What is taboo for one culture is tradition for another. Many places all over the world will experience agonizing rites of passage in order to prove their faith, dexterity and maturity, even at the risk of extreme pain. The dreadful sensation is worth it, considering the perks that come with passing an initiation. Generally, girls become women and are now ready to marry, while boys evolve into men, eager to be treated as adults and be considered valuable members of the community. These are just some of the most painful initiation rites (in no particular order). This list is definitely not for the squeamish.
The tribes living along the Sepik river in Papua New Guinea have used the tradition of scarification to mature their boys into men for decades. The ceremony requires the youth to be cut along his back, chest and buttocks in elaborate patterns, to mimic the coarse skin of a crocodile. It is thought that this reptilian divinity consumes his youth during the bloody process, leaving behind a man in his place.
Before he can be treated as a man, though, the boy is subjected to humiliation in a ritual that can take weeks. In fact, the boys are referred to as women and regarded that way in order to psychologically toughen them. The scarification, parallel to the taunts, strengthens them physically because it requires a vast amount of discipline to go through the ritual, withstanding hundreds of cuts. The raw wounds are cleaned after the scarification is complete, but the pain endured continues for days as their bodies heal.
In the South Pacific Ocean, on Pentecost Island, tribe members construct a tower 60 to 90 feet (20 to 30 meters) high made from the trees surrounding a clearing. Rocks and wood are removed from the ground and the soil is tilled before the tower is built. The rickety structure is then used as the world’s most extreme form of bungee jumping, with only two vines and faith supporting a diver.
The ritual is done to ensure the yam harvest that year will be successful; the higher they dive, the better the harvest will be. It’s also thought to strengthen participants spiritually, as they take the leap of faith. While it’s not required to dive, those who do are revered in the community and seen as true warriors. After all, to dive means to sacrifice your life for the tribe. They embrace the possibility of death during the initiation; it’ll be like taking one for the team. Boys around seven and eight (once they are circumcised) can participate, and they’re considered men after they survive the fall.
The risks are obvious. Divers are prone to concussions, broken hips and necks, and that’s if the vines don’t snap (and if they don’t impale themselves). If the vine is measured correctly, the only pain a diver will experience is the sudden harsh pull at his ankles once he drops, a painful feeling which will stay with him for days. It’s common to see tribe members’ heads hit the ground after a jump but for the most part, they survive unscathed.
The Okipa ceremony of the Mandan Indians opened with a Bison Dance, followed by a variety of torturous ordeals through which warriors proved their physical courage and gained the approval of the spirits. The Okipa began with the young man not eating, drinking, or sleeping for four days. They are then led to a hut, where they had to sit with smiling faces while the skin of their chest and shoulders was slit, and wooden skewers were thrust behind the muscles. Using the skewers to support the weight of their bodies, the warriors would be suspended from the roof of the lodge, and would hang there until they fainted. To add agony, heavy weights were added to the initiate’s legs. After fainting, the warrior would be pulled down and the men (women were not allowed to attend this ceremony) would watch the warrior until he awoke, proving the spirits’ approval. After awakening, the warrior would sacrifice the little finger on both hands, each finger being severed by the initiate with a hatchet. Finally, the warrior would be taken outside where he would run around the central plaza of the village a number of times.
[Source]
Speaking of penis, the ancient Romans also had their own initiation method. Infibulation is the process of suturing the foreskin. Using string or a metal clasp, the foreskin was closed and the penis was drawn to the side. Most infibulations were self inflicted.
This was done for several reasons. For singers, infibulations helped keep their voice through the years. It also was thought to capture and retain gladiators’ might and vitality. In some cases, an exposed penis was thought to be vulgar, especially the head of the penis, so infibulations were done to show modesty and restraint. For the purpose of this list, youths were exposed to the process to keep them from masturbating, and to abstain from sexual intercourse. It was a show of maturity to suture your own foreskin.
