A viral TikTok explaining the meaning of 'hogging' is calling out the horrifying fraternity practice

17 November 2021, 17:29

Holly Madison explains what Cheug Life means on TikTok

By Jazmin Duribe

The meaning behind the horrific "hogging" trend in fraternities explained.

A viral TikTok has called out the offensive practice of "hogging" in fraternities that has a history spanning decades.

In October, body activist Megan Maepes shared a TikTok video going into the details of hogging. According to Urban Dictionary, hogging is a "competition, usually between a group of men that involves going to a bar/frat/house party. Participants go with the direct intention of hooking up with the fattest girl at the party. The guy who bags the fattest girl wins".

"Sometimes they [men] will then, in the completion of having sex with her, have the entire group of men come barging in the room, and they’ll start oinking and harassing the woman until she leaves that space," Megan explained, referencing a paper on the subject by researchers Ariane Prohaska and Jeannine A. Gailey.

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What is hogging in fraternities?

She adds that there's also another element of hogging, which includes: "When men are in a sexual slump they'll fuck fat women to get out of it."

It's not a new thing, though. In 2018, Slate reported that members of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at Cornell University were placed on probation for two years after having a competition that they called a "pig roast", a contest in which men "competed to sleep with women they consider overweight".

Megan's video, which now has 1.4 million views, has now ignited a wider conversation about our attitudes to plus-size people and how fraternities breed predatory behaviour. Some have even admitted to have been victims of hogging themselves.

One person commented: "Ohhh something similar to this happened to me. I have never recovered." And another said: "I met a frat boy on Tinder who kept trying to get me to go to parties with him. I said no because it was really suspicious and met my BF after that."

Recently, Megan went into further detail about the vile practice in an interview with Buzzfeed. "Hogging is a practice of achieving masculinity. One of the ways men can do that, in their eyes, is by sleeping with the greatest number of people possible. They see fat women as easy targets," Megan explained.

"My hope is that by having a conversation about hogging, more people will become aware of it and respond negatively to it happening. And so, hopefully it happens less frequently. But more importantly, if and when it happens, I hope that people see, and become aware, and we can check each other."

Megan said since posting her now-viral TikTok video she received promising comments from men who were disgusted by the whole practice while others were completely unaware it even happened.

She continued: "When it comes to any form of violence surrounding sex and sexuality, one of the most important parts is men holding each other accountable. In order to get them to do that, they need to hear what it even is in the first place, and know that it's a thing that exists and happens."

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