Possibly NSFW
ED
Mod
Please note that the link describes rather graphic acts–see: http://gawker.com/indiana-university-frat-suspended-after-video-of-possib-1735354012
Nay or yah?
For those who don’t want to click, a video has surfaced allegedly showing pledges of Alpha Tau Omega at Indiana being forced to perform oral sex on strippers.
The national organization has clarified that raping pledges is not national fraternity policy. Good to know.
Forcing someone to perform sexual acts, even if not on yourself, is very illegal.
I have no desire to click on the link…
This thread is going to be awesome
I went to IU over 25 years ago. Fraternities, then, had a terrible reputation throughout campus. Young women, greek or not greek, were constantly told - unofficially - to stay away from frat parties. Professors and residence hall directors told us this - not just other students. Yes, I’m sure some of them were nice young men. But… reputations don’t just materialize out of thin air…
The only thing I ever witnessed myself re: a fraternity was minor and stupid - but in very poor taste. I heard lots of anecdotes about pretty disgusting, and often illegal, things happening at frat events and parties though. But they were second or third-hand accounts… I do assume at least a few of the stories were based on actual events.
(Fwiw, my husband was in a fraternity at another university. He has always said his frat and most of the others on his campus, were nothing like this, and behavior like this was not tolerated at all.
However, he said there was one frat that had a reputation for things like this. He said they went to a nearby small LAC campus one year for some type of convention of different fraternities… and this one frat’s members completely trashed the dormitories and the rooms. I mean, they broke windows, tore up furniture… He said he was embarrassed to be associated with them. )
I loved IU, but honestly, between the frats and the brutal sorority rush there, and the sports takes precedence over all mentality , I’m glad my daughter doesn’t want to go there. I don’t want her there.
It’s an interesting twist on the reputed sex crimes of fraternities past that the current scandal consists of boys being told to perform oral sex on women for whom that probably isn’t their usual assignment. If I were the president of IU, I would ponder that for a minute or two, wonder what it meant about the direction of the world. Then, of course, I would kick their asses out of the system. I would also see if there was some way I could make everyone get STD- and AIDS-tested, and ban them from intimate contact with anyone for the appropriate period.
I think for those of us of a certain age, we have all heard the rumors and sordidness of a segment of Greek life–well, I think this puts a rather bold exclamation point, that some of those urban/college tales, are not only true, but beyond the pale.
Nay or Yah what? Are we supposed to be concerned that the actions of a few frat knuckle-heads are reflective of the values of its 40,000 undergraduate students?
Hmmn, there were more than a few folks in that room…
IAccording to several news reports, quoting the national frat–which shut down the IU chapter–the young man in the video was not a pledge, but a frat member. No pledges were involved in the sex act. Moreover, attendance was not required and “only” about half the frat was present. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/08/indiana-university-frat-suspended-after-video-surfaces-of-apparent-hazing-sex-act/
Thus, there won’t be any hazing charges.
Whether there are hazing charges, I hope the cops are investigating. If she prevented him from leaving, that is sexual assault. If she was coerced into doing it, that is also illegal.
And if she was happened to be paid, that is also illegal.
So really more of a “members presenting a tutorial for the pledges” situation than hazing. Okay then.
At least no one is dead. Yay.
“…attendance was not required and “only” about half the frat was present.”
They can say that, but can pledges really leave? I doubt it.
What troubles me is that with 1/2 of the frat there, there is no indication that anyone said it isn’t acceptable conduct in public, and tried to put a stop to it.
@cardinal Fang Very funny!
“If she prevented him from leaving, that is sexual assault.”
I am going to guess that the stripper did not point a gun at all of the frat boys in the room and demand to be serviced, at which point this brave young man generously stepped forward and sacrificed himself to save the lives of his frat brothers. I think that she assaulted him is a very low probability scenario.
You’re right. I forgot that guns (or more broadly, threat of death) were necessary for something to be a sexual assault.
/sarcasm
I didn’t imagine that she assaulted him; I thought it was the other fraternity members who forced him.
@romanigypsyeyes No, I am suggesting that it would be difficult to convince me that the woman forced this young man to perform this act on her, against his will, in front of a big crowd of his frat brothers, who were also apparently also powerless to stop her. She must be quite powerful.
I can assure you that no one was “prevented” from leaving or “forced” to do anything. If they had wanted they could have said they didn’t want to be a member and walked out the door. What happened is likely hazing, but it isn’t rape.
Hiring a stripper to perform at a fraternity - sad that this is part of our culture but not unusual
Simulated sex acts during a stripper’s performance - typical, and how they get invited back
Making a video and posting it on social media - a total violation of bro code
It did not look like there was too much “simulation” occurring in that video.