Female Mentawaians of Sumatra experience an agonizing practice known as teeth chiseling. Local shaman sharpens a crude blade as best he can to make the chiseling as least painful as possible. The young girl is given nothing to numb the feeling in her mouth before he takes a rock and begins to hack away. Using careful strikes, the blade carves the corners of the teeth, leaving behind pointed ends similar to shark teeth. To finish the process, her teeth are filed to achieve the desired shape.
This is done to young girls because it is believed to make them more attractive. It’s also said that sharpened teeth please the spirits the tribes believe in, and bring balance to a female’s life. It’s an old tradition the Mentawaians have been following for years, but the practice isn’t as common anymore. Today, it’s up to the girl to decide if she wants her teeth chiseled to become beautiful.
It’s a celebration when a boy has the opportunity to become a man, for the Xhosa people of South Africa. The abakwetha (male initiate) is shaved, and he’s given a feast, before being taken to the mountains where a hut is built for him by his family. The hut will be his home for the next several weeks, so it’s fortified to keep insects and animals away (primarily to protect from disease).
Without any preparation, the surgeon appears and conducts the circumcision. The foreskin is removed, often with a dull blade, and the boy is left alone. He takes refuge in his hut where he cannot eat or drink water until he’s healed. The risk of infection is high. The blade alone, which is used on multiple boys transitioning into men, can often carry STD’s. One of the big fears of the boys going into the procedure is news of previous abakwetha that have been hospitalized because of the circumcision.
The Fulani people, from Benin, have been living nomadically in West Africa for years. For their boys to be considered men, they must endure a tormenting bloody whip match that will test their strength, self-control and bravery. The initiate picks a long stick and sharpens it in a way that will guarantee the most painful blow with every whip. Once he has his weapon, clans from all over gather for the ceremony, where two youths are pitted against each other.
His goal is to hit his opponent the hardest, and wince the least when he’s struck. Three blows are exchanged between each boy. The crowd decides who has shown the most courage through the ordeal, and he is the winner of the match.
Girls of the Sabiny tribe, in Uganda, go through genital mutilation to achieve womanhood. The pain that comes with the tradition is part of the experience that can’t be matched. If she can survive the ordeal, she proves herself strong enough to endure any, and all, obstacles that she may face the rest of her life.
Female circumcisions are complete when the clitoris is partially cut or completely removed. The Sabiny believe this will make a woman faithful to her husband, and keep her from sexual promiscuity. Infection and likeliness of death is high. This, among other health complications, are just part of the tradition that a woman must withstand to prove herself.
Papua New Guinea isn’t know just for the crocodile scarification ritual as seen earlier in the list. Deep in the highlands, an equally gruesome rite of passage exists. The Matausa believe that if a boy doesn’t complete the blood initiation, he may suffer the consequences his entire life. He will never be seen as a real man, and he won’t experience the vigor and strength that the others have. That’s why boys are eager to go through the initiation, regardless of pain, to become warriors.
In order to do this, they must cleanse themselves of any remaining female influences left in them from their mothers. First, they must slide two thin wooden canes down their throats to induce vomiting several times to empty their stomachs. Afterward, a collection of reeds are inserted into the initiate’s nose to further expel bad influence. Finally, they must endure repeated stabbings to the tongue. This bloody ritual thus purifies them, and they are truly men afterward.
The Brazilian Satere-Mawe tradition, that makes young boys into warriors, has become notorious in recent years. Explorers, adventurers and documentarians flock to the Amazon to catch a glimpse of what is considered to be one of the most painful rite of passage on Earth. What makes the initiation so torturous? The culprit is the bullet ant.
According to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, the bullet ant has the worst known insect sting. A single sting is comparable to being shot with a bullet (ergo the name). The intense pain lasts a full 24 hours, and can lead to vomiting, nausea and cardiac dysrhythmia. And that’s all from one sting. The Satere-Mawe don’t use just one ant.
