Actually, I don’t think you’re too far off, but I blame feminism.
In every culture, there’s a point where a young male is challenged and tested and, after he passes, is declared a ‘man’. The right of passage is an intrinsic part of our humanity. Society treats this young man differently than he was treated as a child just a few days before.
Feminists have removed this tradition from our culture.
Worse, even modern markers are flagging. Graduating college, being self-supporting, getting married, fathering a child... the younger generation are struggling even to attain that. (And those markers come too late, anyway.)
So they’re returning to more pagan markers. Enduring pain. Permanently reminders that they proved themselves as MEN. They can’t go into battle right now, so they do this.
This is what happens (in general) when women raise boys. That boy will never find that place where he’s comfortable with his status as a man and he’ll seek validation in weird places.
(In rural areas I see much less of this because young men have hunting. Bagging that first buck seems to do the trick as well as a tattoo. My son actually took a bite out the heart of his first deer. Idiot.)