It is interesting to see how around the world, the act of stripping off a friend by a group of young males has a strong resonance. There seems something innate in the behaviour of groups of adolescents to do this. I do wonder what the triggers are. I remember many years ago, being stripped by a couple of fiends whist on a camping holiday. The shorts were pulled off and then a few minutes later, off came my briefs. I didn't really minds as we had all gone to the same school and had seen each other naked whist showering after sport. I was more concerned that my undies were clean after along day of travelling. Thankfully they were. I do remember being complimented on how clean they were. This was a relief.
I suppose the victim does not always see the funny side of it at the time and struggles to retain their dignity. I suppose the struggle is all part and parcel of the ritual. It is a form of strip wrestling, but being outnumbered. I assume the humiliation is a part of the bonding. Perhaps the alternative is when a very extrovert member of a group strips naked to the enjoyment and friends. In the past it was for the moment. Now with mobile phones, the act is now recorded for posterity and shared beyond the intimate friends.
I do think such activities are more open to criticism and potential legal action if the person does not see the funny side of it and has a serious sense of humour failure. I suppose you have to choose your 'victim' with great care. Clearly, the victim is not giving consent. I suspect if we lived in a society where nudity with others was more prevalent, the stripping of friend would not have the same effect.
It would be interring to know how many of you have been stripped naked by your friends.
I've been stripped a few times, I've participated in stripping others a few times. Of course, much more common was a basic pantsing, that happened much more often, both on the receiving and giving side. This was well before smart phones. Smart phones have been a double edged sword, in some ways it makes the ritual of "forced" nudity better (while you know that friends who weren't there will now be able to see your humiliation, you won't be left out of witnessing other friends humiliation, it expands the bonding of mutual embarrassment, seeing someone naked and being seen naked does make for a strong bond, there is an intimacy to it, even at a platonic level, you are now in a the of inner circle), in a lot of ways it has made it a lot worse (part of the innocence was the "you had to be there" factor, plus it has allowed for what used to be a somewhat intimate moment into a public spectacle... Which as a member of the public, I appreciate being able to witness the spectacle, but I understand how that has caused a lot of problems).
As for why it is now under so much more criticism, it's moved from being something that everyone knew happened, but they had plausible deniability of, to something that has solid evidence that it happens and we are forced to address it. And as a society, we are really bad at nuance, we can't enunciate the words for why this is different from things we can all agree are wrong (ganging up on a stranger in a park and stepping them naked, displaying them for all to see, potentially touching them in private areas, would rightfully be called sexual assault, so how do we justify the same series of events happening to a friend in the basement during game night being a bonding experience... Of course, the answer is, your friend is someone who you already have a level of intimacy with, and I don't mean that in a sexual way, there is an understanding that you are the "victim" today, but next week you could be the instigator, there is a level of trust that you will push the limits of embarrassment, but won't cross the line into anything physically harmful or overly traumatic).
It's kind of a shame, I know that barring some major changes in society or technology, future generations are going to grow up (are already growing up) in a society where there is no such thing as a private moment, which also means there is no room for the type of "inappropriate" interactions that push boundaries, but firm up relationships (ironically, you need to push and test boundaries in order to have a healthy understanding of them).