Maybe you were kidding? 'Fagging' at public schools is not gay sex but a formalised practice organised by the students in which an older boy has a younger boy as his servant at the school (called a 'fag'). Bullying is how I see it and these days a lot of parents look down on it and try to find public schools where the practice is banned. Traditionally though it is an effective way of perpetuating those hierarchies of which the upper classes are so fond.
I think the etymology between fagging and the American epithet are probably not related.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-01-11 11:12 pm (UTC)Maybe you were kidding? 'Fagging' at public schools is not gay sex but a formalised practice organised by the students in which an older boy has a younger boy as his servant at the school (called a 'fag'). Bullying is how I see it and these days a lot of parents look down on it and try to find public schools where the practice is banned. Traditionally though it is an effective way of perpetuating those hierarchies of which the upper classes are so fond.
I think the etymology between fagging and the American epithet are probably not related.