LeBar et al. (1964; 1972)[1] reviewed some data on initial courtship practices among Southeast Asian tribes. Among the Mainland groups, no explicit statements were made on childhood betrothal or marriage except for the Senoi-Semang who practised rearing marriage (p179).

Taboo on and punishment of "masturbation" was documented for the Koreans (Turner, [1905:p3]), and Taiwanese (Diamond, 1969:p34). Nevertheless, Eram informed Ploß (Die Frau, I) that masturbation is a "condition extrêement commune chez les jeunes filles en Orient".

[Additional refs.: Manderson, L. & Liamputtong, P. (Eds., 2002) Coming of Age in South and Southeast Asia: Youth, Courtship and Sexuality. NIAS Studies in Asian Topics, no. 30. Richmond: Curzon Press; Gubhaju, Bh. B. (2002) Adolescent Reproductive Health in Asia. Paper presented at IUSSP Regional Population Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, June 10-13; De Silva, W. I. (March, 1998) Emerging Reproductive Health Issues Among Adolescents in Asia. Takemi Program in International Health, Harvard School of Public Health]

Current Age of Consent [2] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

For current details, one is to consult ECPAT[3]. Graupner[4] lists the following consent ages: Japan (13), Philippines (12), Taiwan (16), South Korea (13), Thailand (15/18), Vietnam (16), and People's Republic of China (-/14 for Fm). ECPAT offers specifics on the AoC for the following East Asian countries: China ([14][5]), Indonesia, Japan (13)[6], Laos (15)[7], Malaysia (16)[8], Maldives (?)[9], Mongolia (16?)[10], Myanmar ([14])[11], Nepal[12], North Korea[13], Philippines (12/"virgin")[14], Singapore (14, het.)[15], South Korea (?)[16], Sri Lanka (16)[17], Thailand (15)[18], and Vietnam[19].

There is no legal age of consent defined in Cambodian law, butindecent or sexual assault is punishableby one to three years in jail, a sentence is doubled if the person assaulted is under the age of 16. In China, sexual relations with a girl under the age of 14 are regarded as rape (Art. 30 Regulation of Social Order Management and Punishment), in alteration of the 16 years (for females) proscribed by the old code (Van der Valk, 1936:p76)[20], although no specific age of consent laws seem to exist as yet. In Hong Kong, "[a] man who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of thirteen (13) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life" (Article 123, Penal Code, "Crimes", CAP. 200); when the girl is between 13 and 16, imprisonment follows (Art. 124). It would be 18 for males. In Japan, the age of consent for sexual activity at thirteen (13) years (Art. 177, Penal Code). In May 1999, a new law prohibited people from having sexual relations with those under 18 in exchange for money, and bans the sale and distribution of child pornography. In Nepal, article 375 of the IPC defines rape as the act of engaging in sexual intercourse with a womanwhen she is under fourteen years of age. On the Philippines, the age of sexual consent is 12, but contacts with minors (under 18) are an offence, if the minor consents to the act for money, gain or any other remuneration or as the result of an influence of any adult person. According to Art. 266-A, rape is committed "when the offended party is under twelve (12) years of age or is demented […]". In Sri Lanka, the minimum age of 'consent' in the offence of rape has been increased in 1995 from twelve (12) to sixteen (16) years. The offender of "acts of gross indecency" must be aged 18 or above (Section 365A of the Amendment to the Penal Code). The age of consent in Taiwan is said to be 16. In Thailand, "[w]hoever has sexual intercourse with a girl not yet over fifteen years of ageand not being his own wife, whether such girl shall consent or not, shall be punished with imprisonment of four to twenty years and fined between Bt 8,000 to Bt 40,000" (Art. 277, Penal Code); sentences are intensified when the girl is under 13. However, "[w]hoever commits an indecent act on a child not over thirteen years of age, with or without her consent, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding ten years or fine not exceeding twenty thousand baht, or both" (Title IV Section 279). In Singapore, "[a] man is said to commit "rape" who, except in the case hereinafter, has sexual intercourse with a woman […] with or without consent, when she is under fourteen (14) years of age" (Code 375, Penal Code). "Consent" is valid "unless the contrary appears from the context, if the consent is given by a person who is under twelve (12) years of age" (Art. 90). Further, "[a]ny man who has[…] carnal connection with any girl under the age of sixteen (16) years except by way of marriage […] shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five (5) years and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $ 10,000 (Code 140, Subsection 1, f).

Age-Stratified Patterns [21] and Prostitution: General Remarks (®Middle-East; ®Indonesia) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Asia has generally been recognised for its "child" prostitution problems[22]. "Throughout the Eastern world, but particularly in China and India, children have always been used in large numbers for prostitution- often being sold into brothels by their parents" (Benjamin and Masters, 1964:p161)[23]. Brongersma (1987:p107-8)[24] comes to the same conclusion. Nowhere the case seems to have been ritualised. The following cases are presented infra: Thailand, Japan, China, Korea, and Philippines (see also Vietnam; and Indonesia and Bangladesh/ India/ Pakistan chapters).

