Pro-hazing article in Cosmo

[honeychile]

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!

[mshudec]

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.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by mshudec

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.

It is also important that we remember that definitions of hazing vary. These things may be considered hazing by some GLOs, and some of them might be considered hazing by almost all GLOs, but whether they actually constitute hazing is going to depend on (1) state law, (2) campus policies and (3) GLO policies. For example, none of the things listed would be considered hazing under the laws of my state.

As for the bolded, the only GLO I know of that doesn't do that is Sig Ep in its Balanced Man chapters. Otherwise, I don't know of any GLO that allows pledges/new members/whatever-else-they-may-be-called to, for example, wear the badge or be present for ritual. As has been discussed on GreekChat many times, many fraternities and sororities have rules prohibiting pledges/new members from wearing letters or having anything that displays the coat of arms. Most GLOs do not allow pledges/new members to hold office, though I know that some do.

That's why it's best not to make blanket statements about what constitutes hazing beyond the obvious things, and instead to talk about what is considered hazing by one's own GLO or one's own campus.