With movies such as The Hangover and cheap flights to infamous party cities, the stag party has become an increasingly extravagant and popular phenomenon. But a new study says that many fellas don’t enjoy the parties and just want to go home. Bless!
Daniel Briggs, a professor of criminology at Madrid University, and his colleague Anthony Ellis of Salford University, have published new research into men’s pre-wedding celebrations in the Journal of Deviant Behaviour. They say that stag parties have become a socially expected rite of passage, that usually involve excessive alcohol consumption and men engaging in deviant (and potentially harmful) behaviour. Pretty similar to a hen so.
The professor told Broadly:
“What our research found is that often things get taken to an extreme level, without the consent of the groom or all the members of the group. When you unpack below the public humiliation and all these moments of degradation, what you realise is men feel quite uncomfortable about it”
Briggs also says that part of the problem is that modern culture revolves around showing everyone that you lead a fulfilling life:
“People think this is what should be done, so they do it, but they don’t feel comfortable about it. And when you take people out of those situations and say ‘how do you feel about what happened yesterday?’ they usually feel degraded and shamed by it.”
The study, which was carried out over a number of years in favoured stag party locations like Ibiza, Magaluf, and Eastern Europe, shows how ‘men on tour’ is now a booming industry in itself, with holiday and weekend packages catering specifically to the infamous last hurrah. Professor Briggs warns that this has led to expectations of certain behaviours, even though many men aren’t interested:
“I remember one party we attended, where the groom was so against the idea of going to a strip club he almost fought the best man. He went to the strip club and was immensely uncomfortable and humiliated by the experience of all these naked women approaching him asking for a dance. But the best man thought that’s what he should be organising.”
Interesting. Maybe we should just invite the lads on the hen instead – it seems like us girls are having much better craic!
Did your hubby go on a mad one or skip the stripper? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