Thai Age Stratified Patterns (®Thailand) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Thailand has no recognised historical account of age-"stratified" categories. In the case of Thai "child" prostitution, few ethnographies are undertaken integrating aspects of childhood and sexuality[25]. Mathews[26], writing in 1987, stated that the "Western ideology that boys are unwillingly or unwittingly exploited by men" could be considered "idiosyncratically Western". Contemporary Thai attitudes toward "paedophilia" seem to be rather negative (Jackson, 1989:p19, 104, 131-2, 135-7, 147-8, 225)[27]. However, others argued that Thai society "[…] has little antipathy to age-graded relationships, an age of consent for males was first established (with little publicity) in 1987, at 15"[28]. In a study[29] on Thai sex workers based on interview groups in selected brothels, only 0.4% had their "first sexual experience" under 10, 15.2% between 11 and 14, while 52.2% had between 15-17. Fifty one per cent had lost their virginity in the brothels; the figures on early teenage intercourse are much lower than many figures in the US. In Manila, most male prostitutes are ages 12-20 - much younger than their clients, who are said to be predominantly Western tourists.

Japanese Age Stratified Patterns (®Japan) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Psychohistorians have surveyed Japanese age stratified homosexuality (DeMause, 1991[30]; Kitahara, 1989:p57-9)[31]. As it appears, ancient Japan resembled both India and China in having institutionalised "Greek-style" pederasty of boys -by priests as well as warriors[32]-, yet added to temple prostitution of both boys and girls, and "widespread" "child" prostitution, including the ancient geisha system[33]. "When the madam in charge of the younger girls considered a girl "ready", usually about age fourteen, she would try to find someone willing to pay a special price for deflowering her"[34]. Japanese brothels would start girls in sexual service at 5 to 7 years old[35]. Children in medieval Japan would be sold for prostitution in poor families[36].

Among the Samurai, "[w]ithin class-based confines, all youths [wakashu] between puberty and adulthood were potential sexual partners for adult males, just as all women potentially were" (Schalow, 1989:p121; 1990[37]). Pederasty by the aristocracy and priesthood is well documented as occurring since at least the 14th century, with young boys given by their parents to be used anally by samurais[38] and by priests in monasteries- the boys sometimes having been worshipped as gods incarnate in religious cults similar to those of the cult of the Virgin in the West[39]. In Medieval Japan, "[f]or men, desires are fulfillable in a range of forms, from intercourse with women and young boys to wet dreams and masturbation. These acts, for which there were no separate words, in and of themselves receive no negative judgement" (Tonomura, 1994:p148)[40].

During the 14th and 15th century, a specific genre of love poems or novels (Chigo Monogatari) were written that surround a homosexual theme of Buddhist priests and boys aged between seven and fourteen (Childs) or 10/11 to 16/17 (W&I), called chigo, residing at the temples (Childs, 1980[41]; cf. Watanabe and Iwata, 1989:p38-46). "It seems that the Buddhist priests who taught these boys in secluded mountain temples were relatively safe from the temptations of women, but were susceptible to the charms of the chigo who lived in their midst. A popular saying, Ichi chigo ni sannō ("Chigo come first, the god of the mountain second"), reflects the prevalence of sexual relationships between priests and chigo". Among the samurai, the chigo (lit., young child) was to make way for the wawashu (lit., young man). The wawashu would be aged 13/14 to18/19 (W&I, p47), or up to majority (p117), their love being called shudo. Whereas chigos were to engage in anal intercourse only, the menu was more variable in the case of wawashus (p119, 121). The authors argue against the influence of Christianity in the deterioration of shudo, beginning in the 18th century; rather it would have its origin in "the precipitate modernisation of the whole of Japanese society" (p26-8, 121-4).

Screech[42]:

"The 'Golden Age' of nanshoku ('man-boy' sexual activity) is now identified as Genroku, but did later Edo accept this? I propose that what is today located in Genroku was thought of as received behavior throughout early Edo, but was then forced back during Kansei into earlier history, especially Sengoku, removing nanshoku from the Tokugawa dispensation. Wakashu portraits, for example, formerly popular, disappear from Kansei art, likewise fuzoku paintings suggesting a normalcy for same-gender eroticism; onna-girai (exclusive same-sex orientation, including adult) was utterly submerged in the inequality of adult-child nanshoku".

Saeki[43]:

"The popularity of boy love among shosei (young male students in Meiji period) is often mentioned in Meiji literature such as Tsubouchi Shoyo's Tosei Shosei Katagi or Mori Ogai's Vita Sexualis. Not a few young men at that time still considered that women were not worth loving and preferred boys as their lovers because they believed that they could improve their strength as "real men", both emotionally and intellectually, through homosexual love. However, under the influence of the Western ideal of love and Western psychiatry, both of which only justify heterosexual relationships, Japanese intellectuals began to think that male homosexuality is "unnatural" and "immoral" ".

Subcultures of contemporary Japanese manga allow an inspiration by the ancient ways in their renewed concept and expression of "boy-love". Japanese censorship ethics may, as is argued, "revolve around political struggles whose import is not the censoring of offensiveness per se, but is rather authoritarianism's basic yet desperate desire to assert itself in an increasingly liberal political climate", having had "the unique side effect of creating safe spaces of sexual fantasy (for children, for example) […]" (Helms)[44]. In 1999, Diamond and Uchiyama[45] observed that "there are no specific child pornography laws in Japan and SEM [sexually explicit material] depicting minors are readily available and widely consumed. [...] Most significantly, despite the wide increase in availability of pornography to children, not only was there a decrease in sex crimes with juveniles as victims but the number of juvenile offenders also decreased significantly".

