In my previous post, I just wanted to voice my views about "frat boy" behavior; this may sound like my prerogative & yet I'm being deeply honest about these views I'm holding: the "frat boy" culture has no formal place whatsoever in fraternities who are seeking to get rid of the issue altogether. Whether it be during pledgeship or after initiation, "frat boy" behavior is simply perpetuating the stereotypes certain non-Greeks have of us - not individually but collectively. Also, hazing doesn't have any formal place in the Greek community either; it never was supposed to be part of a new member's learning process about his fraternity along with his chapter & never will be...it's not helping the new member grow in such a way that he can be truly proud to say he is a loyal Sig, a loyal member of Fiji, etcetera.
You could say that this is an appendix to my last post, but here are just a few examples of what counts as hazing or stereotypical "frat boy" behavior:
(1) Servitude of any type (e.g. the actives not taking any initiative to clean up their own messes or purposely trashing the house to see to it that the pledges are doing their house duties)
(2) Making any inappropriate, demeaning comments about race, gender or sexual orientation be it verbally or no
(3) Line-ups which are a premise for the actives to ream out , degrade or humiliate prospective members
(4) "Kidnapping" of actives by prospective members (who unknowingly or vice versa were duped/manipulated by the actives into pulling off such sneaks to begin with)
(5) Getting prospective members to drink not merely against their wishes but also in such a way as to promote & perpetuate alcohol abuse later on after they get initiated
The bottom line about the "fratty" culture is this: It can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime & it could be the #1 house on campus as well as the house with the top GPA for 10 semesters running. Hopefully we as members of the Greek system haven't forgotten how to combat the "frat boy" culture & are making progress in stamping it out; I can't help but be optimistic that we're making strides of some type in weeding it out for good.
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