Hazing

Under bizutage [ bizytaʒ ] is understood in France and the francophone countries locally differently configured initiation rites in the upper and high school life, which often have sometimes crossed the line to abuse, humiliation or for extortion until the recent past.

History

Because of the abuses the bizutage, which was officially banned since the 1920s, was started in 1998 on the initiative of Minister Segolene Royal in the French Penal Code. This defines the bizutage as "a variety of humiliating and traumatic rites in a training or higher education environment " ( Livre II, titre II, Chapitre V, Section 3 bis, Article 225-16-1 ). You will be punished if convicted, of up to six months in prison or 7,600 € fine. Especially at universities and grandes écoles Bizutages were common. Several organizations work against the bizutage. This is especially true since some of the victims of such rites had committed suicide. In one case from 2010, the Court of Draguignan (southern France ) against the two instigators vorstrafenfreien a bizutage in which an affected person has suffered serious burns, pronounced a sentence of six or twelve months.

Ceremony

Nevertheless, further referred to as bizutage multiple, locally different initiation ceremonies, which are performed on freshly those promoted. Recently, they often take on a more humorous trend and indicate officially as the goal, to preserve the new front that they climb their new position to head. Otherwise Bizutages to create a " esprit de corps " among the members of a particular social position. The Evolutionary Psychology speaks in analog context of a Stockholm syndrome.

Other countries

Similar rituals are in many other Western cultures distributed under different names, such as in the U.S. ( hazing ), Poland ( fala ), Portugal ( praxe ), Italy ( nonnismo ) and Brazil ( trote ).