Contemporary Japanese "boy-love" apparently includes women's taste for 'beautiful youths' (bishoonen) as "androgynous [beings] who possesses a feminine sensibility and yet [experience] all the advantages of a male body" (McLelland, 2000a,b,c,d; 2001) [46] YAOI, for instance, is "an acronym formed from the first letters of the Japanese words YAma nashi [no climax], Ochi nashi [no point] and Imi nashi [no meaning] and refers to those boy-love stories in which there is less romantic plot development and more emphasis placed on the sex scenes between the male characters".

[Additional refs.: Carpenter, E. (1914) Intermediate Types among Primitive Folk. American edition. New York, Mitchell Kennerley, ch. 8; Leupp, G. P. (1995) Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan. Los Angeles: University of California Press; Jñanavira, Dh. (nd?) Homosexuality in the Japanese Buddhist Tradition, Western Buddhist Rev 3, at http://www.westernbuddhistreview.com/vol3/homosexuality.html; Wieringa[47]).

Chinese Age Stratified Patterns (®China) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Age-stratified homosexuality was said to be "a common form of relationship in many periods of Chinese history" (Hinsch, 1990:p11)[48], but is all but a clear picture. De Becker (p52, 55) observed that female pages and prostitutes were recruited as early as age five to seven years, put through an initiation at age 13 or 14. Contrary to DeMause's claims, I have found no evidence of "child geisha's", the records from the early 20th century indicating 14 as the lower extreme (Dalby, 1983:p194-8).

Breiner[49] argued that ancient Chinese societies had known comparatively low levels of child "abuse", including sexual abuse. Nevertheless, Jacobus X ([1893] 1898, I:p115)[50] states: "Like the Romans had their Pathici, Ephebi, Gemelli, Amasii, the Chinese have their sio kia a, little boys, sio kia tsia, pretty little boys […]". In Peking, "young boys of from 11 to 12 years old are trained to the service of masculine prostitution. They are all dressed up as girls and they are taught all the coquetries of the opposite sex; these precocious debaucheses are incompletely castrated at the age of from 14 to 15 years, unhappy creatures neither men nor women". Buschan ([1921:p249])[51] stated that, particular in Northern and coastal China, boys were prepared for prostitution from childhood on, the so-called Sian-Kôn. Drew and Drake (1969:p97-107)[52] state that the process of feminisation of boys destined to be prostitutes "began at least by the age of five and often earlier. Although a boy was sometimes purchased and trained after he was ten, it was believed impossible to achieve perfection in the training of a boy after that age". The boys were shaped physically (muscle growth was prevented, etc.), locomotorically and philosophically in the art of pleasure.

Qing (1644-1912) rape laws had specific subcategories for successful rape of a boy between ages 10 and 12, successful rape of a boy under the age of 10, and of sexual intercourse with a boy between the ages 10 and 12 (Ng, 1987:p67)[53]. The previous author came across "cases involving the seduction of young boys or young men by their Confucian teachers, and the seduction of neophytes by Buddhist monks" (p68). It has been observed that the current negative stance toward homosexuality is for a part due to the huge impact of the West from the 19th century on. One British official (Hinsch, p141)[54] stated that "The commission of this detestable and unnatural act is attended with so little shame, or feeling of delicacy that many of the first officers of the state seemed to make no hesitation in publicly avowing it. Each of these officers is constantly attended by his pipe-bearer, who is generally a handsome boy, from fourteen to eighteen years of age, and is always well dressed". Other sources are not so specific to age patterning. For instance, there does not appear to be a more specific picture of qixiong (older)- qidi (younger) homoerotic affiliation mentioned in scholarly writings (Ng, 1989:p85-6)[55].

Chinese boy prostitution may have been imported to America. As footnoted by Weiss (1974:p52)[56]: "Some police officers testified that occasionally young boys, 14 and under, were enticed into these houses of prostitution, but it was not a usual practice. Caucasian men, however, did frequent such establishments (Farwell, 1885:p103-4)[57]".

Discussing the apparently low incidence of child sexual abuse, Ho and Kwok (1991)[58] argued that "[t]he Chinese pattern of childrearing from initial permissiveness to unquestioned obedience may facilitate adults using children as sexual objects". According to Tang (2002)[59], the "suppression of sexuality in traditional Chinese culture (Goodwin & Tang, 1996) also makes it difficult for Chinese children to talk about sexual matters and articulate their sexual victimization experiences (Tang & Lee, 1999)". "Initiated by a local feminist group in Taipei, a decade-long campaign to rescue child prostitutes has recently become successful in criminalizing patrons of child prostitutes. As a side effect, sexual abuse of children and adolescents, which has often been considered attributing to child prostitution, has recently been acknowledged as a social problem in Taiwan" (Luo, 1998)[60].

Korean Age Stratified Patterns (®Korea) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

There does not appear to be much data on the age of the Wharang (wha, flower; rang, shining purity) boys (Rutt, 1961)[61]; they were "often in their mid-teens" (Murray)[62]. It was said that the use of flower boys, or hua lang, was officially instituted by a Silla king in the year A.D. 576, as a replacement of female shamans[63].

