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Fraternities and Violence

There are two very distinct literatures on violence as related to fraternities, with only the smallest overlap. One literature, on hazing, touches lightly on predominantly White (PW) fraternities and is mainly concerned with violence in hazing in historically Black (HB) fraternities. The other literature is almost completely focused on PW fraternities and deals with sexually predatory and aggressive practices. In neither case is the empirical support in the literature particularly strong.

Sexual Aggression

Sexual aggression and date rape are discussed here only in the context of PW fraternities, as there has been little research on these behaviors in HB fraternities. Often, people studying fraternities have felt that these organizations have provided a sort of subculture that insulates their members from the general norms or rules of the entire campus. Over the years, studies have shown that fraternities promote conformity, and earlier work showed that fraternity members were more likely to be accepting of racial prejudice and hate crimes. A preoccupation with loyalty, a very strong concern with masculinity, and the abuse of alcohol can easily lead to either individual or group violence. A historic indifference by most college administrations to violence against women has provided a lack of deterrence that allows such behavior to continue. If fraternity men think that they can get away with violence against women, it is because on most campuses, most of the time, they can.

Most of the citations in the literature have been to the earlier ethnographic studies of Patricia Martin and Robert Hummer or Peggy Sanday, or to an array of surveys on rape supportive attitudes, which did not find as clear an association between PW fraternity membership and self-reported sexual aggression as more recent empirical studies have found. For example, in a meta-analysis of a variety of empirical studies, researchers found a significant but modest relationship between fraternity membership and admitted sexual aggression. One reason why the effect is only modest may be that researchers lumped all fraternity members together into one pool, while in truth some fraternities may be more sexually aggressive than others. Further, fraternities are rarely monolithic entities where all members think alike; some members may be much more sexually aggressive than others, especially where they are more influenced by male peer support networks. Thus, those who live in the on-campus houses of the most predatory chapters may be the most influenced by male peer support and perhaps be the most aggressive. Male peer support further sustains hypermasculinity, group secrecy that promotes a lack of deterrence, and a culture of alcohol abuse that has repeatedly been associated with sexual aggression. Research indicates that bedroom wall pictures show that fraternity men engage more in the sexual obj edification of women.

Physical Hazing

Hazing is rarely recognized as a criminal act, although virtually all states have laws against it. It has a long history on American campuses, particularly in the 19th century, but more recently it seems to have been limited mainly to fraternities and sororities. Hazing might include relatively lesser forms of degradation (marching around campus, singing songs on the campus green, wearing beanies), or it might include any uncomfortable activity that a young person could think up for the pledge: for example, spanking with paddles as often as daily for months or a year, forced drinking of large quantities of alcohol, eating disgusting foods designed to induce vomiting, being left outdoors in winter overnight wearing only underwear, not being allowed to sleep for days. Both fraternities and sororities practice mental forms of hazing, which are commonly dismissed as pranks, but which have occasionally left pledges so affected that they develop such symptoms as speech impediments.

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