JEAMMET PHILIPPE : RITES IN ADOLESCENCE

Initiation rites, among the most organized that exist, are characteristic of adolescence, with their emphasis on the body and everything related to sexuality. The rites are a means of confronting the threats that weigh on the subject and on the group. They are [performed/conducted] to sustain the subject and integrate him into the adult world. Their very ambiguity illustrates a paradoxal situation, that of the subject requesting what is in fact imposed upon him by others. They enable the co-creation of a common space of mediation by the group and the individual, thus avoiding the potential violence of a narcissistic clash over territories. Their meaning is expressed through performance but they open up the path to a shared trust, the bedrock of symbolization.