Male Bonding and the Intimacy of Rivalries - Carter Jobe

Relating to the in class discussion of male bonding, and how humans, particularly males, bond through tough experiences, I was reminded of instances of hazing.

Fraternities are famous for putting their new pledges through hell, and the pledges do it to obtain this "brotherhood" bond with their friends, as they know the experience of pledging is simply a ritual and a rite of passage to earn the trust and deep bond with the fraternity brothers. Similar to this, veterans or long time members of a sports team will force the rookies to take on a lesser role than them at first, as they are hazing them into the team. 

This process shows that in order to build trust with a new friend or group member, men like to test their toughness, as men view this to be a key factor in who they would want to be friends with. 

This also relates to the intimacy of rivalries, where through fighting or arguing a relationship is only furthered as one learns to appreciate their enemy. This can be a friendly concept; I personally have multiple friends who I have almost gotten into fights with, but in the end I have come out of the situation with a furthered relationship with them. However, it can also be taken in a way that enemies have an intimacy of sorts. They know eachothers weaknesses and how to counter their attacks/moves. In a match between two rivals, they will likely be able to predict eachothers moves.

This level of knowledge between two people is a level of intimacy that is seemingly on par with an affectionate relationship where one can predict anothers move. However, we view it in a much different light. 

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