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.

The Plank Trick is a spurious exercise in levitation. Any piece of wood will do, so long as there is room for the victim to stand on it and for the individuals at either end to lift it up. The victim is blindfolded, told to stand on the plank and put their hands on the shoulders of the person at either end. In a moment or two, they are informed, they will be raised through the roof. The plank is lifted inches from the ground, those holding it lower themselves (fast or slow) and the young person senses that they are going up at a corresponding speed. The plank wobbles, the young person is told they need to jump and they are reluctant to do so because of the height they think they are at. Other young people are positioned to catch them, and onlookers are incredulous that the trick can produce this effect.

Yet, after newcomers had been put through this ordeal, old-timers often wanted to go through it again and were subjected to a similar experience of panic simply because the preparatory commentary said that this time it would be done for real. Nelson's Eye is a similarly pathetic procedure, culminating in the blindfolded young person having their finger guided into a cup of soggy bread.

I inherited these rituals from young people themselves. They were never compulsory, but few young people ever opted out. Even those who did on the first occasion often decided to have a go at a later date, having witnessed the process with their eyes open.

So there are differences from the coerced and mandatory practices that can prevail in other institutions, but the more positive features of initiation rites - in a climate when they are under scrutiny - should not be lost to us.

- Howard Williamson is professor of European youth policy at the University of Glamorgan.