Frat Lyfe: It Never Ever Gets Old
There
are many things in life people are afraid of: spiders, heights or needles and
sometimes even wacky things like water or open areas. However one of the most
common fears I’ve noticed at my age, of 19, is the fear of growing up. The
official diagnostic name is genophobia, but some people just call it Peter Pan
Syndrome. At the age of 17, most kids have just started college and are for the
first time living without their families, having to make new friends; this is a
very scary time. In order to cope with these fears a lot of young men will join
a Fraternity, a Frat.
However,
in today’s society being a brother at a Frat is not quite as prestigious as
before. Laurie A. Wilkie, a University of California Berkeley graduate and
author of the book The Lost Boys of Zeta Psi, saw, in her time at Berkeley a
strong resemblance between Frats and the story of Peter Pan. Wilkie noticed
that neither really desired to grow up and in fact fought against the idea
quite hard. Through photographs I have taken and Wilkie’s book, I will show
that joining a Frat is no longer a way of being escorted into adulthood, in
fact it is the opposite. Frats are ways for young men to find their Never Land
and never grow up.
Fraternities
started as ways that new freshman could find a group of friends they could
relate to, each frat stood for something different. They were, and still are,
considered very prestigious. Each member had to memorize hundreds of different
facts and quirks about their own frat in order to ensure they were dedicated to
the brotherhood. If they failed to recite them correctly, there was hazing.
Traditionally,
hazing is done with a paddle. Each Fraternity house had it’s own paddle that it
would use to haze the pledges. The pledges where the newest group of young men
to join the house. For their first semester, pledges were not considered
brothers until they proved themselves worthy of being in the Fraternity. During
this time they were subject to paddling and hazing, most of which was harmless
trust exercises where the pledges were not truly in danger, but were placed in
a situation where they had to trust that no brother would truly harm them. “..Each
Pledging class had to co-operate to receive minimal hazing” (Wilkie 94). These
exercise were much similar to those that would be conducted in an office today;
various trust exercises that helped each person bond with the Fraternity. Each
hazing, the pledges would have to overcome their fear and move on. This helped
those who completed the hazing to have more confidence in themselves and feel
as though they had the ability to conquer whatever they desired.
Hazing today
has gone about a bit differently than the 19th century. Today Hazing is not
considered to be very much of a bonding experience, more of a masculine way of
expressing dominance. In the photo above, two brothers are yelling at a pledge
while pouring alcohol on his head, which has been masked with an empty 12 pack
of beer. While I’m sure I do not need to show the dangers of this, I will humor
you anyway. There is no clear purpose to this hazing except to make those who
are doing the hazing feel more in power. The previous hazing from the 19th
century was much more PG. In todays Frats, it seems that the brother just want
to bully the pledges. It does not appear that either group of individuals is
real helping the others mature. If you notice, scattered around the ground
there are tons of bottle caps that have not been picked up. There appears to be
lots of screaming and wasting of alcohol. All of these attributes of the
photograph show that none of the individuals are yet prepared to live on their
own. They join the Frat so that they can stay in their Never Land and not
handle any of their responsibilities. The hazing that is done in Frats today
seems unreal. The lights are turned down, the colors are saturated, when you
enter a Frat it feels as though you’ve entered a whole new world. The power
trip of the brothers along with the unreal, and unhealthy methods of torture
each pledge is placed under does not demonstrate any sort of maturity.
When
Fraternities were first introduced, there was a series of networks involved
where you could be almost instantly friends with brand new acquaintances simply
because they are members of the same frat as you. Whether that frat is at your
own University, or one 3,000 miles away. Being member of a Fraternity was a way
of expressing your maturity and readiness to be launched into the adult world.
Fraternities were considered very exciting and honorable organizations to be a
member of. They would throw parties that were not so much considered places to
get drunk, as social gatherings to mingle and make new connections.
These
parties were mostly used to make sure everyone who attended the party, knew
each and every other person there. Every brother and pledge that attended was
required to abide the dress code. Depending on the event, the dress code could
range from tux, to a ‘casual’ Khakis, button-down and a sweater. Rather than
drinking as much beer as they could, or as much hard alcohol they could consume
without throwing up, the young men were gentlemen. That is not to say they did
not drink, but when they did it was used more a social lubricant as opposed to
a social requirement. The parties that used to take place at Fraternities, we
those of mature individuals who are embracing (even possibly too much)
adulthood.
Obviously
things have changed a little bit since then. Today, Frat parties focus more on
alcohol consumption than any individual at the party. “...Beer consumption...
was an important part of [Frat] social and ritual life, and was a social activity
distinct from all other forms of alcohol consumption.” (199 Wilkie). A
brother’s social standing at a Frat is now determined by how much beer he can
drink without puking. Getting so drunk that you truly cannot remember any of
your actions the next morning is considered one of the highest achievements.
