|
I'm trying to make one little point here, but I think it may need a bit of explanation. My main problem with that situation is that these girls had no choice as to whether they were involved in that situation.
In many situations that have been specifically identified as hazing, and many situations that are debatable (such as this one, obviously) there is still an element of free will that these girls didn't really have. Using the most common example, let's say a pledge is told to drink excess amounts of alcohol. Or screamed at by a pledgemaster type person. In these situations, those pledges could have presumably chosen to leave the organization then and there. I'm not saying that makes it ok for the organization to do, and I definitely think in many cases the pledges could be so psychologically and/or physically worn down that their thought process isn't what it would need to be to make a rational decision. But anyway, there's still an element of choosing to participate.
The girls in this example, however, did not ask or expect for that to happen to them. They didn't have a choice, and I'm sure that (most of them at least) didn't feel they had many options to get out of the situation. I personally would have pissed my pants and been absolutely furious that anyone would subject me to that- but I'm kinda sensitive and so I can see how someone else could get a laugh out of it.
So in some ways I guess, I feel like this is definitely an issue of hazing because it crosses a line that many other verified hazing incidents have not even crossed. I can see how a legal definition might exclude it (although I think it could qualify as causing mental pain), but I think that's something to consider.
|
Threaded Mode