Have you ever had to sleep outside with only a blanket on a cold winter night? This is one of many activities that pledges must complete to be initiated and accepted into a fraternity or sorority. Hazing has become a huge problem throughout the United States and continues to get worse. Hazing is usually related to excessive drinking or drinking games which cause increased harm done. However, it appears to be more prevalent in males than females. These incidents of alcoholism and other physical abuse led to injuries and deaths of pledges. Hazing is also known to lead to psychological harm and pain along with physical harm to pledges and students, due to the pledge master controlling their actions. The danger of hazing has only increased with the increase in alcohol consumption and binge drinking today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Hazing is defined as “any activity expected of someone who joins or participates in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers him or her regardless of the person's willingness to participate” (“Research and hazing prevention”). Hazing usually begins in high school in groups such as sports teams and other organizations, and continues into college, in sports teams and especially in Greek life. Today, more than half of college students have been subjected to practices of hazing (“Research and Prevention of Hazing”). These are shocking numbers of college students who are treated unfairly and are regularly harmed or even killed by these events. These initiation rituals have been practiced for many years in life and Greek organizations. These actions are considered ceremonial and banal by current members of the brotherhood, even though the national Greek organizations banned this type of behavior many years ago (Drout 535). Fraternities also carry out hazing actions to reduce members' ability to join without paying dues to the group or thinking they have privileges and rights as newcomers (Cimino 243). Older and current members also derive enjoyment and entertainment from hazing pledges. College students join fraternities or sororities to join a social club, usually in the 2nd semester of their freshman year. They may have a need to find or form a bond and perhaps weren't entirely social in high school. They believe that they will gain these so-called brothers or sisters and form a special friendship with them. These students desire the sense of belonging that these Greek fraternities and sororities provide. Therefore most of these jurors are weak and will do whatever they are told, which is why they are the perfect subjects to perform these acts for the juror masters. They do these acts because they feel that it will be worthwhile to have a family and a group of close friends that they can call their own (Keating 104). However, are these benefits really worth all the pain and suffering you go through during the initiation process? Hazing deals with risky activities and behaviors that usually have to do with things like alcohol, drugs, embarrassment, and abuse. I considered joining a fraternity myself when I first came to the University of Hartford, but after hearing many rumors and reading horrible news articles about hazing, I decided it was in my best interest stay away from greek life. I thought joining a fraternity shouldn't mean going through a long process of hazing and embarrassment, butrather a time to meet a new group of kids and form a special bond of friendship with them and have the feeling of belonging to a new group. Most hazing activities begin with or completely involve alcohol and its rapid and excessive consumption. Facts show that 90% of hazing deaths have been linked to excessive amounts of alcohol consumption (Hollmann 15). One contributing factor is that excessive drinking has been shown this way in movies and TV shows, so people think it's acceptable. These types of acts can lead to incidents such as drunk driving, physical harm or fighting, or even rape. Off-campus fraternities are the ones known for drinking the most and trying to beat other houses to be the most popular house. They are competing to have the best reputation and to be most famous on campus. Fraternities at large state schools are subject to some of the worst hazing situations because they have large off-campus houses where events can be held unnoticed. Some of these schools include Florida University and Penn State. These students are twice as likely as campus fraternities to have problems with alcohol use and other problems (Hollmann 15). This is due to the lack of restrictions and oversight from the university. An interesting topic is whether fraternities or sororities drink more and participate in more hazing rituals in their initiation process. Fraternity brothers seem to care more about what other students think of their group and their reputation, which is why they drink more to try to impress others. They then make their pledges commit to drinking risky, large amounts of alcohol. However, most girls are not inclined to drink and usually only drink in the presence of boys at social events. Even some fraternities at some colleges do not have pledges go through the hazing process and therefore have a hazing-free initiation, which is why there are more women willing to join (Drout 537). Sororities don't usually involve drinking; however, when they participate in hazing, they have less harsh activities for commitments. Change needs to happen in this country to stop these hazing activities and harm from happening to other students. There are organizations and clubs in the United States that try to prevent hazing and are doing research to expose the dangers of hazing to the public, but there are not enough of them. Fraternities, on the other hand, were rated friendlier than fraternities, especially much higher than those in the high alcohol category. (Drout 537). This type of behavior also leads to poorer grades in school as enrollees wake up late and skip morning classes and are not prepared for tests due to excessive amounts of alcohol. Hazing has not only affected people physically, but also has many psychological aspects. The master of the jurors gets into the heads of the jurors and makes them obey and do whatever instructions or activities are given. This type of mental abuse really affects some of the pledges and makes them unable to concentrate and behave normally at school or with their friends. Theories on the cognition and motivation of hazing have been studied, demonstrating that hazing has a negative psychological effect in addition to the physical one usually shown in the media. Pledge masters or leaders seek a dominant position, which is why they butt in with their heads and make them see the pledge master as a father figure or supreme leader. Due to the reckless and risky behavior associated with hazing, many students have died over the years..