Initiation rituals don't have to humiliate

The rituals are invariably associated with individual degradation but, of course, their defence lies in the idea that they provide a rite of passage: everyone already in the "club" (whatever club it may be) has already been through it.

That does not justify it, and I can still remember the anticipatory nightmares surrounding transition to secondary school, where "bogging" (forcing heads down toilets and flushing the chain) was customary practice.

Nevertheless, are such activities always bad? For surely they also contribute to social acceptance and inclusion. That was certainly the case with our own little rituals on youth work residentials where "The Plank Trick" and "Nelson's Eye" were routinely imposed on young people who were coming away with us for the first time. I just hope they did not experience the same fears as I had with regard to school - certainly, no one has ever told me since that this was the case, though I know the rituals were often alluded to in the youth club.