Fraternity Spanking PaddlesPaddling has been part of the hazing and initiation process in American fraternities from their beginning in the mid 19th century. The paddle, at that time, was not yet common in schools (they used birch rods, canes, hickory sticks, etc.). Paddling (also called "cobbing") was associated more with the punishment of adults in slavery, the military and penal institutions. Until recently, fraternity paddling was a popular, and sometimes public, entertainment, frequently the subject of yearbook photos.   In the old days, pledges had to make the paddles, a custom which continues at some fraternities. Some of these are crude, others are real works of art, and sport carving, painting and wood burning. The paddle is ceremonially presented by the pledge ("Little Brother") to the "Big Brother" assigned to mentor him, as a gift and a token of their bond. Some paddles were ritually burned like an offering, after having been used perhaps many times, under the interesting theory that the spankings are a kind of purifying penance in which the sins of the pledge are transferred to the paddle, and then destroyed with it when it is burnt. Some fraternities required pledges to make two paddles, a stinging paddle and a bruising paddle. A stinging paddle would be lightweight, so that it would swing fast and produce the maximum sting for minimum damage. A bruising paddle would be heavier and would swing slowly but with more force, bruising deep tissues. Apparently both effects were felt to be necessary. |
 In our enlightened times, secrecy is suspect, ritual is despised and hazing in all its forms has been banned--when you gaze at these photos, you are for the most part communing with the dead--but a brief web search will uncover plenty of evidence that this custom continues under the thinnest veil of deniability. It must be deeply rooted in the male psyche, because similar customs in men's initiation are found all over the world. Unfortunately, fraternity customs are more like boyish imitations of the rite of passage our society sadly lacks, because the initiators are not men established in adult male roles, and because fraternities have little significance in the larger society. Still, modern participants in these merry tortures can claim a long and deep lineage. In the middle ages, for example, those who made squires into knights indulged in similar corporal indignities. Men who joined the Knights of the Rose were chastised with stinging nettles, a plant whose venomous spines sting like a wasp and cause redness and swelling.   |
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Of course the pledge period included a variety of other activities, most mundane, some rather curious. Unless he some day got a date with Joan Crawford, this was probably the strangest night in this guy's life: 
Nowadays, most fraternity paddles are professionally made and are fairly standard objects, 22 inches long, 3.5 inches wide, and 5/8ths of an inch thick, of various hardwoods (hickory and cherry, both very hard and light, are especially favored), with all edges sanded smooth for safety and a well shaped handle to provide maximum comfort to the wielder. The older ones, which are becoming harder to find, are often less ergonomic, but charmingly individual, sometimes being made of barrel staves, for example. Some paddles were carelessly disposed of--or broken in use!--others were treasured mementos of friendship and comradery. Most older paddles come from estate sales, and when you hold them, you touch the youthful memories of a ghost.  |
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