Employing natural sedatives, more than thirty bullet ants are submerged in the liquid drug until they are unconscious. A glove weaved from leaves is fashioned and then completed by placing the ants in the tight openings, stingers pointed inward. Once they are conscious, they struggle to free themselves from the weaving, growing increasingly anxious and desperate by each passing second. The boy being initiated has his hands coated in a thin layer of charcoal before slipping on two bullet ant gloves. He must endure their stings for ten minutes. The goal is to keep from screaming or showing signs of weakness. He and the tribe members present chant and dance to take his mind off the pain. Once the ritual is complete, he will suffer from the stings for days but he’s one step closer to being a warrior; this process must be repeated an additional 20 times in the following months for it be officially complete.
If someone decides to torture themselves because they want to, they can have at it. But if it’s forced on someone, it’s sick and wrong, and the culture that forces it is wrong. That’s all there is to it.
In many western societies, passage to adulthood gives the young of those societies the freedom to have pre-marital *****, drink alcohol, to have tattoo and other bodily mutilations, the freedom to buy guns and rent *****o videos, to do drugs. At a certain age, they are free to do essentially anything under the sun.
Now, for those who called the peoples in the videos morons and backward etc, are you are going to look at one aspect at that culture and decides that these are uncivilized people ? The point is these societies very often do not suffer the same problems that many Western societies are facing. Think about that.
Before going holier than thou and decides that these traditions need to be stopped or changed, look within first and see whether we are in any position to give these peoples pointers on how to behave in a civilized manner.
I agree. Slightly off point but it's like how we judge the Muslim culture with all their restriction on children, particularly females, and gloat over our own approach. I have heard it said that Muslim elders can not understand how we can let our young ones get smashed out of their brains on booze and drugs, root up a storm and become struggling solo parents. It is an interesting thing to consider, at what point do we need rules?
the Sepik alligator scars look badass!!
i want it :B but not on my ass TT_TT
Ouch.. That is all
Very interesting point raised by all today. It’s a tricky subject isn’t it? On one side we may see that other cultures have other lives to live – they live in their world – the world as they see it – and we live in ours. Would you go in there and say “Stop That!”, Why? “Because We Say It’s Wrong!”. Wouldn’t that actively hinder our argument and reinforce their stance? I wonder if it is our ‘right’ (as we see it) to drag a ‘traditional’ culture into the ‘civilised’ world? Of course we may see them as ‘backward’ – but those communities may in fact see US as backward in our efforts to move away from true community life. Could we interfer, should we?
Is there one rule to Rule Them All? If we did march in there with guns and bits of red tape, I wonder if they would see Us as arrogant?
On the other hand, of course, human suffering is not a welcome aspect of life. We all go through trauma; some more than others; and some carry those scars (and drag that pain around with them – like a ball and chain) for the rest of their lives. So where could we draw the line on suffering? Isn’t it true that everyone suffers in life? Is suffering the path toward inner strength? If we wanted to overcome the fear of pain – and perhaps to appreciate the pain of battle – one way may be to initiate pain early on in life and to also overcome it. If we wanted to make sure *****ual intercourse was used in it’s original sense – rather than purely for pleasure – one way may be to affect certain parts of the body in order to take away that element of pleasure. That doesn’t make these approaches ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ – just more or less appropriate to the task.
Just throwing ideas around here. I can’t condone or advocate these personally, but I can’t also deny anyone the freedom to do as they deem necessary. If help were needed I’m sure they’d ask.
" If we wanted to make sure *****ual intercourse was used in it's original sense – rather than purely for pleasure – one way may be to affect certain parts of the body in order to take away that element of pleasure. ".
I agreed with your post up until that point. I'm going to assume you meant intercourse in the original sense was to make babies. Well, that includes pleasure for the guy no matter what. He's makin' a baby he's having an orgasm. How do you know that ***** was originally just to reproduce? The taking of another's genitals wether they want it or not is more than barbaric.
Have we really come to point, as a so called educated, forward thinking nation, that we have become so PC that we can condone child abuse?
