Ethnological Note

Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Adult Sexual Contact with Children: Ethnological Note

Captain James Cook
 (1728 -1779), the English explorer, was invited to watch a traditional entertainment in Tahiti – public sexual intercourse performed by professionals, in this case a man and a prepubescent girl. Respecting local customs, he neither interfered nor expressed his disapproval. See also
here.

When ethnologists discovered, described and analyzed adult sexual contact with children in preliterate societies, they learned that their Western concepts did not always apply. Their modern definitions of childhood, adolescence and adulthood, age of consent and even of “sexual contact” did not fit the realities in various non-European peoples. Many of these prohibited any sexual contact between partners of widely divergent ages, but some permitted or even required it under certain circumstances. The most obvious and most common example was the marriage of girls as soon as they reached puberty.The husbands were usually adults, sometimes older male adolescents. (Actually, this practice was formerly also found in Western countries). However, some societies also encouraged very young girls to have sexual intercourse with an adult male. For example, when Captain Cook came to Tahiti, he and his crew were invited to watch the public sexual intercourse of a man with an 11- or 12-year old girl (1). An African tribe believed that sexually immature girls needed to receive the semen of a warrior for their proper physical development (2). In some tribes young boys reaching puberty were encouraged or required to have their first intercourse with older women (3). Finally, in many societies parents or nurses stimulated the sex organs of infants and young children or taught them to masturbate when they reached puberty (4). (Again, this practice was also common in medieval Europe.)
In the present course, these few examples have to suffice to make a simple point:
Our present Western ideas, attitudes and laws about adult sexual contact with children have not always been shared everywhere. This does not mean that our modern industrialized societies should now adopt the customs of ancient Greece, imperial China, tribal Africa, or pre-colonial Tahiti, but is does mean that we should be aware of the historical context in which we live. It determines our present moral values, but as this context may change, so may our values.

(1) James Cook, “Account of a Voyage Around the World” (1769)
(2)
Growing up among the Masai
(3)
Sex Training – Instruction of Boys
(4)
Sex Training - Genital Stimulation

[Course 6] [Description] [How to use it] [Introduction] [Development] [Basic Types] [Variations] [Prohibited Behavior] [Sex with Children] [Prostitution] [Sexual Violence] [Additional Reading] [Examination]