Branding: "represents the lifelong commitment"

[hoosier]

The Telescope - Entertainment
Issue: 11/14/05
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Practice of branding continues with college fraternities
By Aline Mendelsohn
The Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. (KRT) - As his fraternity brothers heated a wire hanger shaped in the form of a Greek letter, Matthew Mitchell felt sick to his stomach.

For about 10 seconds, as the metal touched his skin, Mitchell gripped a fraternity brother's arm. It was the worst pain he had ever endured. But he chose to feel this pain, and later he was glad that he had.

Mitchell, a Phi Beta Sigma member at Florida A&M University, was going through a ritual known as branding, a burning of the skin that results in a scar.

A graduate of Oak Ridge High School in Orlando, Fla., Mitchell had considered being branded for three years before going through with it.

Ultimately, he says, he wanted a physical representation of his bond with his fraternity - a symbol that would be with him forever. So he decided that it would be only fitting to have the letter Sigma branded on his left upper arm, close to his heart.

"I'm going to be a Sigma for life, until the day I die," says Mitchell, 23.

Branding has long been a form of body art, and in the past century it has emerged as a tradition among some black fraternity and sorority members. Some Greek organizations have policies banning the practice; others don't prohibit it, but don't condone it, either.

Fraternity brothers say it comes down to an individual choice of expression.

"It's just like a tattoo," says Aaron Brown, 23, Mitchell's fraternity brother at FAMU. "It marks a time and a life, a milestone in your life and a commitment to the organization."

The practice of branding dates back thousands of years, says Sandra Mizumoto Posey, a folklorist and professor at California State Polytechnic University who has researched the subject.

Branding is most commonly associated with slaves and cattle. But secret societies and religious orders, such as those in ancient Greece, also used brands throughout history to mark followers, Posey says.

As for the college Greek system, the earliest recorded incidence dates back to 1931, but because of the secretive nature of fraternities and sororities, it is difficult to determine an exact timeline, Posey says.

Although the practice is associated with black fraternities, there are exceptions. President George W. Bush is rumored to be branded with a symbol of his Yale fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon.

Some believe that the ritual was inspired by African scarification traditions. And while branding does have ties to slavery, fraternity men with brands dismiss that connotation.

It's hard to determine exactly how many black fraternity members have brands, but Ricky L. Jones, University of Louisville professor and author of Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice, and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities, estimates that more than half do.

Members acquire brands for a number of reasons. Brands can display a sense of belonging, a mark of the successful completion of a challenging pledgeship. And they can be a symbol of manhood, of toughness.

"It's one of the most prominent and personal ways you can adopt something into your identity," Posey says. "You are physically changing the shape of who you are."

"It's an indication: `I am a member, I'm proud of that fact,'" says Tamara L. Brown, editor of "African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision," a book that features Posey's research on branding.

Brands often appear in discreet places such as the chest or the left upper arm. But when they are visible, bearers often display them with pride. Posey points out that on the cover of the sports book "Rebound: The Odyssey of Michael Jordan," Jordan appears shirtless, showing off his Omega brand.

Louisville professor Jones is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, and has two Kappa brands: one on his left arm and one on his chest.

"I saw it as something nothing more damaging than a tattoo," Jones says.

A brand is different in character than a tattoo, however.

It is achieved when a hot iron or piece of metal - often a hanger shaped like a Greek letter - is pressed to the skin for about 10 seconds. A wound forms in the shape of the metal and eventually becomes a scar, explains James Spencer, a St. Petersburg dermatologist and professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

No treatment can completely erase a brand, Spencer says.

"You're killing the skin," Spencer says.

And in doing so, there's a risk of infection and keloids, puffy scars that are a particular risk for African-Americans, Spencer says.

Unlike tattooing, branding is not regulated in Florida. The Department of Health's Board of Medicine views it as an extreme procedure that should be performed by a licensed physician.

In fraternities, a brother usually performs the branding, and it is sometimes a ceremonial event. Members say it hurts, for sure, but opinions on the pain level range from excruciating to a little sting. Some say tattooing is more painful.

Most fraternity brothers say branding is voluntary, but "certainly there is peer pressure," says Hank Nuwer, author of "Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities, Hazing and Binge Drinking."

Hazing researchers say they haven't heard of involuntary instances of branding. Still, even some fraternities dislike the practice

"We frown on it," says Tyrone Patton, international grand executive secretary for Iota Phi Theta, a black fraternity. "Why would any human being sit still and allow someone to burn and sear his flesh with a hot iron?"

Fraternity brothers counter that the brand reflects loyalty to their organizations.

When Brian Jenkins first arrived at the University of Central Florida, he viewed fraternities only through hard-partying stereotypes. Yet when Jenkins was introduced to Phi Beta Sigma, he changed his view. He saw the organization as a way of life and wanted to show his affiliation with a brand.

