Hazing
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Hazing is a felony offense referring to often-ritualistic harassment, abuse, or humiliation with requirements to perform meaningless tasks, sometimes as a way of initiation into a social group. The term often refers to either physical or mental forms of hazing. Hazing has been reported in a variety of social contexts, including academic fraternities and sororities, the armed forces, and in workplaces (Davis, 1998). Commonly reported hazing activities involve spanking among fraternities, and a practice known as blood pinning among military aviators (and many other elite groups) to celebrate becoming new pilots by piercing their chests with the sharp pins of the wings.
Although pervasive reports of hazing have been prevalent throughout the years, the practice of ritual abuse among social groups is poorly understood. This is partly due to the secretive nature that often accompanies rookie situations, especially within collegiate fraternities and sororities, and in part a result of long-term acceptance of hazing. Thus, it has been difficult for researchers to agree on the underlying social and psychological mechanisms that perpetuate hazing.
A tentative explanation from evolutionary psychology is that hazing activates the capture-bonding psychological trait better known as Stockholm syndrome.
Under a grant from Franklin College in Indiana, USA, Professor Hank Nuwer is compiling a list of hazing incidents dating back to the founding of Harvard University. For the year 2000, Nuwer identified 861 reported cases of hazing in the Italian Army, 15 hazing deaths among Russian Federation troops, 46 hazing-related incidents at U.S. college fraternities, 10 related to sororities and eight collegiate-sports-related hazing allegations.
Inmate hazing is also common at confinement facilities around the world, including frequent reports of beatings and sexual assaults by fellow inmates. Nuwer recorded an incident at Lone Peak Minimum Security Facility in Bluffdale, Utah, USA in which soon-to-be released prisoners were allegedly hazed by prisoners scheduled to remain in custody.
In a 1999 study, a survey of 3293 collegiate athletes, coaches, athletic directors deans found the group favored a variety of approaches to prevent hazing including strong disciplinary and corrective measures for known cases, implementation of athletic, behavioral, and academic standards guiding recruitment; provisions for alternative bonding and recognition events for teams to prevent hazing; and law enforcement involvement in monitoring, investigating, and prosecuting hazing incidents (Dr. Nadine C. Hoover, Alfred University, 1999).
Hoover's research suggested half of all college athletes are involved in alcohol-related hazing incidents, while one in five are involved in potentially illegal hazing incidents. Only another one in five was involved in what Hoover described as positive initiation events, such as taking team trips or running obstacle courses.
"Athletes most at risk for any kind of hazing for college sports were men; non-Greek members; and either swimmers, divers, soccer players, or lacrosse players. The campuses where hazing was most likely to occur were primarily in eastern or southern states with no anti-hazing laws. The campuses were rural, residential, and had Greek systems," Hoover wrote.
Non-Greeks were most at risk of hazing, though a Greek system on campus proved a strong indicator of hazing likelihood, Hoover reported. Football players are most at risk of potentially dangerous or illegal hazing, the study found.
In the May issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Michelle Finkel, MD, reported that hazing injuries are often not recognized for their true cause in emergency medical centers. The doctor said hazing victims sometimes hide the real cause of injuries out of shame or to protect those who caused the harm. In protecting their abusers, hazing victims can be compared with victims of domestic violence, Finkel wrote.
Finkel cites hazing incidents including "beating or kicking to the point of traumatic injury or death, burning or branding, excessive calisthenics, being forced to eat unpleasant substances, and psychological or sexual abuse of both males and females". Reported coerced sexual activity is sometimes considered "horseplay" rather than rape, she wrote. Finkel identified 56 hazing deaths between 1970 and 1999.
Before the Great Depression, hazing was achieved an art form status amongst benevolent fraternities such as the Mooses and the Freemasons. http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/demoulin/ is a catalog of many hazing implements used, most famously the electric carpet.
Hazing in Indian colleges is known as "ragging," though there are some notable differences between the two.