Philippine Age Stratified Patterns (®Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Boy prostitution was said to have been common (Drew and Drake, 1969:p117-24)[64]. Bini boys roamed the streets dressed as girls, a phenomenon entering popular culture as a disguised theme: a Philippine "Robin" would be dragged away from attempted amorous passes at other males by "Batman". An illustrated account of Manila street life is given by the subversive book Desert Patrol[65], apparently in celebration of boys' liberties with tourists. Johnson (1998:p698)[66] mentions that local homosexuals ("gays", not "paedophiles") "call on 8 to 12-year-old boys who frequent video houses. Paying them as little as five pesos, the gays in Jolo call these boys Ha! Ha! Boys".

Ethnographic Particularities [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Sri Lanka (Ceylon) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Miles (2000)[67] found in 145 anonymous questionnaires among 13 to 17-year-old students that 46% had learned sex from videos and magazines, 32% from friends, 10% from parents and 12% from teachers. Over a quarter claimed not to be told by anyone. 10% claimed any sexual act ("sexual things") in their life-time: 8% with peers, 5% with adults and 6% with adults for money. 1997 data for median coitarche age lie above age 20 for both sexes[68].

Winslow (1980)[69] provides a discussion of menarche rites.

Green[70]:

"Children run naked up to three, four, five, and later in the villages, but are slowly brought to accept the attitudes of society, largely derived from Buddhism, which are as much those of shame as of modesty. Girls have restricted freedom, especially after the first menstruation, with which are associated particular rites-de-passage. No girl or young woman travels alone after dark, or even in daylight, except in very familiar situations. Heterosexual contacts are limited to home and school and the relations between the sexes closely guarded" (p295).

Nepal (Gurungs, Jimdārs,Limbu) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

In Nepal, where the average age of first marriage is 19 years, 7 per cent of girls are married before they are 10 years old, and 40 per cent before they are fifteen[71]. Nepalese Brahman women were often married before menarche to guarantee premarital virginity (Stone, 2000:p92)[72]; her husband would be a few years older. In a former study, it appeared that among the ethnic groups, the Maithilis of the Terai and Parbatiya of the hills have the highest number of child marriages[73]. Current legal age of marriage is sixteen, eighteen without parental consent.

In a recent study[74] among 100 (73 male) patients giving histories suggestive of sexually transmitted disease (STDs) and attending a dermatology department, eleven percent had their first sexual contact at or below the age of 15 years.

[Additional refs.: Thapa, Sh. (1996) Girl child marriage in Nepal: its prevalence and correlates, Contributions to Nepalese Studies [Kirtipur] 23,2:361-75; Indian Health Organisation (July 1993) Tulasa and the Horrors of Child Prostitution. Bombay: IHO, found here]

Gurungs (Nepal) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Among the Gurungs (Messerschmidt, 1976:p50, 51)[75], the Rodi (youth club) is joined at age eight or nine, first at a kol-mai for young girls (8-13), where they may find "fun", or "affection, love", or at least understanding of each other's natures.

Jimdārs (Nepal) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Among the Jimdārs (Rais), boys and girls are separated at age five, and are henceforward not supposed to talk together in public. Meetings are arranged using younger children as messengers. Adolescent courtship lasts a few weeks to several months, and although not including "love play", is said to be based on sexual attractiveness (Barnouw, 1955:p17-8)[76].

Limbu (Nepal) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

After puberty, boys and girls form dhān nāch partners, a tradition of going steady associated with informal dancing (Jones, 1977:p295)[77]. The get-togethers "showed no signs of being occasions for clandestine love affairs".

Tibet [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Peter of Greece and Denmark (1963:p377)[78] on Western Tibet: "I enquired who it was who gave the children their sex education. The answer was that nobody did. Parents are forbidden by custom to speak to them of such things, and they have to pick up what they can learn from playmates. Another source of information was watching animals, it seemed, and everyone agreed that that may lean something from witnessing their parents' behaviour during the long winter nights in the Jan-sa. Anyhow, they "somehow" knew something about sex by the time they were approximately six years of age". Masturbation in the very young was discouraged by threats of witches that would cut off their ears; the older ones are beaten. Ludwar-Ene (1975:p98-108)[79] provides a detailed interpretation of sexual socialisation among the Nepalese Tibetans. Infants from the age of three are raised in extreme modesty, girls more than boys. Mothers and neighbours distract the infant from and shame the child for genital manipulation, which is presumed to go underground.

Norbu[80], elder brother of the Dalai Lama, argues that "parents often arrange marriages for their children. But it is seldom that children are married against their whishes, and the wise guidance of older people often results in a happier marriage than when the youthful heart follows its desires" (p59). Normally, however, boys and girls around the age of 18 or 19 "start looking toward marriage" (p74).

