What is Hazing?
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Author: Kathryn Kosmides
Survivor Advocate
Key Takeaways
- Hazing is when a group makes a prospective or younger member submit to dangerous, humiliating, or otherwise harmful activities to gain or keep admittance. It often occurs in fraternities, sororities, the military, sports teams, and workplaces.
- Hazing can lead to significant physical, mental, and emotional harm, including loss of sleep, academic or work performance, as well as post-traumatic stress syndrome.
- Hazing is considered a crime in many jurisdictions and those who have experienced this form of abuse may have legal reporting rights and options, including reporting to a school, workplace, law enforcement and/or filing a civil lawsuit to prevent future harm and seek justice. You can get in touch with Helping Survivors to help understand what you can do next.
Hazing is an initiation process where a prospective member must engage in or undergo dangerous or humiliating activities or rituals to gain admittance to a group. Some groups also insist longer-term members undergo hazing to keep their status.
Hazing often involves physical abuse, sexual activity, and other harmful behavior, such as requiring someone to drink excessive amounts of alcohol in a short period. People also undergo assaults and trials that can cause serious strain on one’s mental and physical health.
If you have been harmed by hazing, you may be entitled to take legal action. You can also work with an organization to help create a culture that is safe, supportive, and free of hazing.
Understanding Hazing
Social organizations that have been accused of hazing, like fraternities, defend the practice as being necessary for social bonding. Some athletic teams, military units, and even workplaces see hazing as a team-building experience for members to feel closer.
Hazing has a similar power dynamic to bullying because the perpetrator holds the power, and the target has none. In addition, both activities can produce significant physical, mental, and emotional harm.
However, there are some key differences. Hazing happens to someone who wants to join a group, while bullying excludes a person from a group. While small groups or individuals might be bullies, hazing is typically carried out by an entire team or social group.
Genuine team-building activities should meet goals such as improved communication, member trust, collaboration, and personal motivation. Hazing achieves the opposite, resulting in a loss of trust among members and reduced respect for the organization.
Hazing at U.S. college campuses goes back to at least the 1800s. It increased in the late 1860s as people returned to schools after the Civil War. After World War II, alcohol became a bigger part of group initiation practices.
One study found that 71 percent of people subjected to hazing had negative consequences, such as declines in mental and physical health.
So why does hazing continue to go on? There are a few theories behind the phenomenon:
- The need to form strong group bonds
- The lack of social constraints on groups that act in secret
- Conformity
- Beliefs about masculinity
- Cognitive dissonance in which people who go through hazing later say it wasn’t that bad
- Fear of reprisal for not hazing others
These are just a few of the psychological and social explanations for why hazing continues.
Where Does Hazing Occur?
Hazing happens in many different types of situations. Examples include the following:
- Fraternities and sororities
- Military
- Sports teams, especially college athletics
- Workplaces
Many colleges have adopted anti-hazing policies that define prohibited activities. For instance, The University of Michigan has officially defined hazing by directly referencing state law. It includes acts such as the following, done for the purpose of initiation into a group:
- Physical injury, assault, or battery
- Kidnapping or imprisonment
- Physical activity that subjects a person to the risk of physical, mental, or emotional harm, degradation, humiliation, or compromising of moral or religious values
- Forced consumption of any substance
- Placing an individual in physical danger
- Undue interference with academic endeavors
- Verbal abuse, uncomfortable questioning under pressure
- Being forced to wear embarrassing outfits or costumes
- New recruits performing personal errands to seasoned members
- Forced alcohol consumption, often to excess or in a short period of time
- Forced ingestion of any liquid or other substance
- Sexual acts or violations
- Physical assaults such as branding, paddling, burning, or beating
- Forced exercise to exhaustion
There are many types of activities that might be called hazing if they are part of group initiation or continued membership in a group, such as:
The Impacts of Hazing
Hazing has an unquestionable negative impact on victims. It also can negatively affect team dynamics. Those who haze others also receive negative consequences.
