Hazing

Hazing of French military pilot at 1,000 hours flight time

Hazing is the practice of rituals and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group. Hazing is seen in many different types of social groups, including gangs, sports teams, schools, military units, and fraternities and sororities. Hazing is often prohibited by law and may comprise either physical or psychological abuse. It may also include nudity and/or sexually based offences.

Terms

See also: Initiation and Rite of passage

In Australian English, hazing is called bastardisation.

In some languages, terms with a christening theme or etymology are preferred (e.g. "baptême" in French, "doop" in Dutch — mostly used in Flanders) or variations on a theme of naïveté and the rite of passage such as a derivation from a term for freshman (e.g. "bizutage" in French, "ontgroening" (de-green[horn]ing) in Dutch —mostly used in the Netherlands—, "novatada" in Spanish, from "novato," meaning newcomer) or a combination of both, such as in the Finnish "mopokaste" (literally "moped baptism," "moped" being the nickname for freshmen, stemming from the concept that they would be forced to drive the children bicycle or tri-cycle). In Latvian, the word "iesvētības", which literally means "in-blessings," is used, also standing for religious rites of passage, especially confirmation. In Swedish, the term used is "nollning", literally "zeroing." In Portugal, the term "praxe", which literally means "practice" or "habit," is used for freshmen initiation. In Brazil, it's called "trote" and is usually practiced at universities by older students ("veteranos") against freshmen ("calouros") in the first week of their first semester. In the Italian military, instead, the term used was "nonnismo", from "nonno" (literally "grandfather"), a jargon term used for the soldiers who had already served for most of their draft period. A similar equivalent term exists in the Russian military, where a hazing phenomenon knowing as Dedovshchina exists, meaning roughly "grandfather" or the slang term "gramps" (referring to the senior corps of soldiers in their final year of conscription). At education establishments in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, this practice involves existing students baiting new students and is called ragging. In Polish schools, hazing is known as "kocenie" (literally catting, coming from the noun "kot" - "cat". It often features cat-related activities, like competitive milk drinking. Other popular tasks include measuring a long distance (i.e. hallways) with matches.

Often most or all of the endurance or the more serious ordeal is concentrated in a single session, which may be called hell night, or prolonged to a hell week, sometimes again at the pledge's birthday (e.g. by birthday spanking), but some traditions keep terrorizing pledges over a long period, resembling fagging.

In Israel, the practice is called "zubur" (an Arabic-derived Hebrew slang word roughly equivalent to 'willie') and exists primarily in Israeli Defense Force combat units and the Israel Air Force. Unlike hazing in many other places, "zubur" is typically used to mark the achievement of important milestones (in an ironic 'don't get too big for your britches' way), such as after a pilot's first solo flight.^{[citation needed]}

Scope

The armed forces have long had hazing rituals, which often involve violence and punishments. The United States military defines hazing as unnecessarily exposing a fellow soldier to an act which is cruel, abusive, oppressive, or harmful. In the modern western military, which combines discipline with welfare priorities, initiation practices can cause controversy. There is a tradition in many military – especially elite – corps of subjecting the newly trained ranks to a hell night-like "joining run," a macho preparation of men in the prime of their lives for the ordeals of warfare, going beyond what most civilians (and even many service personnel) would find acceptable; it usually combines humiliation (such as nudity) with physical endurance.^{[citation needed]}

Police forces, especially those with a paramilitary tradition, or sub-units of police forces such as tactical teams, may also have hazing rituals.^{[citation needed]} Rescue services, such as lifeguards or air-sea rescue teams may have hazing rituals.^{[citation needed]}

Controversy

The practice of ritual abuse among social groups is not clearly understood. This is partly due to the secretive nature of the activities, 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. In military circles hazing is sometimes assumed to test recruits under situations of stress and hostility. Although in no way a recreation of combat, hazing does put people into stressful situations that they are unable to control, which allegedly should weed out those weaker members prior to being put in situations where failure to perform will cost lives. A portion of the military training course known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) simulates as closely as is feasible the physical and psychological conditions of a POW camp.

The problem with this approach, according to opponents, is that the stress and hostility comes from inside the group, and not from outside as in actual combat situation, creating suspicion and distrust towards the superiors and comrades-in-arms.^{[citation needed]} Willing participants may be motivated by a desire to prove to senior soldiers their stability in future combat situations, making the unit more secure, but blatantly brutal hazing can in fact produce negative results, making the units more prone to break, desert or mutiny than those without hazing traditions, as observed in the Russian army in Chechnya, where units with the strongest traditions of dedovschina were the first to break and desert under enemy fire. At worst, hazing may lead into fragging incidents.^{[citation needed]}

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.