I have done some studying in cultural anthropology about these very rituals, and in truth, many of the partipants are NOT there of their own volition, but under force.
The girls who undergo genital mutilation are CHILDREN at the time! They are given no choice in the matter, they are kidnapped, taken to the man who performs the mutilation with a razor, often dull and rusty, or a piece of glass, and without any anesthetic, held down by men, while her most private being is not just attacked, but removed.
Afterward, if she survives, she will never be able to enjoy *****. Depending on how the injury scars over, child-bearing can be fatal.
The young men and boys fare no better. The choice is really not up to them. Is the fact that they were born, by chance, into their tribe, an automatic allowance for that tribe to violate them in whatever manner they can devise? Even if the young man, the boy, his parents, say NO?
Political Correctness has gone way too far.
Heck, it was born way too far.
But in this instance it is irresponsible for us to condone what is in actuality and in practice, CHILD ABUSE.
Customs can be changed. The tribe in the highlands of New Guinea, wherein the women and children ate the dead, thereby inheriting a terrible neurological illness, was changed. They no longer eat the dead. They are better for having changed that ritual, that custom.
Nothing is set in stone. Why do we suppose that the ignorance of these people is too "charming" to change?
That is simply crazy. No one has ever bemoaned having the darkness of ignorance lifted from their eyes. Why should we suppose these tribes would any different?
Or is it that, because they are far away from the mainstream, and because they are not white, it is amusing to have these tribes to "study"?
Child abuse is always wrong. Ignorance is always wrong. Enforced ignorance is wrong beyond words.
What is child abuse to one is not abuse to others. This people don't live in New York or London. In other words, they live in a completely different life, and these things are accepted as completely normal. This is not PC. It is merely an ability to understand why this people do what they do. And I have always wondered, who says one becomes adult only at the age of 18? Isn't it merely an arbitrary age that the west settled upon that has no scientific basis?
I also note the focus on female circumcision merely because it is the main issue that the western media focus upon. You said the young girls are circumcised by men, do you have a proof of that (a link,a video)? To the best of my knowledge, it is done almost exclusively by women as it is usually considered a female issue, just as male initiation ceremonies are almost exclusively done by men.
Did you miss reading the part where I stated, quite clearly, that I had read cultural anthropology? I think you must have, because other wise you would have to beliebe I was just pulling all of this out of my ass.
Your very first statement "What is child abuse to one is not abuse to others.", tells me that you have bought the big Political Correctness lie. Take a look at the video below and then tell me that what you see is NOT child abuse, only a completely different life style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fnUwc70EaU&fe…
Okay. Got it now?
Yes, Enigma, women are often the instigators, and the cutters. It was done to them, and they and they are now doing it to a new generation of girls.
Girls, Enigma. These are mostly children, 4, 5, 6 years years old. Sometimes infants, occasionally due to the schedule of one who does the cutting, the girl may be as old as 15 or 16.
And no, the focus was not on female circumcision mainly because that is the western media focus. It was simply because, in the case of the male rituals, they are usually old enough to make a decision one way or the other about undergoing the initiation ritual. Girls are taken under force, duplicity, kidnapping. They have have no choice in the matter.
I can tell I am wasting my time with words. Watch the video. Watch other videos of female genital mutilation. Then we'll chat. Until then, we really have nothing to discuss.
I don’t think it’s all that important whether it is men or women that do it. The main point of the post is that it is done to young girls who afterwards, if they survive the procedure, will not fully enjoy ***** and will have an increased chance of dying during childbirth. Not saying this is my point of view although I do agree with a lot of it, just saying that you focused on the wrong point.
You are absolutely right. I don't give a damn what anyone says or thinks, FGM(female genital mutilation)is barbaric child/woman abuse and it's unacceptable. The truth is no matter if it's enforce by the mothers or done by women it's still ultimately the men's doing, it's how they keep their wives and daughters under their thumbs.
