In 2000, various Tennessee Titans were recorded taping rookie OG Aaron Koch from Oregon State to a field goal post, pouring chocolate syrup on him, and spraying him with water.
But when professional teams do the same exact thing, they are laughed at, as though hazing is a big joke that everyone is in on. High school and collegiate teams that coerce athletes to run around in their jockstraps are suspended and vilified in the media, some of them having their season cancelled. Our culture seems to have started to handle hazing in two different ways, depending on who's involved. While 10 years ago most people who reported hazing at the high school and collegiate level were considered "whistle-blowers" and threats to the performance of a team, that attitude is largely changing. In the last few months, reports of hazing on women's teams have started to capture headlines, most notably the Northwestern University's women's soccer team, which was suspended after photographs of alleged hazing surfaced.
The forced sexual contact of hazing is certainly another way to fulfill those desires it's no wonder that so many gay men are attracted to college fraternities, long the bastion of hazing in our culture. I had heard of the "forced" gay sex that happens in prisons, and I figured it would be the only chance I had to fulfill my growing desire to have sex with men. When I was a teenager, and I first started feeling a sexual attraction to other boys, I often thought that going to prison would not be such a bad thing. I don't care how you slice it, there has to be some desire to sodomize the victim if you're willing to go that far with other people watching! Like rape (which it is), I find hazing of this kind to be not only an act of violence but a sexual act as well. "As a way of welcoming you to the team, my associates and I would like to give you your first proctology exam!" jokes. says that the most common reported hazing incident among high school students is sodomy with fingers or other objects. While some may try to diminish the role of homosexuality in hazing, it can't be ignored. Second, they serve to satisfy the latent homosexuality of many of the players involved. First, they reinforce the notion that same-sex affection is weaker the subjected men are rarely "hazed" with forced affection from someone of the opposite sex. Licking each other's bodies, simulating sex acts, forced sodomy with various objects – these acts work on two levels. Many of the acts that younger players are submitted to are also homoerotic or homosexual. Whether it's sodomizing them or making them wear women's panties, the notion of forcing younger players to submit to team veterans comes right out of the handbook of anti-gay stereotypes. First is the notion of making someone submissive to prove your own masculinity. Make no mistake about it – hazing is largely about sexuality, from two different angles. In fact, an Alfred University study said that 80 percent of college athletes had been hazed. And while the few dozen incidents they and other media outlets have reported are an improvement over the dearth of reports just three years ago, the number of hazing incidents that has come to public light pales in comparison to the actual number that is happening at high schools, colleges and on professional teams around the country. The Web site has played a huge role in forcing the public and sports teams and leagues to start having frank discussions about hazing. Hazing is against the policy of most colleges, and anti-hazing statutes exist in 38 states. Hazing can range from seemingly innocuous acts like wearing a dunce cap or eating a raw egg to dangerous or life-threatening things like drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, branding, or crazy stunts that involve water, fire or oncoming traffic. Hazing is, for practical purposes, coercing or forcing younger athletes or students to do embarrassing things for the right to be a part of the group. What isn't being talked about much is the elephant in the room, the issue that most people are thinking about when they hear about stories of what sports teams are doing to one another usually at night behind those closed doors: Both latent homosexuality and homophobia are playing a huge role in the hazing abuse our kids are experiencing, and our societal standards that dictate what a "real man" is are to blame. The antics that have for so long gone on behind closed doors, and that have been dismissed by most as "boys will be boys," are finally starting to get the serious attention from sports administrators and the public that it deserves and that its victims need. For the last couple of years we have all watched hazing in sports finally come into focus.