"It shows I'm part of something big," Jenkins says.

William Madison expressed a similar sentiment.

The brand "represents the lifelong commitment to the ideals of the fraternity," says Madison, 20, a University of Florida junior and Omega Psi Phi member who received his brand at the beginning of the semester. "It makes me feel like I'm closer to living what our fraternity stands for."

[Erik P Conard]

Dick Hall, my TKE field mentor, would occasionally talk about the
branding in the Zeta Psi chapter at UCLA...he was hired by the
local alumni to help this outift by being somewhat a live-in advisor while he was Assistant Dean of Men at UCLA. Dumb.
I would often listen as he would talk of that chapter doing the deed, and have since known of its widespread practice amongst
some of the black fraternities. Dumb. The chapter eventually went under, by the way.
Like hazing, it is hard for this rustic Kansan to conceive hurting a
man one day and the next calling him brother.
Like the present jewelry craze, I simply think it's primitive; call
me narrow-minded if you will, it is still really dumb.
There are practical and more meaning ways to express loyalty and caring. Branding...stupid, likewise nose rings, duh, dumb.
Just an outburst of an old man commenting on an idiotic thing.

[Tom Earp]

As I have always said, "It Dont Work For Me"!

I am totaly Stupid!

[mmcat]

eeek!

[KillarneyRose]

So is gouging out your own eyeball. Really. I bet it's tough to get it back in just right.

[CartoonJunkie]

I saw a guy at Disney World with two Omegas overlapping branded onto his arm. I guess that article kind of explains why. I didn't know that some frats branded each other.

[honeychile]

There was a fraternity on our campus which branded all of its members with a Sigma - the brother would wear a t-shirt, and the Sigma was from the bottom of the t-shirt to his elbow.

Until you've seen a keloid - which branding often causes, you have no idea how disgusting they can be. Darker pigmented people of all races are more likely to develop them, but the tendency towards them is also inherited. This isn't a bad one (from getting a pierced ear):



Why anyone would do this purposely to oneself is beyond anything I can consider intelligent.

[texas*princess]

Branding does not represent a "lifelong commitment"... it represents stupidity.

If you want to show a lifelong commitement pay alumni/ae dues and/or join an alumni/ae association.

[Erik P Conard]

The statement by you is even endorsed by an old codger. You
got a good grade from this old prof!

[PhoenixAzul]

As someone who enjoys body modification in all its forms (scarification, branding, piercing, tattooing), I'd say as long as you do it clean, and If it is voluntary (i.e. we're not going to hold you down and MAKE you do it) and with consenting adults, then do it. The branding aesthetic doesn't appeal to me personally, but I have several friends who DO have brands (not greek related) and they are quite beautiful. Body modification is extremely personal, people do it for a miryad of reasons, but my own personal reason was that I LIKED the aesthetic, I LIKE having my lobes stretched, I LIKED chosing my body adornment...if in some small way it was about "making my body my own."

I know that the "ritual" (yes, I know, not part of national ritual, but the ritual as in ritualized) is about the organization and personal desire for allegiance and there's something to be said about being branded by a brother, but I wish that more people would get branded by professionals and not with "coat hangers" that contain nickle and other things that are harmful. Professional body artists are far more qualified and will yield a clearer result with less complications in a cleaner enviornment.

[LoggerTheta]

I agree with PhoenixAzul. I too am a supporter of mods in all of their variations. (I have 8 ear piercings from 10 guage to 16 guage, and a tattoo with more on the way) However, I believe that the person receiving the brand should be completely sober, and should do so in a professional environment. It makes me a little nervous to think of someone receiving a brand from a bent wire hanger.

[Dedicated2Delta]

I don't think it is fair to equate branding with stupidity. I know several highly intelligent people with brands. They are doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers. They own their own homes, cars and have families. They are not only active and financial in their respective organizations, but they hold executive positions. Getting branded was something that they decided they wanted to do. If you don't think it is something you would do, that's fine. But don't judge someone else.

[Kevin]

-slight hijack...

It seems that body modification, or at least those at the fringe have been going to further extremes over the past few decades. Due to these increasing extremes, I have often wondered when we start to see amputation as a popular form of body modification?

I've heard that some have actually chosen to do this.

[AlphaFrog]

It's also not fair to throw in piercing with branding.

Branding is permanent (unless you have skin that just heals really well, which some do)....my nose piercing would be gone tomorrow if I left the stud out.

[AXiDTrish]

I have a trainer who has 10 omega's branded on his body. He is quite proud of them and "wears" them as a badge of honor. Though I would never brand myself (though I have considered a tatoo of my letters), I respect what his brands represent to him. Do I wish he had not used a wire hanger? Absolutely, but that was a choice he made.

The tough part was watching him try to explain it to a non-Greek trainer who couldn't for the life of him understand why he chose to do it. One things for sure, his pride was evident.