In November 2005, controversy arose over a video showing Royal Marines fighting naked and intoxicated as part of a hazing ritual. The fight culminated with one soldier receiving a kick to the face, rendering him unconscious. The victim, according to the BBC, said "It's just Marine humour". The Marine who leaked the video said "The guy laid out was inches from being dead." Under further investigation, the Marines had just returned from a six-month tour of Iraq, and were in their "cooling down" period, in which they spend two weeks at a naval base before they are allowed back into society. The man who suffered the kick to the head did not press charges.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, a national hazing study was conducted by Dr Elizabeth Allan and Dr Mary Madden from the University of Maine. This investigation is the most comprehensive study of hazing to date and includes survey responses from more than 11,000 undergraduate students at 53 colleges and universities in different regions of the U.S. and interviews with more than 300 students and staff at 18 of these campuses. Through the vision and efforts of many, this study fills a major gap in the research and extends the breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding about hazing. Ten initial findings are described in the report, Hazing in View: College Students at Risk. These include:

1. More than half of college students involved in clubs, teams, and organizations experience hazing.
2. Nearly half (47%) of students have experienced hazing prior to coming to college.
3. Alcohol consumption, humiliation, isolation, sleep deprivation, and sex acts are hazing practices common across student groups.

Notable examples

Further information: List of hazing deaths in the United States

• 1873: a New York Times headline read: "West Point. "Hazing" at the Academy – An Evil That Should be Entirely Rooted Out"

• 1900: Oscar Booz began at Westpoint in June 1898 in good physical health. Four months later, he resigned due to health problems. He died in December 1900 of tuberculosis. During his long struggle with the illness, he blamed the illness on hazing he received at West Point in 1898, claiming he had hot sauce poured down his throat on three occasions as well as a number of other grueling hazing practices, such as brutal beatings and having hot wax poured on him in the night. His family claimed that scarring from the hot sauce made him more susceptible to the infection, causing his death. Among other things, Booz claimed that his devotion to Christianity made him a target and that he was tormented for reading his bible.

The practice of hazing at West Point entered the national spotlight following his death. Congressional hearings investigated his death and the pattern of systemic hazing of freshmen and serious efforts were made to reform the system and end hazing at West Point.

• 2005: The victim of a high-profile hazing attack in Russia, Andrei Sychyov, required the amputation of his legs and genitalia after he was forced to squat for four hours whilst being beaten and tortured by a military group on New Year's Eve, 2005. President Vladimir Putin spoke out about the incident and ordered Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov "to submit proposals on legal and organizational matters to improve educational work in the army and navy."

Methods

Hazing activities can involve forms of ridicule and humiliation within the group or in public while others are akin to pranks. Spanking is done mainly in the form of paddling among fraternities, sororities and similar clubs, sometimes over a lap, a knee, furniture or a pillow, but mostly with the victim "assuming the position," i.e., simply bending over forward.^{[citation needed]} A variation of this (also as punishment) is trading licks. This practice is also used in the military.^{[citation needed]} Alternative modes (including bare-buttock paddling, strapping and switching, as well as mock forms of antiquated forms of physical punishments such as stocks, walking the plank and running the gauntlet) have been reported.^{[citation needed]}

The hazee may be humiliated by being hosed or by sprinkler, buckets or hoses; covered with dirt or with (sometimes rotten) food, even urinated upon. Olive or baby oil may be used to "show off" the bare skin, for wrestling or just slipperiness, e.g., to complicate pole climbing. Cleaning may be limited to a dive into water, hosing down or even paddling the worst off. They may have to do tedious cleaning including swabbing the decks, cleaning the toilets with a toothbrush. In fraternities, pledges often must clean up a mess intentionally made by brothers which can include fecal matter, urine, and dead animals.^{[citation needed]}

Servitude such as waiting on others (as at fraternity parties) or various other forms of housework, often with tests of obedience. In some cases, the hazee may be made to eat raw eggs, peppers, hot sauce, or drink too much alcohol. Some hazing even includes eating or drinking vile things such as bugs or rotting food.^{[citation needed]}

The hazee may have to wear an imposed piece of clothing, outfit, item or something else worn by the victim in a way that would bring negative attention to the wearer. Examples include a uniform (e.g. toga); a leash and/or collar (also associated with bondage); infantile and other humiliating dress and attire.

Markings may also be made on clothing or bare skin. They are painted, written, tattooed or shaved on, sometimes collectively forming a message (one letter, syllable or word on each pledge) or may receive tarring and feathering (or rather a mock version using some glue) or branding.^{[citation needed]}

Other physical feats may be required, such as calisthenics and other physical tests, such as mud wrestling, forming a human pyramid, or climbing a greased pole. Exposure to the elements may be required, such as swimming or diving in cold water or snow.^{[citation needed]}

Orientation tests may be held, such as abandoning pledges without transport. Dares include jumping from some height, stealing from police or rival teams and obedience.^{[citation needed]} Blood pinning among military aviators (and many other elite groups) to celebrate becoming new pilots by piercing their chests with the sharp pins of aviator wings.^{[citation needed]}

On his first crossing the equator in military and commercial navigation, each "pollywog" is subjected to a series of tests usually including running and/or crawling a gauntlet of abuse and various scenes supposedly situated at King Neptune's court. A pledge auction is a variation on the slave auction, where people bid on the paraded pledges.^{[citation needed]}