Victims of hazing might experience the following negative effects:
- Loss of sleep
- Loss of control
- Loss of empowerment
- Emotional, mental, or physical instability
- Decline in academic performance
- Decline in personal relationships
- Post-traumatic stress syndrome
- Illness or hospitalization
- Loss of interest in the organization
- Loss of trust in organization members
The individuals who engage in perpetrating hazing may or may not be struggling themselves. Sometimes they get swept up in the group’s actions or are only partaking as they feel they have to. Others, often the ones who come up with the rituals or find pleasure in these types of experiences may not feel remorse of their actions. While there is no excuse for their actions, those who perpetrate hazing and regret it might experience:
- Triggering of one’s own past trauma
- Decline in friend and family relationships
- Feelings of guilt and shame
- Warped sense of leadership
- Decline in academic performance
- Loss of connection to organization alumni
- Damage to personal reputation
- Sanctions from the state, the college, or through lawsuits
Universities and organizations will always state that hazing is not allowed. However, many campuses and student organizations turn a blind eye if it happens. This leaves students and the university at risk. For the universities who do not have active policies in place, clear university reporting and investigation processes, and resources for those who have experienced hazing will often face these negative repercussions:
- Loss of reputation
- Loss of recognition or privileges
- Erosion of the organization’s values
- Legal sanctions and other penalties
Unfortunately, hazing can have tragic consequences. People have experienced life-altering, severe injuries after hazing practices. Some individuals have also lost their lives both due to injuries sustained in the hazing incident or due to death by suicide due to the mental health impacts experiencing hazing can have on students.
Signs That Hazing May Be Occurring
Often, the family or friends of someone subjected to hazing see signs it’s happening but might not realize it is a problem. Sometimes even those going through hazing don’t immediately recognize the harm. Here are some typical signs of hazing:
- Withdrawal from normal activities
- Unexplained injuries, illness, or weight loss
- Physical exhaustion
- Emotional or psychological exhaustion
- Increase in secrecy
- Sudden change in behavior or attitude after joining a group or team
- Decrease in communication with friends or family
- Wanting to leave the group or team without explanation
- Physical scars from cutting, branding, or shaving
- Physical soreness, such as from paddling
Some activities that can be warning signs of hazing include:
- Required late-night work sessions that result in sleep deprivation
- Required greetings, walking in groups, or carrying certain items
- Not coming home for days or weeks at a time
- Being dropped off and having to find the way back
- Being forced to drink, eat, or exercise excessively
- Being forced to do things blindfolded, especially if it involves touching others or anything where physical injury could occur
How To Stop and Prevent Hazing
If you are being hazed, you can take action:
- Stay connected with friends and family outside the group.
- Talk with others about your experiences.
- Ask for guidance from people you trust, such as friends, family, parents or guardians, school counselors, or officials.
- Refuse to participate in the hazing.
- Join with other new group members to refuse to participate in hazing.
- Leave the organization.
- Talk to a health care provider or mental health professional.
- Call 911 if there is an immediate threat to your safety or another person’s safety.
- If you experienced physical or mental harm, contact a lawyer who may be able to assist in filing a civil lawsuit to seek compensation for damages and injuries
Organizations, schools, and individuals all have a role to play in hazing prevention. If you suspect or witness hazing, you can do the following:
- Talk to the person you suspect might be experiencing hazing.
- Offer support to the person.
- Reassure the victim they do not have to participate in hazing, and that help is available.
Educational institutions and organizations can also take steps to create a hazing-free environment. Here are some things administrators and leaders can do:
- Implement anti-hazing policies.
- Include anti-hazing policies as part of annual education programs for students, team members, and other group members.
- Discuss expectations with new team recruits about hazing, specifically directing that it is not tolerated, and provide positive team bonding activities instead.
- Implement a system to report hazing and respond to hazing allegations.
- Sanction those who commit hazing.
Hazing activities sometimes reach the level of criminal activity. Most states have laws against hazing. Thus, if you suspect hazing has harmed someone, consider reporting it to the local authorities. If you or a loved one has been a victim, you are entitled to take action and file a hazing lawsuit.
If you want to know more about how to stop hazing or need information regarding your legal options, contact the team at Helping Survivors.
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