Just saw the story about the firing of Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald an over hazing of players in the NU program. https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/...ls-hazing-allegations-after-coach-suspension/ Having been a coach of and a collegiate athlete this is is an issue I’ve dealt with and concerned about. The idea behind hazing is to create a shared identity through ritual hardship. Almost every society has had some sort of ritual hardship to welcome people into a group whether through the Spartan Agogi or tribal coming of age. It’s largely human nature that we look to enforce team Identity through ritual. The problem is finding how do we develop team identity without hardship and rituals that are degrading and actually physically harmful? As a coach I had to caution players about “razzing” new players. That said I had far less control over the lives of my players than football coaches given we weren’t a scholarship or varsity sport. At the same time I wanted them to have a team identity and to push each other to be better. With young college age athletes that is walking a fine line where a strong belief in team could turn into a sense of elitism that justified abusing those who wanted to join.
Yes it does happen in almost any group of especially young people as a way of forming group identity. I think it's part of human nature and like a lot of human nature one that continues to cause problems.
It's all coming together. If a player was selected for “running,” the player who spoke to The Daily said, they would be restrained by a group of 8-10 upperclassmen dressed in various “Purge-like” masks, who would then begin “dry-humping” the victim in a dark locker room.
In a once-a-year tradition dubbed “the carwash,” the first player said that some players would stand naked at the entrance to the showers and spin around, forcing those entering the showers to “basically (rub) up against a bare-naked man.” Upon entering the showers, the player alleged that players set up a hose they connected to the shower to spray people. “It’s extremely painful,” the player said. The player also alleged that he witnessed and was forced to participate in what he called a naked center-quarterback exchange, wherein a freshman quarterback was forced to take an under-center snap from a freshman center, while both players were naked. the best thing I can say about these people is that at least they didn’t progress to the broom in the rectum level of hazing
Some of the gayest stuff to ever happen occurs in male high school and college sports. And frat houses.
The "gay" stuff around a lot of hazing has far less to do with sex but more about power and humiliation. It's about reinforcing the social hierarchy into a group for someone new. I do think there are some good things about maintaining group identity in a team and rituals are important to group identity. It's about finding ways of doing it that aren't abusive or harmful.
Right. It's not about being gay, it's about making sure freshman know you have the power to humiliate them.
