I was never aware of sorority hazing in the 70s, unless you call having pledges go to study hall or answer the house phone one hour a week is hazing.
Fraternities? Entirely different story

From a friend and Sister who wanted Cosmo to know exactly what she thinks.

That's awesome! Very well-written. I hope Cosmopolitan sees that letter and I hope that other women send similar letters in objection to the article.

On her behalf, thank you! She is searching for a job in Public Relations, so please hire her!

The Huffington Post:

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/39753...ef=mostpopular

Can you imagine high school and college-age women reading this article and believing this is what sororities are about? Thank goodness wiser internet and media sites provide a more truthful version of sorority living.

In the early 1980's Cosmo ran an article pertaining to all things sorority, written by an NPC sorority member who wisely stated in her piece that her sorority group would more than likely 'pull her pin' for allowing the article to be printed.

IDK whether that woman had her pin pulled, but in the early 80's young college-age women looking for sorority information had limited print media options (hers was one of two I found when looking for info to navigate sorority waters). And I still remember the lyrics of one 'fire-up' song the 80's writer mentioned her group sang in-house between rush rounds.

Thank goodness there are young adults who actually talk to people and attend events rather than relying on the Internet, television, and mobile devices.

Pretty coincidental that this comes out during Anti-Hazing Week, don't you think?

Then she really needs to copy edit the rest of her web site. It's going to sink her chances at a lot of employers. (I'm saying this with a genuine hope that she fixes it, not to be snarky.)

Exactly!

According to BuzzFeed (I know, not exactly a paragon of journalism), "pledging activities" have been halted, at least for that chapter while the investigation is ongoing.

OK, so I understand that the author is trying to rationalize and come to terms with why she went through with being hazed, but really?

The hazing that enrages me the most, I'd say, is the kind that dehumanizes women and involves fraternity men in the humiliation.

Hazing really brings out the worst in people. I will never understand why so many people rant and rave about how "worth it" it is.

What a time to release this too, national anti-hazing week. Kinda ironic and makes it a point that we do this week every year but groups still haze.

I cannot believe that people still think that hazing = bonding! FWIW, when I was an advisor, I was forever used as an example of someone who was hazed. How was I hazed? I had to wear a pledge ribbon on Bid Day, and Initiation Week. I had a pledge book that sisters had to sign. I had to get coffee for sisters at dinner. I had to participate in a scavenger hunt.

While that hardly sounds like a list of horrifying, insulting hazing rituals, they can easily turn into the disasters such as mentioned in this article. So, dear fellow greeks, please don't think that the "trivial" tasks I had to perform are simply fun. It only takes one bad apple to make a scavenger hunt of collecting signatures of campus heroes to turn into taking very real tragedies. There's a huge reason why hazing has been outlawed!

When most people think of hazing they think of the following categories:
Harassment Hazing

• Verbal Abuse
• Threats or implied threats
• Calling a member education event "hell night"
• Asking new members to wear embarrassing or humiliating attire
• Stunt or skits with degrading, crude or humiliating acts
• Expecting new members/rookies to perform personal service to other members
• Sleep deprivation
• Sexual simulations
• Deprivation of a normal schedule of bodily cleanliness
• Being expected to harass others

Violent Hazing

• Forced or coerced alcohol or other drug consumption
• Beating, paddling, or other forms of assault
• Branding
• Forced or coerced ingestion of vile substances or concoctions
• Burning
• Water intoxication
• Expecting abuse or mistreatment of animals
• Public nudity
• Expecting illegal activity
• Bondage
• Abductions/kidnaps
• Exposure to cold weather or extreme heat without appropriate protection

BUT, what people fail to realize is that some of what they're calling the "good" hazing, that brings them closer together IS hazing. It falls into a third and often overlooked category.

Subtle Hazing

• Deception
• Assigning demerits
• Silence periods with implied threats for violation
• Deprivation of privileges granted to other members
• Requiring new members/rookies to perform duties not assigned to other members
• Socially isolating new members/rookies
• Line-ups and drills/tests on meaningless information
• Name calling
• Requiring new members/rookies to refer to other members with titles (e.g. "Mr.," "Miss") while they are identified with demeaning terms.
• Expecting certain items to always be in one's possession

It is SO important that we educate our members about subtle hazing and not just harassment and violent hazing. Subtle hazing has long term psychological effects that take place internally and are less visible to others, but it can still be JUST as severe. Nothing about hazing is good. This woman failed to grasp the true meaning of sisterhood as her founders intended it. What a shame. I do hope however, that this leads to change for that campus culture, that chapter and members that may have been experiencing hazing.