Actually branding does have a relationship to slavery (simply because branding was used to identify slaves and establish ownership). Current fraternity and sorority branding is done for similar reasons. Members want to show pride and of course mark their organizations on their bodies as a sign of eternal membership. I know a lot of people with brands and they all have their "hits" done after they were members, not during initiation. My father has a brand and he basicially did it because that was the thing to do. It is a trend that is not endorsed by the national organizations. It is a sign of solidarity. I think its unfortunate that people want to associate branding of free people in the 20th century with something that was done to people who were viewed as property almost two hundred years ago. Branding is simply body-art in support of an organizational affliation. Nothing more, nothing less. By the way, women get branded too! The only similarity is the act of branding, not the meaning.
|
Threaded Mode