Bullying
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What is hazing?
Hazing is any activity expected of someone becoming part of a group or trying to keep status in a group that humiliates, degrades, or risks emotional and/or physical harm, regardless of the person's willingness to participate.
Bullying usually involves excluding someone from a group, but hazing is different because it’s part of a process to join a group. Most people think of college fraternity and sorority initiations when they think of hazing. But hazing happens at all ages, to both men and women, and it happens to people from all different backgrounds. At the middle and high school levels, hazing often occurs in sports teams, with current team members “initiating” new members. Many people think of hazing as a harmless part of growing up, as something that everyone goes through at some point, but hazing is harmful, both physically and emotionally. Physical wounds heal, but a victim of hazing can carry the emotional scars with them for life.
Common types of hazing include:
- sleep deprivation and restrictions on personal hygiene
- yelling, swearing, and insulting new members/rookies
- being forced to wear embarrassing or humiliating clothing in public
- being forced to eat vile substances or smearing them on one’s skin
- brandings
- physical beatings
- binge drinking and drinking games
- sexual simulation and sexual assault
