Six teenage boys in Toronto are facing serious charges after a video surfaced that appears to show student athletes sexually assaulting a classmate.
Alumni of St. Michael鈥檚 College School, where the incident is alleged to have taken place, say that there is a culture of hazing at the school that goes back decades.
One of those former students is Bill Dunphy, who attended the all-boys Catholic institution five decades ago.
Dunphy told 麻豆影视 Channel that he believes the hazing stems from a culture of 鈥渢oxic masculinity.鈥�
鈥淪t. Michael鈥檚 in particular places a premium on the competitive athletes in their school,鈥� Dunphy said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no question that the hazing ... those assaultive behaviours -- are passed on,鈥� he said.
Dunphy said he believes that hazing is 鈥渁 way of establishing dominance (and) a way of establishing in and out groups.鈥�
Margery Holman, a professor emeritus at the University of Windsor in southern Ontario, has studied hazing and said that it is 鈥渆mbedded in male organizations鈥� as a way of achieving 鈥渢eam bonding.鈥�
鈥淭he basic premise is that you have veteran or seasoned individuals within a team structure or any kind of a group who are exerting their power or control over newcomers to that group, in order to initiate them for membership into the group,鈥� she explained in an interview with 麻豆影视 Channel.
Holman said that hazing can be difficult to prevent because the victimizers 鈥渉ave survived it鈥� themselves, 鈥渟o they don鈥檛 see an awful lot of harm to it.鈥�
But hazing is not harmless, she stressed. There have been deaths associated with hazing incidents in the United States.
Tamara Lave, a hazing expert at the University of Miami School of Law, told 麻豆影视 Channel that while toxic masculinity may be part of it, 鈥渨omen do this too ... it doesn鈥檛 just happen at boys鈥� schools.鈥�
Lave agreed that it can be difficult to stop hazing because those who have been through it often report that they 鈥渁re glad they went through a hazing process.鈥�
鈥淭hey may feel it makes them feel closer to the other people in a group,鈥� she said.
Lave said she believes Canada should follow the lead of states like Florida by passing a law specifically aimed at hazing, in which consenting to the activity cannot be used as a defence.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very common behaviour,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd it needs to be stopped.鈥�
