<p>I’ve no objection to “Erotic Exotic” and other standard college sexual games (e.g., streaking and spontaneous nudism, etc.) which are more or less conventionally consensual, but this ritualized celebration of groupthink S&M seems ugly.</p>
<p>Kids!
I don’t know what’s wrong with these kids today!
Kids!
Who can understand anything they say?
Kids!
They are disobedient, disrespectful oafs!
Noisy, crazy, dirty, lazy, loafers!
While we’re on the subject:
Kids!
You can talk and talk till your face is blue!
Kids!
But they still just do what they want to do!
Why can’t they be like we were,
Perfect in every way?
What’s the matter with kids today?
Kids!
I’ve tried to raise him the best I could
Kids! Kids!
Laughing, singing, dancing, grinning, morons!
And while we’re on the subject!
Kids! They are just impossible to control!
Kids! With their awful clothes and their rock an’ roll!
Why can’t they dance like we did
What’s wrong with Sammy Kaye?
What’s the matter with kids today!</p>
<p>Ummm it shouldn’t be considered hazing because it isn’t? (Sorry I didn’t read through every single one of those articles you posted) It’s not as though it’s mandatory and it’s all in good fun. If you do decide to participate, you can choose your level. People picking level 5 do so knowing that they’ll probably have to do something extremely embarrassing and insane. If you don’t want to be involved in nudity you can say so. And most of the tasks are done in the privacy of the dorm lounge with the drapes closed and only people in the dorm participating in Secret Snowflake can watch. Those articles make it seem worse than it really is, because it’s really quite funny and a nice break from studying for finals. I know of some people in my dorm who received their task, weren’t comfortable with it and requested a new one. And if it bothers you that much, you can always just not participate…</p>
<p>Like the person above said, you choose if you want to participate or not, and to what extent you want to go if you do participate. In my dorm, nobody cared or not if you did/did not participate.</p>
<p>No one cared about it in my dorm either. In all honesty, I don’t think anyone would because people at Stanford have better things to do than gossip about who didn’t want to participate in Secret Snowflake… It’s unfortunate how people form such judgements about things that they don’t actually know much about >_></p>
<p>^Well I don’t know. I’ve seen comments on here and heard people say things like “do level five or don’t do it at all”. This likely creates pressure for some students to do level five, and I’ve had friends who didn’t want to do their task but didn’t want to seem like a wuss on the other hand. </p>
<p>Then again, this doesn’t mean it should be stopped in my opinion, as for the majority of people (including myself) it was a great way to kill time otherwise spent studying. Like should sex be banned because some guys and girls may feel pressured into doing it? </p>
<p>I think hazing is a lot more than soft coercion. And hazing almost always isn’t pleasurable, whereas Secret Snowflake (for most) is fun.</p>
<p>I’m sure that this can’t be said for everyone, but my freshman dorm was very close-knit. Really, people did risque stuff, but no one did anything that would seriously put another dorm mate in distress. All of the stuff was voluntary and in good fun, and even though our secret snowflake probably wasn’t as scandalous as some of the dorms, everyone who participated still seemed to enjoy it. If you’re not comfortable with it, opt out. It’s that easy.</p>