Editing Religious abuse (section)

===Initiation rites===
{{Main|Initiation rite}}
[[Artificial deformation of the skull]] predates written history and dates back as far as 45,000 BCE, as evidenced by two [[Neanderthal]] skulls found in [[Shanidar Cave]].<ref>{{cite journal |last= Trinkaus |first= Erik |date=April 1982|title= Artificial Cranial Deformation in the Shanidar 1 and 5 Neandertals|journal= Current Anthropology |volume= 23|issue= 2|pages= 198–199 |jstor= 2742361|doi= 10.1086/202808 |s2cid= 144182791 }}</ref> It was usually started just after birth and continued until the desired shape was achieved. It may have played a key role in Egyptian and [[Maya civilization|Mayan]] societies.<ref>{{cite book | last = Rousselle | first = Aline | title = Porneia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity | publisher = Basil Blackwell | year = 1983 | location = Oxford |isbn=1610975820 | page = 54}}</ref>

In [[China]] some boys were castrated, with both the penis and scrotum cut.<ref>{{cite book | last = Tompkins| first = Peter| title = The Eunuch and the Virgin: A Study of Curious Customs | publisher = Bramhall House | year = 1963 | location = NY| pages = 12}}</ref> Other [[Ritual#Ritual actions|ritual actions]] have been described by [[anthropologists]]. [[Géza Róheim]] wrote about initiation rituals performed by Australian natives in which adolescent initiates were forced to drink blood.<ref>{{cite book |last=Róheim |first=Géza |title=Psychoanalysis and Anthropology |publisher=International Universities Press |year=1950 |location=New York |pages=76 |oclc=894357265 |author-link=Géza Róheim}}</ref>