Bhutan [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

[No data available]

Burma, Myanmar (Burmese: 2,2,3-,3-,4-,4-;2,2) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

In Burma "[m]arriages below [the age of fifteen or sixteen] are not common, and child marriages […] never formed a feature of the Burmese family system (Maung, 1963:p52)[81]. As for sexual education, "[m]ost women in Yadaw had not had any instruction or advice from the senior generation, and what sex lore they have is picked up through observation or peer group talk and speculation" (Nash, 1965:p256)[82]. Children never see parents nude, and the reverse appears to be prohibited after ages 12 to 13 (boys) or eight to nine (girls) (Spiro, 1986:p219)[83]. Children are not instructed but observe parental intercourse in both urban and rural areas (p221-2). Parents are ashamed to discuss sexual matters with their children, and children are told babies drop from the sky or that a baby who likes a particular married couple enters the stomach of that woman. Some villagers have their first sexual experience with prostitutes. Young boys may also be initiated by unmarried women, widows, and divorcées. Girls, unlike boys have no sexual outlet of any kind, since premarital sex is "the worst possible stigma" (p223). Sex training begins early. Infant genital handling is counteracted, a masturbating child is warned or spanked, boys more than girls. "Children sexual behavior, whether homosexual or heterosexual, also meets with a spanking, either by parents (if seen in the home) or monks (if seen in the monastic school). In addition, children are warned that such behavior will be punished by rebirth in hell, by the loss of friends, by being hated by others, and so on. If this is not enough, they may also be warned that sex play leads to venereal disease, and boys may also be threatened with castration. […] A boy may be threatened with castration for exposing his penis in a monastery or a pagoda, or for urinating in the presence of others- he is told to squat or cover his penis with his hand- or for insulting a playmate by holding out his penis and saying he will copulate with the latter's mother. Children are scolded for using other obscenities, and, if they persist, they may be spanked" (p220-1). At twelve or thirteen, children are prohibited from playing or being alone together, punished by spanking.

Burmese babies' nipples are squeezed "to prevent her from having a large bosom" (Brant and Khaing, 1951:p447)[84]. "Apart from modern legal ideas concerning the attainment of adulthood, the Burmese view is one is adult when physiologically mature. Upon reaching pubescence boys as well as girls are referred to by a term meaning "virgin". The connotation is that the individual has now entered a period of life in which the dangers of temptation are especially great and in which corresponding precautions are necessary". Such phenomena as eruption of the skin or sexually delinquent behaviour preceding the first menstrual period are regarded as evidence that the "blood is trying to flow".

Leach (1954 [1970:p133])[85], writing about the Kachin, states that by the time puberty is reached youth and maiden "[…] are regularly sleeping together, but courtship and flirtation is carried on in groups rather than by individuals"; marriage occurs in late teenage.

Among the Burma Karen people, "[c]hild betrothals were not uncommon in early days" (Marshall, 1922:p176-7)[86]. The children might not know of the arrangement until "later on" (marriage was to take place in early adulthood). Adolescent life seems to have been characterised by chastity and etiquette.

Thailand (Thai/Siamese, Akha/Meo) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index] [IES]

Rural Thai (Siamese: 2+,2+,2+,3+,3+,3+;2,2) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

In a previously unpublished study dated 1943, Benedict (1952:p29)[87] states: "No attention is paid to the boy baby's play with his genitals or any erection. The child is certainly not punished". From age eight or nine, the children, girls more strictly than boys, go clothed, boys go to the monks' school. Hanks (1963)[88] stated that "[i]nformation on human sexual matters was gathered by the young sometimes by accidental observation of parents and others, through hints from hearing cursing, and by conversations with grandparents, older siblings, and friends of the same sex". DeYoung (1956:p55)[89]: "The village child learns about sex early. For he sleeps in the same room with his parents until he is ten or twelve years old. Children often play with themselves, and boys are not punished for playing with their genitals, although if they continue to do this as they grow older, they are ridiculed by their playmates. Sex play between boys and girls is rare, for children segregate into their own sex groups at an early age and keep to this segregation until their early teens".

Kaufman (1960:p148-9)[90]:

"The Bangkhuad child is exposed to sex at a very early age. Sleeping in the same room with his parents, as is so often the case, he cannot avoid noticing their actions from time to time. As soon as a girl is old enough to sit up, she is given a silver public apron (taping) which she wears until she is old enough to wear skirts. Mothers quite often, when feeding or playing with their young sons, will tickle them in the area of their genetalia. Young children up to the age of five or six run around nude, so that sex differentiation is something of which all children are aware. Children witness births and constantly overhear jokes and references to sex made by older children and adults. It is interesting to note that children are never asked to leave the room, regardless of the topic of conservation. Yet never do they enter the conversation, or make any remarks whatsoever. Sharp[91] has pointed out that the adage "Children should be seen and not heard", is carried to an extreme in Thai culture".

Textor (1973)[92] mentioned that "coital statues are a principal means by which children have traditionally learned the details of the standard culturally prescribed coital pose between humans. During a period of drought in the prewar era, young boys up to the age of about fifteen would sometimes sculpt these statues just for fun, or in order to wait surreptitiously and watch the embarrassment of maidens who happened along the path and stumbled onto the statues". Visser (1978:p200)[93] states that children observe parental intercourse, and are genitally teased after disrobing.

Taywaditep et al. (1997)[94] stated that "[l]ike parents in many other cultures, most Thai parents do not educate their children about sexuality, and when children ask about sex, they are likely to avoid answering or they provide incorrect information. Since parents are unlikely to display affection in front of their children, role-modelling of affection between the genders is usually derived not from parents, but from literature or the media. […] Sexuality education was introduced in Thai schools in 1978. Although the curriculum has been revised over the years, it has been limited to reproductive issues and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). As in many other countries, sexuality education in Thailand has been rarely taught in a comprehensive manner". Lyttleton (1999:p33-5)[95] observed that traditional forms of adolescent courtship were giving way to the rule of motorcycles, discos and soft-core sex movies at village fairs and travelling shows. However, premarital sex is still widely construed as a steppingstone to marriage.

