54 I Can Read You Like a Book
Guess again. Now consider the impact of this imposed
ritual on a young woman if she were the only one in
the village having notbeen through this?
ƒ Pederasty: In terms of ritual, we commonly associ-
ate this practice of adult men introducing young boys
to sex as a Greek institution, but many other cultures
have practiced it as well. I don’t mean to imply that
the practice has died, either.
ƒ Scarification: Whether it’s done by cutting or burn-
ing, this is a ceremonial injuring of a person in such a
way that the scar tissue forms a particular design.
Depending on the culture, it could mark the person as
an adult male, a female who’s ready and willing to
bare children, a criminal, a part of a tribe, and so on.
ƒ Starting to wear make-up and nail polish (with-
out mom’s help): American girls definitely use this
as a sign of being grown up, at least grown up enough
to flirt. Using nail polish and make-up of their own
choosing means that these girls think they’re ready to
make a few other decisions without their mother’s
help—and the body language shows it.
Everywhere around you, rites of passage occur daily and give
rise to social norming. The effect of social norming is that, every
time you repeat a ritual with a group, you become more cohesive