People are considered cooler if they can open beers in new ways, or drink them
entirely without stopping. In the photo above, one boy has taken to showering
his beer all over the room similar to champagne during celebration. However,
this does seem to show the desire to be mature. But the maturity he craves is
not that of adult life, it is that of a sophisticated partier. While it appears
through a lot of their actions and their obsession with alcohol that these Frat
Stars are trying to become more mature adults, they are simply trying to reap
the rewards of being an adult (living on your own, drinking, partying) without
any of the commitment to a job or any adult life. On the surface they try to
appear as though they are continuing a long line of tradition and maturity
throughout the centuries, they are, infact, just taking the easy path to what
they view adulthood to be.
The boy
on the right is doing just this. He has no regard for his responsibilities or
how his actions may affect those around him, such as his family and friends,
and those in close proximity to him who may just get to see what he had for
lunch. This kind of alcohol consumption is far from mature and has gone way
past the limit of social lubricant. Directly behind him is a young boy who has
taken a liking to a hat that holds his beer for him so he can drink it from his
head. This is another example of the social need for alcohol that has been
constructed throughout the Frat community. The hat, similar to one a 4 year old
would wear with a propeller on the top, along with the completely unbuttoned
shirt shows that he is still embracing his childhood and the freedom to do what
he pleases without repercussions. In the middle is a man who is completely
entranced by his social media that he cannot be bothered with anything else.
He, even more so than the others, is demonstrating he is not yet ready to enter
the adult world. He, instead, hides in his social media in order to escape
social interactions with others at the party. Finally, the boy on the left
appears to be trying to call out to someone across the room. He has not yet
gained the concept of what my mother calls an ‘inside voice’. He, rather than
waiting his turn like a patient adult, must have all the attention on him at
all times, similar to how a baby cries to keep it’s parents focused on itself.
These kids seem to be living their parent’s nightmares of college, drinking,
partying and causing havoc without maturing. While Frats are meant to represent
honor and prestige, they have turned into large party houses where Frat Stars
can live forever young.
As far as
extracurricular activities, Fraternities were once considered to go hand in
hand. Many of the students and young men joined frats as ways to get involved
with things as a group of people. “.. The data shows us the influence of a few
people who were passionate about a particular activity and introduced it to
their brothers” (90 Wilkie). During this time, frats were considered to be a
unit, each person expressed their interest for an event with their brothers and
each of them would on board to support their cause, the biggest was athletics.
Many of
those who were in Fraternities also played a leading role in other communities,
such as their sports team. Because they were such leaders they got the rest of
their brothers involved and would begin to try a variety of different things.
They would all become extremely cultured individuals. These life experiences helped
them grow as people and mature in young adults. In the photo above, one young
gentleman is playing a round of golf presumably with his friends. The attire of
the man tells us that he is playing very respectfully, he is behaving and not
driving the golf carts into sand traps and trees as one might expect from
today’s group of brothers.
The most
important part of a Fraternity is the appearance. During the 19th century,
Fraternities took pride in being perceived as kind and mature. So when taking
the yearly ‘family photo’ each person would be looking his best.
The have
taken the time to dress up and find a location and angle at which they appear
the most mature to the viewer. This shows that they are very concerned with
their appearance to others. They do not want to come across as slobs or
anything but civilized, mature individuals. “The House Photo’s were used to
show each potential pledge how much more sophisticated they become by joining
[this Fraternity] other others” (26 Wilkie). The photos were a very important
part of each Fraternities recruiting for classes down the line. However,
today’s Frat Stars have a slightly different perception of how a family photo
should look.
This
photograph is also very staged to show the viewer a very controlled version of
what side of those pictured is seen. Yet the priorities in this one seem to be
almost polar opposite, rather than exuding confidence and maturity. The
individuals in this photograph show a lack thereof. They are each trying to out
‘cool’ one another my posing in a different way. This photo does not seem to
fit that of one who is trying to fit into the adult world but rather, one who
is trying to escape.
Frats
today have strayed very far from what those who founded them had intentioned.
Once used as a gateway into the adult world, they have now become a way for
boys to escape into a never land where they can attempt delay the inevitable.
What was once a way for young men to bond and build lifelong friendships has turned
into a way for boys to mentally and physically scar one another in the name of
growth. Other events that were used to network individuals into the adult world
and prepare them to take on a career after college, transformed into the main
way for students to avoid the real world and create a fantasy in which they can
appear to be in control in the name of maturity. Each photograph above that
represents the early Fraternity life was placed under a filter that added a
large amount of age and with it wisdom and sophistication to the photo. The
photo that depicts a scene from the Lyfe of a Frat Star was altered into an
almost unrecognizable reality. The saturation and exposure has been enhanced.
This element of the photograph makes the viewer feel as though they are at the
event or with the individuals getting drunk and partying in a world that is not
the same as the one we live in day to day. Frats today not only provide an escape from the
adult world, but the prevent those who wish to mature from doing so and trap
them in the Never Land that is the Frat Lyfe.
-David Hosler
Souces:
Wilkie, Laurie A. The Lost Boys of Zeta Psi: A Historical Archaeology of Masculinity at a University Fraternity. Berkeley: University of California, 2010. Print.
Picture Credit: Elliott Gutekunst, Matthew Lee Dutko, Doton Fadade and Julian Venonsky
NO ALCOHOL WAS USED OR CONSUMED! And no Julians or anyone else was harmened in the capturing of these photographs. All Photos Copyright David Hosler.
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