Pongthai (1990/1992)[96] noted that during the eighties, masturbarche took place at age 13.9 (SD=2.3); for some reason, the data on female students could not be calculated. The first sex dream occurred at mean age 14.3 (SD=1.9). First heterosexual coital engagement and homosexual contact occurred at ages 18 and 17, respectively. According to another study by Chompootaweep et al. (1991)[97], many more male students (42 percent) than female students (6 percent) reported having masturbated. The modal age of first masturbatory experience was 13 years. Adolescents were likely to maintain negative attitudes about masturbation, viewing it as "unnatural", or citing myths about masturbation, such as a belief that it causes sexually transmitted diseases. Thai male adolescents eagerly look forward to their first intercourse and, as its slang term (khuen khruu) roughly implies, a learning process with someone sexually experienced. For many young Thai men, this practice continues beyond their first sexual experience, and commercial sex becomes a bachelor's recreation. On the other hand, young women are supposed to be virgins until they are married.

In Northern Thailand, the median age of first sexual intercourse for never-married males was typically 17.5 (VanLandingham et al., 1993:p302)[98].

As indicated through interviews with 11-14-year-olds[99], in childhood socialisation, girls were undergoing an important training to be 'feminine' and a wife and mother, which is embedded in her conscious and unconscious development. These young girls entered the preadolescent period with ambiguous feelings about their gender stereotypes. The girls also enter their sexual lives with silence and with the ambivalence associated with being a woman. Most of young girls experienced negative and shameful feelings about their changing bodies and menarche. They have difficulty in understanding their own developing bodies. Premarital sexual relations and dating were the topics about which mothers, grandmothers, and teachers most frequently disciplined their young girls. Inadequate learning from their parents or other adults has led them to explore sexuality from media, pornographic materials, friends, and by peeking at others' bodies.

Among Hmong, Mien, and Lahu hilltribes, premarital sex seems "still culturally permissive" or at least "wide-spread"[100].

[Additional refs: Ford, N. J. & Kittisuksathit, S. (1994) Destinations unknown: the gender construction and changing nature of the sexual expressions of Thai youth, AIDS Care 6,5:517-31]

Akha, Meau [Meo] (Thailand) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Although parents practice the highest grades of discretion, parental love affairs, as those of animals, will be observed in childhood (Dorrestein, 1993:p79)[101]. Bernatzik (1947, I:p87-97)[102] speaks of an extensive freedom for unmarried youth. Infants are told about monkeys bringing babies, but older children are told the truth, at the latest in puberty. Masturbation, homosexuality and "other digressions" would not be prevalent. "Bei den jüngeren Burschen ergreifen die älteren Mädchen die Initiative durch Koketterie, die sie meisterhaft behersschen. Oft kommt es vor, daß ein Mädchen, das einem jungen Burschen Unterricht in den Liebeskünsten gib, später seine Hauptfrau wird; werden doch bei ihr am ehesten Schwangerschaftsfolgen eintreten. Ältere Burschen hingegen lassen oft die Ausbildung der jungen Mädchen angelegen sein" (p73, 87-8). Children play father-and-mother and imitate "all" adult activities (p60). This might not include coitus since the children have their own sex-segregated bedrooms (p87) after infancy. Mothers educate daughters, fathers educate sons at puberty (p72). Marriage is often established after pregnancy following a courtship pattern, though child betrothal would not be uncommon (p99).

Laos (Nya Hön) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Premarital freedom is granted provided no pregnancy results (LeBar & Suddard, 1960:p69)[103].

Information about adolescent sexual and reproductive health is scarce, but large-scale surveys show that early marriage and teen pregnancy are common[104], factors contributing to a high risk of maternal mortality and morbidity. Early sexual activity is accepted at the village level, if pregnancy leads to marriage. Many adolescent girls marry as early as 16 years of age and start childbearing soon after. However, in remote districts with ethnic minorities, many girls marry between the ages of 14 and 16. In most cases, marriage is immediately followed by pregnancy. Currently, "[…] marriages before 15 years of age correspond to only 6.8 per cent of the total number of marriages. […] First sexual intercourse at an age younger than twelve is rare [0.5% M, 0.7% F]. The highest percentage for first sexual encounter for both men and women is at age 17-21. The number declined at age 21 or older"[105].

Nya Heun, Nya Hön (Laos) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Wall (1975:p56)[106]: "Le pénis du petit garçon suscite les amusements habituels. Chaque adulte semble avoir le droit de tirer dessus pour ensuite faire de grosses plaisanteries qui finissent dans un éclat de rire général. Jusqu'à l'âge de la puberté, filles et garçons jouissent d'une liberté relative".

Cambodia [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Aymonier (1883:p193)[107] stated that intercourse before menstruation was forbidden. Steinberg (1959:p82)[108] found that "young children are not permitted much knowledge of sex. The feeling among parents is that too much knowledge can lead to desire and eventual trouble. Bits and pieces of information on sex are picked up from peers in the play group, but parents discourage curiosity and usually give inaccurate or fragmentary answers to direct questions". Girls are instructed on the last day of the wedding feast by the bride's parents and a pagoda wise man.

