Initiation

Initiation is a ritual practice that transcends historical and cultural boundaries. Initiation rituals often rely on sex and sexual imagery to serve as tools for negotiating the assignment of gender identity. One of the primary goals or functions of initiation is to instill normative ideas about sex and gender.

Initiation rituals are also known as rites of passage. The identification as rites of passage derives from the fact that initiation symbolizes the movement from one stage of life to another. Initiation marks this transition and indicates an official change in the initiand's status within the community. Diverse events or activities can be considered initiations. Baptism, bris, confirmation, bar/bat mitzvah, débuting, rushing a fraternity or sorority, marriage, and taking religious vows all qualify as rites of initiation.

From examples such as these, as well as those drawn from ancient and tribal cultures, historian of religion Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) concluded there are three categories of initiation rituals. The most specialized category of initiation is composed of the rites that mark entry in to a mystical vocation, such as a medicine person or shaman. The next category of initiation is comprised of rites of induction into secret or closed societies. In antiquity these groups included mystery religions or military societies, such as Mithraism. In the modern world, fraternities, sororities, or certain private clubs serve as the locale for this category of initiation. The final type of initiation is the puberty rite or the ritual that indicates the transition from childhood to adulthood. This form of initiation is considered nearly universal in its application and obligatory to all members of society. Puberty rites are therefore the most common experience of initiation.

INITIATION AND SEX

Initiation, especially in the form of puberty rites, has strong connections to sex and gender. The influence of these two factors permeates initiation rituals. The organization, content, and purpose of initiation rites all owe something to issues related to either sex or gender. All initiation rituals are strictly segregated by sex. In many tribal cultures there is a special set of initiation rituals for men and another set especially for women. The sexes do not share a common initiation experience. Nor is it permissible for members of one sex to be exposed to the initiation of the opposite sex. Initiation rituals must take place in a single sex environment.

Another way in which sex factors into initiation is through a ritual emphasis on the sex organs. One of the standard features of initiation is the creation of a physical sign of the initiand's changed status through scarring, piercing, branding, or tattooing. The genitals are frequently selected as the location for displaying these signs. Circumcision is a common mark of initiation for males. A bris, the Jewish ceremony of circumcision for newborn males, is an example of an initiation ritual which includes a physical manifestation of the initiands new status. According to Jewish belief, male circumcision symbolizes membership in the Jewish community. A similar ceremony exists among Muslim men. In addition to circumcision, some cultures, including those in sub-Saharan Africa, practice a more extreme form of genital mutilation known as subincision. Subincision involves the cutting of the underside of the penis. This wound is sometimes interpreted as the temporary creation of a male vulva and blood drawn from this incision is equated with menstrual blood.

Female initiation rites also can include genital mutilation. Clitoridectomy, or female genital mutilation, is an element of the initiation ceremonies that take place in some indigenous African societies. Clitoridectomy involves the cutting, reshaping, or even removal of the clitoris. Its practice is widespread among certain African communities, especially in the south and southeastern part of the continent. Among certain communities the labia may also be sewn almost shut, leaving only a small opening for the passage of urine and menstrual blood. Those who support clitoridectomy claim that the procedure curbs women's sexual appetite and/or helps maintain her virginity until marriage.

The involvement of the sex organs in initiation rites can also appear on a symbolic level. Among the Nkang people of Zambia, girls undergoing initiation are secluded in a hut that is constructed with an arch that is made to look like the legs of a woman spread for sex. During her stay in the hut the female initiand is instructed not to look at the arch. In other cultures both male and female initiands spend time in huts, caves, or other enclosures suggestive of a womb.

Finally the onset of a girl's first menstrual cycle often prompts her initiation. The maturation of the female sex organs dictates the timeline of women's rituals of initiation.

INITIATION AND GENDER

The primary function of puberty initiations is to transition the initiand into his or her proper place in society. Identifying and assigning normative gender roles is a major part of how initiation prepares one for this new status. Initiation rituals are designed to teach boys and girls the behaviors, knowledge, and jobs they must adopt or perform in order to become men and women.

Familiarizing boys with the sociopolitical positions that men are expected to assume is a central feature of male initiation. Male initiation rituals are designed to promote group identity and solidarity among fellow members of the community. Since boys do not have a fixed biological sign like menstruation, male initiation tends to take place in a group setting. All the boys who have reached a certain age—usually the age at which they are presumed ready to be contributing members of society—take part in the initiation ceremony together. The shared experience of initiation is the first step in creating an atmosphere of male bonding that underlies the governance or leadership of the community. Initiation introduces boys to the inner-workings of the power structure of a male dominated society. Fraternity rush, in which a class of initiands called pledges are made to endure ordeals together in order to form a sense of connection, or brotherhood, both with their fraternity and especially with their fellow initiands, is an example of an initiation rite that follows this model of socialization. One of the goals of fraternity initiation is to create a network of connections that provides positions of influence, authority, and leadership to its members.

For girls, initiation is a time to learn the gender behaviors and expectations associated with women. Female initiation rituals are especially focused on encoding the roles of motherhood and wifehood. The instruction given to girls during their initiation includes knowledge about fertility, birthing, and caregiving. The Nkang use initiation to familiarize girls with sexual intercourse and techniques to be used during sex. These lessons serve the dual purpose of promoting reproduction and educating the initiand about her wifely duties. The sexual education of a Nkang girl is the second phase of the three step process of initiation that culminates in her marriage, suggesting that the change of status experienced by the female initiand is that of the transition from child to mother and wife. In European and North American society a similar notion of female initiation as a marker of a young woman's new marital availability can be found in debutante ceremonies or the quinceanera parties held in Latino cultures. Both of these events are meant to signal a young woman's official arrival on the social scene. They also showcase her mastery of the skills, such as dancing, that are indicative of her new status as a lady.

Finally as part of its task of codifying gender distinctions, initiation, both male and female, sometimes highlights gender ambiguity. Initiation is described as a period of liminality, which refers to the condition of being in transition from one thing to another, not fully one or the other (i.e., childhood to adulthood). Moments of bisexuality or androgyny transpire in the liminality of initiation, for example the cutting of the penis to create a male vulva or cross-dressing. While these can be potentially dangerous subversions of normative notions of gender, they actually have the paradoxical effect of more clearly inscribing a fixed gender identity. Once the initiand emerges from the liminality of the initiation with the newly acquired knowledge of proper gender expectations, he or she leaves any questions or tendencies toward cross-gender behavior behind. Playing with the notion of gender during initiation solidifies the understanding of what it is to be a man or a woman.

see also Circumcision, Male; Female Genital Mutilation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bell, Catherine. 1997. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimension. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bettelheim, Bruno. 1962. Symbolic Wounds: Puberty Rites and the Envious Male. New York: Collier Books.

Eliade, Mircea. 1994. Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth, trans. Willard R. Trask. Dallas, TX: Spring Publications.

Gennep, Arnold van. 1960. The Rites of Passage, trans. Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lincoln, Bruce. 1991. Emerging from the Chrysalis: Rituals of Women's Initiation. New York: Oxford University Press.

                                          Jennifer Hart