As if being born a woman isn't hard enough, we shed blood and endure pain that would cause most men to cry every month, we're more susceptible to STDs and other problems concerning our reproductive organs than men are including the pain and potential risk of childbirth, we are still put down, abused, raped, discriminated against, objectified by the media, we are just now getting a full say in our own issues(birth control, abortion), some of us in this world are still "owned" by men, these women are forced to hide their faces and their bodies, not allowed in public without a man or even to cool off on a scorching hot day. Yet over all this we as women, have, are and will triumph, because we are strong, we are givers of life, we are a force to be reckoned with.
Yet still this disgusting, abusive "ritual" is performed on innocent children who are as you said often kidnapped, taken out of the country and brutally, horribly mutilated. For what, why should these women be denied the pleasure of ***** while the men enjoy it, all it brings these women is pain as their wounds are ripped open by men they were practically sold to. The rate of maternal deaths in Africa is already high, no one cares about the mother who sometimes bleeds to death bringing a new life into the world, too often a life she didn't even choose to carry. Many of these women are actually girls as young as 13, maybe younger.
Violence like this against women is rampant in areas of Africa and the Middle East. It's sickening and it's enough to make me want to march over there and kill(let alone the fact that children from "safe" countries are being shipped over seas for this "ritual"). FGM is wrong and we can stop it.
'As if being born a woman isn't hard enough, we shed blood and endure pain that would cause most men to cry every month'
You have clearly never stepped on an upturned plug
Ah. But we can step on one. At the same time, we still have the same womanly problems. So, we get the worst of both worlds. As someone who’s passed out during her period, many times, I can tell you that that upturned plug pain isn’t even close.
Oh, and push a small watermelon through an orange. That’s another thing we sometimes experience in life.. only it involves a baby and an orifice of our bodies. A million times worse.
sad…i feel nauseous when i think what humans do to their selves.. i bet the animals in the jungle are going WTF is wrong with them?
So much for being the most advanced species in the universe.
I support the Grays as most advanced.
This hurts you.
wheres Omega Theta Pi House's paddle innitiation from animal house?!?!?! "THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER ONE!"
recently i had to go through ritual castration (very common in western communities these days) all young men wishing to mate must go through this excruciating experience before they are judged worthy by their partner . Its called “***** and the city 2 ” it cost R70 and it totally sucks ass . Id rather have a bullet ant glove I’m serious . It sucks balls . Only the strongest survive . I left a lot of good men behind .Oh ya also . I agree with Arsnl . For ***** sakes keep the blade away from your kids genitals . *****!!What is life without the clit jesus!
That movie turned some of my friends gay. Tragic.. but I must admit: they help me decorate a lot more often, now. I think it was the shock of seeing the actresses’ faces on such a large screen. The horror was just too strong. The storyline probably just set his fate in stone.
This list shouldve been named "10 Incredibly Insane and Painful Rites of Initiation"…
Excellent job! Thank God in the Caribbean, the only rites we have are just to grow up and get jobs and move out mum and dad's house…
"This, [female genital mutilation] among other health complications, are just part of the tradition that a woman must withstand to prove herself."???
No way. If boys want to wear ant gloves on their hands, that's fine. FGM is not just a rite of initiation that is painful but survivable, nor is it something you can recover from. Might as well include foot binding and bride theft/rape.
Bizarre how people are so passionately against female abuse but don't seem to have a problem with male abuse.
Patriarchal society? Apparently not as male-friendly as one would think.
It's generally because male abuse is caused by or promoted by other males. Although FGM is part of the culture for women as well, it is something that is pushed by men. Additionally, many of the painful rituals above are to prove manhood (i.e., you can endure this pain, making you a man). Things like foot binding and FGM are in place to control women (make them unable to move around without assistance, reduce their desire to commit adultery, etc). Crimes committed against men can be equally barbaric but are not the result of the same men-dominating-women influence.