According to Richner, "[u]ntil 1991, Cambodia was more or less a closed society. It had always been the custom for a young man to have his first sexual experience in a brothel. It was considered good form"[109].

[Additional refs: Scully et al. (1995)[110]]

Vietnam (Vietnamese; Hmong) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index] [IES]

Vietnamese (Annamese; North Vietnamese: 2+, 2, 2+, 3+,-,-;-,-) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Jacobus X ([1893] 1898, I:p21)[111] stated that the hymen in Annamite girls is often wanting at age ten, while before it is seen to be intact. An explanation might be that "[…] the little Annamite girls are deflowered, after ten years of age, by little boys with whom the play, and repeat together the lessons which their parents have unconsciously taught them, on account of the forced promiscuity of the family in a little thatched house […]". In the villages around Saigon [former Ho Chi Mihn City], prepubertal (ages 7, or 8, to 15, in contrast to boys, ages 15-25) boy prostitutes, Nays ("basket", basket carriers), take care of the homosexual urges of foreigners during the day (ibid., p108-11, 137, 171); the practice of choice is said to be fellatio. Nays were said to be nonexistent, or exceptional, in Cambodia (p214, 210-1)[112]. Matignon (1883:p161)[113]: "In Hanoi, it is not uncommon to be stopped on the main promenade at night […] by little boys, who speak French- and what kind of French, dear God- "M'r cap'tain! Come with me- me titi really piggy!" is the invitation".

Among the Sedang (Vietnam), according to Devereux[114], "lovemaking short of actual intercourse is permissible and routine during childhood and adolescence". Vietnamese childrearing practices have been characterised by permissiveness, freedom, and sensuality[115]. The tie between mother and child is less important than in American families, and the Vietnamese mother delegates childcare to the extended family, especially older female siblings. In contrast to the Western Oedipal culture, Vietnam is a sibling-oriented culture. After early permissiveness, the child enters the years of latency at school age. Cultural obligation devolves upon the child, accompanied by sexual segregation and repression.

Dr. Nguyen (2000) writes[116]: "In contrast to what is popularly portrayed in American movies and television shows, in Vietnamese culture there is no tradition of a coming-of-age "birds and the bees" talk between parents and their children. Because explicit discussions about sex are taboo even within close-knit Vietnamese families, most Vietnamese adults learned about sex when they were growing up from peers and not from their parents, school, or the media. For this reason, parents who are less acculturated may be more resistant to public school-based sexual education".

Rydstrøm (2002:p4-5)[117] notes for local Vietnamese:

"The fact that a son is bound up with significant symbolic meaning, is inseparable from a local recognition of a boy's body in biological terms, that is to say, his genitals (i.e. the Phallus). In Thinh Tri, the body of a little boy is generally a matter of common interest and concern. For example, a little boy is usually fondly called a thang cu, which means 'penis boy' (lit. male penis). The genitals of small Thinh Tri boys receive a great deal of attention by being commented on, joked about, or even grasped. The local ways in which boys' genitals are paid attention to are in sharp contrast to the fact that girls' genitals do not receive any special attention[118].The widespread concern in Thinh Tri with respect to boys' genitals is related to the symbolism of blood, which does not mean the same with regard to females and males. Despite blood being acknowledged as a 'vital life force' (khi huyet) of both the female and male body, it is basically perceived of as a female energy. Its complementary male vital life force is 'semen' (khi), which is said to be the substance of male energy. This energy is thought to guarantee the continuation of the blood of a male's patrilineage […]".

[Additional refs.: Pastoetter, J. (2001) Vietnam, in Francoeur, R. T. (Ed.-in-chief) The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. Vol. IV. New York: Continuum. Online ed.]

Hmong[119] (Vietnam; Thailand, China) (see also American Hmong) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Rice (2000:p28, 33-6, 41)[120] states that "Hmong girls and boys start to court as soon as they are eligible. There is some variation of opinion as to what age is suitable to begin courting. Some say that they should not be "too young". Women in my study mention ages 13 to 16 as eligible ages for courtship. This age range coincides with the average age of onset of menstruation, signifying that the young woman is mature enough to court and ready to bear children. However, some say that "naughty" children may start sooner:

"Some children who are naughty and stubborn, they may start courting at a younger age like 13 or 14, but if they are obedient and they listen to their parents they will start at around 15 or 16" ".

One informant for Thai Hmong told Geddes (1976:p91)[121] that courtship could begin at age seven, though Geddes asserts that it usually begins with adolescence. Although premarital virginity is prized, a code tells a "naughty" girl that she should not resist intercourse for more than two private meetings with the same boy. Among the Australian Hmong, patterns have only slightly changed, such as the significance of the ball game (cf. American Hmong).

Girls of five or six start wearing prepubic sev [two pieces of cloth], a symbol of womanhood and sexuality. "Prior to puberty, a young Hmong girl is taught that sexuality is secret and she must keep her genital area covered by wearing sev". At least among the Northwestern Vietnamese Hmong, infant genitals are stoked by mothers (personal observation, 1997).

