The Skulls, Old School
Old School (film)
Old School is a 2003 American comedy film released by DreamWorks SKG and directed by Todd Phillips, director of the documentary Frat House. The story was written by Court Crandall, and the film was written by Phillips and Scot Armstrong...
, Jarhead
Jarhead (film)
Jarhead is a 2005 biographical drama war film based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 1991 Gulf War memoir of the same name, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford with co-stars Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard, and Chris Cooper. The title comes from the slang term used to refer to...
, The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd (film)
The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast. Although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the...
".
In Followers
Followers
Followers is a term given to a group of playing positions in the game of Australian rules football - a ruckman, ruck rover, and rover....
, three friends want to pledge, but only the white ones are accepted, and must target their refused black friend. In the comedy National Lampoon's Pledge This!
National Lampoon's Pledge This!
National Lampoon's Pledge This! is a 2006 comedy film starring Paris Hilton, who also served as an executive producer. The film was very poorly received and went straight to video.-Plot:...
(2006), sorority president Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
forces her candidates to eat spoiled sushi, go on a used condom scavenger hunt, and walk around campus wearing diapers and baby bonnets.
In Frat Brothers of the KVL (2007), a lacrosse team's excessively dangerous hazing leads to a fatality. W.
W. (film)
W. is a 2008 American film based on the life and presidency of George W. Bush. It was produced and directed by Oliver Stone, written by Stanley Weiser, and stars Josh Brolin as Bush, with a cast that includes Ellen Burstyn, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott...
(2008) about George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
includes a hazing by members of a fictional fraternity.
Sydney White
Sydney White
Sydney White is a 2007 teen comedy film starring Amanda Bynes, Sara Paxton, and Matt Long, and based on the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.-Plot:...
included varying forms of hazing. The film Igby Goes Down
Igby Goes Down
Igby Goes Down is a 2002 comedy-drama film that follows the life of Igby Slocumb, a rebellious and sardonic New York City teenager who attempts to break free of his familial ties and wealthy, overbearing mother...
, about a cocky, bright young man's coming of age, begins with a blanket party ritual. In the Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
sitcom, Blue Mountain State
Blue Mountain State
Blue Mountain State is an American comedy series that premiered on Spike on January 11, 2010. The series producers include Chris Romano and Eric Falconer and is produced by Lionsgate Television...
, hazing is depicted among college football players throughout the series.
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
wrote a short story called The Hazing
The Hazing
The Hazing is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the October 1942 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov...
.
See also
Further reading
- Thwing, C.F., "College Hazing", Scribners Monthly, Vol.17, No.3, (January 1879), pp. 331–334.
External links
- IMDB references by the word and keyword
- World Corporal Punishment Research Corporal punishment as initiation