Excuses, excuses. A victim isn't any less of a victim just because his abuser happens to be of the same gender. In many cases, these are kids being pressured by society to undergo such rituals. So instead of casting it purely as men abusing women, why not also acknowledge the dynamic of adults abusing children?
Ah, because you're an adult, so you don't see it that way.
Instead of a victim-less crime, let's consider a criminal-less victimization. The victim's still a victim, and his victimization is every bit as deserving of disdain. Not a "that's fine" attitude.
"If boys want to wear ant gloves on their hands, that's fine."
They're about as eager to wear ant gloves to prove they're strong men capable of supporting their wives as women are eager to get their genitals lopped off to prove they're pious women capable of remaining faithful to their husbands.
"why not also acknowledge the dynamic of adults abusing children?"
Because I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about FGM and specifically about male-enforced abuse of women.
"They're about as eager to wear ant gloves to prove they're strong men capable of supporting their wives as women are eager to get their genitals lopped off to prove they're pious women capable of remaining faithful to their husbands."
I can confirm that this isn't true. The boys are afraid and anxious but it is something they want to do. Almost invariably, women are forced to undergo FGM and are seriously and irreparably harmed in the process. Even as someone from the Western world who has lived a fairly comfortable life, I would, in a moment, choose 20, 10-minute sessions with bullet ants over having my clitoris and labia removed (etc) without anesthetic or sterilization.
This list is on the topic of painful rites of initiation, generally in a tribal context, and ant gloves fit that description perfectly. The ant glove "treatment" causes no lasting injury and does not carry with it much chance of death. It is a rite of initiation that "creates" a man. FGM isn't a rite of initiation that is anything other than male imposed cruelty and debilitation of women that often results in death, and I don't agree with essentially calling it "a part of life" for women, something they should have to put up with.
Do you not think the same of the Roman infibulations?
In the end, this is all your personal interpretation. I certainly don't consider slitting the skin of a starving, dehydrated, sleep-deprived man's chest and shoulders, and then suspending him from wooden skewers thrust behind his muscles until he fainted, and upon waking up, to have his pinkies severed with a hatchet, and finally be made to run a considerable distance, to be "a part of life" for men, something they should have to put up with.
Of course, that's just me—perhaps you're of a different opinion.
Infibulations and the Okipa ceremony are not current, so while I consider the acts despicable, I don't feel it necessary to lobby against the perpetrators or call attention to the victims.
THese people are very crazy!!this makes no sense….at all!!!
Dejá Vu:
http://listverse.com/2009/12/28/10-bizarre-rites-…
wuts the mens initiation in #6? get head from the women with them teeth??
ouch!!
I was a cutter when I was younger.
(When I was 9-20 years old)
(I´ve never been an emo, I was just very sick)
I used to be psychotic a lot (when you are psychotic
you don´t have control over yourself
and most of the time, you don´t remember
anything afterwards) and one time when i woke up
after maybe 10-12 hours psychos,
I found out that I had Cut myself hundreds of times.
My whole body was covered in blood.
(and now my skin is superthick of all the scars)
And there was blood in every room of
my apartment. Even in my closet!
I´m fine now, by the way.
I´ve must have been wandering around.
I´m sorry for my poor english,
I´m from Sweden.
Wow, people are such idiots.
Newsflash: mutilating your body does not make you stronger, especially not if you die from an infection as a results, nor does it cause supernatural beings to improve your harvest or some other mythological BS like that.
When will people learn that blindly keeping old traditions alive isn't a virtue?
Not to mention the amount of misandry going on here.
The whole concept of guys being so "macho" that they should have to put up with mutilation and extreme pain just to be considered a man is incredibly STUPID.
this is crazy i wont do none of this #3 is extremely crazy matter fact all of it crazy #8 is just isw just toooo much to do starve faint and get chopped up i wouldnt be suprised if they came up with a new ritual you get shot in the head 3 times and if you dont die your a warrior this is craaazzzzyyyyy!!!!!!!aint
I worked with a Xhosa who underwent the Circumcision Ritual. There is a reason behind it.