Hazing also occurs for apprentices in some trades. In printing, it consists of applying bronze blue to the apprentice's penis and testicles, a color made by mixing black printers ink and dark blue printers ink, which takes a long time to wash off. Similarly, mechanics get their groins smeared with old dirty grease.^{[citation needed]}

Psychology, purpose, and effects

Hazing supposedly serves a deliberate purpose, of building solidarity. Psychologist Robert Cialdini uses the framework of consistency and commitment to explain the phenomenon of hazing, and the vigor and zeal to which practitioners of hazing persist in and defend these activities even when they are made illegal. Cialdini cites a 1959 study in which the researchers observed that "persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort." The 1959 study shaped the development of cognitive dissonance theory by Leon Festinger.

Beyond a legal approach, eliminating or lessening the dangers of hazing requires an understanding and application of psychological and sociological factors. This is especially critical when many view hazing as an effective way to teach respect and develop discipline and loyalty within the group, and believe that hazing is a necessary component of initiation rites.

Dissonance can produce feelings of group attraction or social identity among initiates after the hazing experience because they want to justify the effort used. Rewards during initiations or hazing rituals matter in that initiates who feel more rewarded express stronger group identity. As well as increasing group attraction, hazing can produce conformity among new members. Hazing could also increase feelings of affiliation because of the stressful nature of the hazing experience.

Military hazing deaths in the United States

Inclusion in this list requires that the incident was described by the media as a hazing-related death; incidents involving criminal or civil proceedings that did not find a definite link with hazing may still be included if they meet this criterion.

According to the National Collaborative for Hazing Research and Prevention at the University of Maine, hazing is defined as "any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers them, regardless of a person's willingness to participate."

1900s

Date of death	Victim	Organization	University	Notes
December 6, 1900	Booz, OscarOscar Booz	Class hazing	United States Military Academy	Booz began at West Point in June 1898 in good physical health. Four months later, he resigned due to health problems. He died in December 1900 of tuberculosis. During his long struggle with the illness, he blamed the illness on hazing he received at West Point in 1898, claiming he had hot sauce poured down his throat on three occasions as well as a number of other grueling hazing practices, such as brutal beatings and having hot wax poured on him in the night. His family claimed that scarring from the hot sauce made him more susceptible to the infection, causing his death. Among other things, Booz claimed that his devotion to Christianity made him a target and that he was tormented for reading his bible. The practice of hazing at West Point entered the national spotlight following his death. Congressional hearings investigated his death and the pattern of systemic hazing of freshmen and serious efforts were made to reform the system and end hazing at West Point.
Unknown, reported in 1906	Brown, Thomas FinleyThomas Finley Brown	Class hazing	Porter Military Academy	12-year-old Brown was forced to drop blindfolded into a swimming pool. He dropped approximately 12 feet into the pool, which contained almost no water. He died from internal injuries.
November 25, 1915	Sweet, ThurberThurber Sweet	Class hazing	Virginia Military Institute	Sweet was the 17-year-old son of a Chicago millionaire, C.A. Sweet, when he entered VMI. He left the institute in October, claiming he had been severely beaten by the other students by bayonets. Physician Dr. J.M. Scott attended to him, telling him his spinal injuries might result in paralysis. Sweet's health continued to deteriorate until he died at the hospital on November 25.
February 20, 1945	Jarosz, Jack P.Jack P. Jarosz	Military	U.S. Navy	Lt. Thomas H. Fike was found guilty of "conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline" before a general court-martial following the death of Jarosz during a "shellback" ceremony, in which the sailor was told to touch the brass prongs of a trident when he gave a wrong answer. He died by electrocution. The intent was to cause a mild shock. Another sailor had undergone the same ceremony prior to Jarosz and suffered no ill effects. The ship's electrician testified that Fike told him to take all precautions in installing the device and that he witnessed Fike testing it out himself, finding the shock to be mild. Fike was acquitted of manslaughter and neglect charges.
January 26, 1946	Bragg, LeRoy RobertLeRoy Robert Bragg and Stanford Fluitt	Occupational hazing	SS Frederick Galbraith	Crew members Bragg, 14, and Fluitt, 16, died aboard the ship from an overdose of saltpeter during a traditional equator crossing initiation. Crew members who had never crossed the equator were referred to as "pollywogs" and were promoted to "shellback" status following the crossing. During the shellback ceremony, the boys were blindfolded then marched out onto the deck, where they had numbers painted on them. They were then marched back into the mess hall to wait their turn for the next phase of the initiation, which involved drinking the saltpeter mixed with water. Bragg had obtained work on the ship illegally using fraudulent paperwork saying he was 17.

Further reading

• Thwing, C. F. (January 1879). "College Hazing". pp. 331–334. 

External links

• Hazing at DMOZ
• IMDb references by the word and keyword
• World Corporal Punishment Research Corporal punishment as initiation