Two fraternity brothers were charged with hazing, according to police.
And an excerpt:
The week before spring break, the Indiana Daily Student ran a story interviewing participants in a growing trend as they drew greek fraternity letters on their breasts, took topless photos and shared the shots — nicknamed “Rush Boobs” — with brothers to promote their organization during ?recruitment.
The tradition, evidenced by ?TotalFratMove.com’s prolific collection, is both prevalent and ?time-honored. Despite the condemnation of various administrators and campus leaders, Rush Boobs are certainly being shared on IU’s campus and ?beyond.
Obviously, the practice is hugely problematic. Not only does it encourage the objectification and sexual commodification of women for the sake of a men’s organization, it precariously toes the line of privacy exploitation, revenge porn and ?celebrated misogyny.
While the original coverage exposed the multi-faceted grossness that is the Rush Boobs tradition, it also touched on the fact that the women who participated in taking photos of themselves did so ?willingly.
Since no names or faces were attached to the photos, the participants said they felt detached from their photos, according to the article. They did not, however, know what happened to the photo afterword.
As frustrating and disturbing as the nude promotion of fraternities may be, it is beyond the realm of any institution to limit those women’s right to do whatever they choose with their bodies.
If they decide to write on themselves and take photos, no matter the nature of said photos, they certainly may.
To deny them that right would simply be endorsing ?another brand of objectification. At stake here is far more than the misuse of topless photos.
The issue at hand being woefully overlooked is the origin of this tradition’s popularity: the fraternities ?themselves.
“Rush Boobs,” as the article delineates, are frequently part of a pledgeship process that includes a multitude of challenges and demands.
In order to become members, men must complete a series of tasks or face consequences. In reality, it is their agency that’s being denied here, not the women who participate.
Potential brothers are pressured by their peers into asking this of a woman in order to achieve brotherhood status, and it is this kind of hazing practice we should be focusing our energy on ?eliminating.
According to the men interviewed, they felt uncomfortable and guilty when approaching women about providing Rush Boobs photos — the pressure to conform to fraternity tradition pushes them to ask things of their peers that compromise, as one interviewee put it, their “gentlemanliness.”
Excerpt
Ohio Wesleyan professor and coach Jay Martin, Ph.D., will collaborate with Simon Clements, director of behavioral training and tools for the Chicago-based EXACT Sports research group, to develop a psychometrically validated method to assess an athletic team’s culture and potential for hazing behavior. The researchers comprise one of six teams selected to receive NCAA Innovations funds, which support research aimed at benefitting the psychosocial well-being and mental health of all college athletes.
Here is the link. Moderator: If the interviewee felt so strongly he was right, why did he insist his comments stay anonymous?
I think the comments are useful, however, to see how this member comes down on the former KDR member who reported the existence of the chapter’s now-closed Facebook account that drew a huge protest crowd at Penn State this week.
Excerpt: 18-year-old University of South Carolina freshman and Pi Kappa Alpha pledge Charlie Terreni Jr. was found dead at an off-campus house Wednesday morning.
The Columbia Police have since told the student newspaper that Terreni’s death is now considered “suspicious” after no foul play was found at the scene.