He told me that when they went war with the Zulu one tribesman was left behind. He got a bit permiscuious with the tribeswomen and was cast out when the warriors returned. To punish himself he went to the mountains, starved himself and mutilated his penis using two sharpened rocks. He returned to the village and his sacrifice meant he was forgiven, since then it has been a right of passage for young boys to become men.
I imagine there are stories behind alot of these similar to the above
Fulani is in Nigeria not in benin……i know because i live there…
And the Jewish initiation?? (circumcision)
Is there something wrong with me but I quite liked the idea of #10 and #4 they both would make you into a man, and serious kudos to the kids taking those whips, I’d of been *****ing screaming that takes some serious balls.
First off, yes, I cringed and shuddered at these.
Secondly, though, I’m reading through the comments and just had to facepalm and shake my head.
For all of the superior, “educated”, holier than thou comments about these people’s rituals, let’s just look at the bigger picture.
I wonder what the crime rate is in these cultures? What about domestic issues? Cheating, lying, broken families, etc. etc?
The point I’m making is because I see everybody mentioning “education, education, education, huffah, huffah, harumph” like we’re some kind of all knowing superior culture.
We kill each other for money, shoes, sunglasses, f’n video games, phones, material bullsh*t that does not even come close to the worth of a human life.
We willingly rape and pillage the very place that we all live, knowing that our actions will most probably bring about disastrous, even possibly irreparable living and lifestyle conditions, but we’re so blinded by the color green that we don’t give a flying f**k.
We will trash somebody’s appearance, or ruin their life (through using their child/children against them, taking what is not yours when you dissolve a family, etc. etc), or watch people die because of our actions and then deny we had any involvement in the matter.
I could go on and on, but you get my point. We are just as barbaric as we consider these people to be, just on a different page. We really need to fix our own f’d up attitude before we go chastising others for their methodology.
I Think female circumcision should be higher up on the list. It can be like having the WHOLE head of a males penis CUT OFF. If I’m correct, sometimes the vginal opening is sewn to make it smaller (and thus making intercourse & birth agonising!!!). It’s done outside Africa as well.
Also I beleive among the Amazon Tribe the girls go through a ceremony where their hair is PULLED out handfuls at a time. Considering they too must hold back signs of pain (then of course later give birth to all the children also..) I think they deserve mention.
Also women in MANY places in the world go through scarification, mutilation of other types, Breast ironing, & other rituals as well.
Ps: women of Surinam Also do the bug stinging thing (though of course without bullet ants!).
It’s actually worse than just cutting the penis off. When the clitoris is lopped off, the people then stick their fingers in the hole and scrape the remaining muscle/nerves/tissue from the bone. So, it’s basically as if taking off the *****and balls, then taking out any nerves that may still be beneath the skin.
Female circumcision is the worst. By FAR!
Wow! I heard Female circumcisions improves *****ual intercourse in women! I’d really love to see a mutilated genital
If you guys thing a couple of days of pain from a ant bite deserves to be no.1 you really have no idea what you talking about. I’m from South Africa and you ranking the xhosa ceremony as being 5th in the world when in actual fact they should be second cause honestly its wau beyond the cutting of the foreskin A LOT more. I’m not xhosa I am sotho and the sotho ceremony is a mixture of most of the above ceremonies…you people should not be writing about things you no nothing about cause we die my friends have died you have no right to do so.
Lol! Otswa Thabeng Tumza?
No one meant to offend u
omg this site is freakin crazy!!!
i’ve just read about that female circumcision and have got my legs tightly closed & water in my eyes. My god are these people crazy or what and as for the bullet ant glove i’d rather be called a girl and not prove myself a man that is just ridiculous what these young people have to do as an initiation into becoming beautiful a man or a warrior
Name
the question that came to mind when i read this was: WHY???!!!
why go through all of that? there are other ways to prove and achieve stuff without being tortured.