Haze around hazing

The hazing incidents at the College of St. Benilde and University of the Philippines Diliman once again bring up questions: Why does it continue despite an Anti-Hazing Law? Is there a dark side to human beings, especially men, that allows them to beat up other men for no reason except to “initiate”?  Is it possible to have some kind of “mild” hazing for initiation?

I certainly don’t have the answers to these questions, but I want to share some thoughts, some coming from the social sciences, about the many hazy areas around hazing.

When I met the hazing survivor from UP Diliman, I was at first surprised because he had no visible physical signs of having been beaten.

But as his story unfolded, I realized just how horribly “sophisticated” hazing had become. Fraternities and other groups that conduct hazing seem to be confining their beating now to parts of the body that are covered by clothing. This means beating is concentrated on the torso, the abdominal area and the back, and to some extent the legs.

More harmful

The irony is that in trying to conceal the abuse, the beating is inflicted on more vulnerable areas of the body. Injuries that come from hitting the torso include fracture of the ribs and spinal column, and internal bleeding. Blows on the chest can lead to air bubbles forming in the lungs, which are extremely dangerous and potentially fatal.

The worst, and least recognized, risk is that of damage inflicted on the kidneys. “Paddling,” the use of a wooden board to beat the neophyte, is common and was originally done mainly on the buttocks, which can be very painful, but at least does not harm internal organs. Some of the paddling may end up targeting the legs, and could cause fractures.  Farther up on the body, the paddling can damage the kidneys. Nonmedical people just don’t realize how vulnerable the kidneys are to trauma, and that injury to the kidneys can remain undetected because there are no bruises outside.

There may be no lingering pain either, even as the damaged kidneys begin to malfunction… and shut down. Unless blood tests are conducted to include looking at the levels of creatinine, a chemical that measures kidney function, no one will ever know about the kidney damage. The deterioration can continue for several hours, even days, leading to death if nothing is done.

In some severe cases, there may not even be pain after the initial blows so the victim, and the frat “brods,” may not realize there have been severe, even life-threatening, injuries.  When the victim gets home, family members and friends may not suspect anything either, especially since most victims will try to keep the hazing a secret, and will not complain even if they are feeling very ill.

I shudder to think of the “mysterious” deaths of young people that have occurred over the years, the families never realizing that the cause of death was fraternity hazing because there was no outward evidence of the crime.

The effects of the hazing will also vary depending on the victim. Unfortunately, it’s usually the ones who look weak that attract the attention of violent brods. What one strong brod can take with minimal difficulty can kill someone who is frail.

“Frail” is not necessarily reflected in the physical appearance. A person may look very healthy but have a medical problem, say diabetes, which can lead to complications with a beating.

To summarize what’s been said so far, there’s no such thing as “mild” physical hazing; in fact, what seems mild may in fact be killing and maiming more people than we can imagine.

Psychological hazing

It’s no secret that many organizations, frats or nonfrats, use psychological hazing. Sociologists have written about the psychology of initiation, usually in the military (and military academies) and in prisons. In their zeal to instill a new identity in the neophyte, organizations will strip the person of his or her old identity through such measures as required uniforms, shaving the head, anything to emphasize conformity, and to build loyalty.

Shaming and humiliation are often part of the initiation.  The idea is to get the person to think that he or she is worth nothing, and will find identity and meaning only as a member of the organization. One term summarizes it all: brainwashing.

Our disgust over physical hazing is well-founded, but we may forget the problems that come with psychological hazing as well, its impact on a person’s self-esteem, and the indoctrination and brainwashing that result in a person ending up blindly loyal to an organization, frat or not.

There are different degrees of shaming and humiliation and, again, as in physical initiation, we have to look at both the kind of humiliation employed and the vulnerability of the neophyte.

When I entered college and had to live in a dorm, we actually had to go through initiation rites. Nothing physical there. It started out with an auction, where the freshmen were “sold” to the highest bidding upperclassmen. In principle, the new “master” could order his new “slave” around, making him do anything. My “master” was this huge guy who turned out to be the gentlest soul. Not only was I spared “slave” work, he also told me that if anyone dared bully me, I should tell him right away. I never had problems, and I think it was because people knew who my “boss” was.

Having shared that happy (sort of) story, I have to say it could have worked the other way around. I knew my master bid for me because I probably looked pitiful—a skinny freshman who could get beaten up. But I could also have ended up with a bully for a master.

There are also questions that have to be asked about something as innocent, even fun-sounding, as an auction.  What happens if you have someone who already has low self-esteem? And what if the organization goes beyond auctioning? Some of the humiliation can have physical aspects: A friend of mine told me that when she was inducted into a sorority, she was not beaten but was told to lie down on the grass under the hot sun.

There are all kinds of variations on initiation, and schools need to be very clear about their policies here, the guiding principle being: “There is no such thing as mild hazing,” and this will apply to both the physical and the psychological.

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E-mail: mtan@inquirer.com.ph