Malaysia, Malay (Minangkabaus, Semai) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

The Malay boy is told by the mudin at circumcision (ages seven to twelve?), when the foreskin is loose, "that the boy must have been playing with his penis" (Wilder, 1970:p225)[122], but no consequence was apparently attached. At about twelve (sexual maturity) it becomes the general rule that boys and girls do not associate (p228, 230-1). "One of the commonest notions held but the adults (though not very openly) is the suspicion of clandestine encounters between boys and girls, or between boys and adult women (divorcees), for purposes of sexual play and sexual intercourse. […] There is, too, a strong suspicion expressed by adults, which also comes out in teasing among older boys, of voyeurism among the boys of the village" (p239). In the past decade, Malaysia has undergone rapid modernization and social changes, including rising age at marriage and "erosion of traditional limits on interactions between unmarried boys and girls"[123]. Joining the global scene, there would also have been an increasing awareness that sexual abuse of "children" (<18y) is "a problem" in Malaysia[124]. While measuring lower than Western rates among paramedical students, the authors aimed at dispelling "the Malaysian myth that sexual abuse [of "children"] is a "foreign" disease that has recently "infected [their] country" (p491). Thus, "[…] the awareness of sexual abuse [of children] has increased considerably in Malaysia in recent years and there may still be some way to go in recognition"[125] [arguing for compulsory reporting by professionals].

Of Malaysian male medical students, 40% were aware of homosexual feelings prior to age 15 years (opposing a 16% current awareness)[126]. Almost half of adolescents (15-21, probability household sampled survey carried out in Kuala Lumpur in 1986) who indulged in masturbation, begun earlier in males, were worried by the act, especially females[127].

In Islamic women, sunnah circumcision ("Female circumcision in the Malay society is now [1993] often performed well before puberty between five and eight years old,

and it is getting younger. Many parents prefer to circumcise their daughters immediately after birth") is in part motivated on the grounds that "it takes away a part of the female body which can enhance her sexuality and promiscuity. Many argue that it is dangerous if a woman is promiscuous and thus she needs to be circumcised"[128]. Also, "[t]hrough circumcision, a Malay girl can preserve her virginity. Virginity in Malay society is a prerequisite and valued highly".

Minangkabaus (Malaysia) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Van Eerde (1901:p402, as cited by Ronhaar)[129] states that "[…] in most cases we may assume as certain that the girl during the years of her childhood or as a girl at play with her boy-friends, has chosen one or more lovers from among them"; premarital sex is free.

East and West Semai (Malaysia) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

A child on its transition to childhood would be shamed (slniil) by looking away from him when patting his genitals; the same is done with older boys lifting up smaller boys, exposing their genitals and yelling "Take a picture!" (Dentan, 1978:p130)[130].

Dentan (1968:p61-3)[131] discussed the sex rearing practices of these "non-violent" people. Sexual and aggressive disobedience may fuse into one concept (sombong, sumbang, sumbung). "It is reasonably in this context to threaten a disrespectful child that its genitals will swell to enormous size because an aggressive breach of propriety falls into the same category as sexual behavior. Conversely, sexual misbehavior logically is tarlaid, like any other action that is considered violent".

The East Semai are more casual about the sexual activities than the west Semai. The play is sometimes overt. "A boy may, for instance, pretend to copulate with a girl, using a corncob as a penis, while watching adults whoop with laughter. Adolescent boys often expose the genitals of younger boys as a joke, for example, by lifting them out of the water while bathing. On the other hand, as soon as the west Semai child can speak a few words, its kinsmen begin to put its hands over its genitals, saying "Cover up! Cover up! Be embarrassed!". They pat its hand away when it plays with itself and rebuke it for talking about sex, often threatening that its genitals will swell". Similarly, the East Semai expect a good deal of premarital and extramarital sexual activity, while the West Semai have adopted the Malay code against such practices, although violations of these rules are common. The East Semai, however, may associate sexual misbehaviour with aggression, and they often "talk about their first sexual experience as if it had been very frightening. They say that even after a virgin boy or girl has consented it may take weeks to consummate the relationship because the inexperienced person is so scared".

Mongolia [up] [Contents] [Index]

Ordos Mongols (Mongolia) [up] [Contents] [Index]

Among the Rev. Kler[132] observed that "[t]he Mongols are very affectionate to their children and frequently kiss them on the mouth or forehead or smell their hair. They have yet another custom none too decent. When elders, -- parents or friends--, play with infants, they commonly touch the child's genitals and caress them, saying at the same time: "Give me this", -- a custom daily observable also among the pagan Chinese" (p64).

Also, "In the very hot Mongolian summer the children up to the age of ten or twelve play on the sand dunes entirely nude, except perhaps for their boots". "Among the Ordos Mongols, children are sometimes betrothed even before birth. This custom, called eŭndege in swie ("Match-making before birth"), is thought by the Mongols to be of very nacient origin. […] the actual age of marriage today [1938] varies a great deal, from four or five years to sixteen or seventeen, the average or ordinary age being fifteen" (p66).

China, People's Republic of China [Chekiang Chinese: 2,3-,3,4,4,4;1,1] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index] [IES]

[Additional refs.: Bullough, V. L. & Ruan, F. (1990) Sex Education in Mainland China, Health Educ 21,2:16-9; Ruan, F. & Matsumura, M. (1991) Sex in China: Studies in Sexology in Chinese Culture. New York: Plenum Press; Hu, P. & Wu, Ai. (1997) Education and Counseling on Adolescent Life, in Caring in an Age of Technology. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Counseling in the 21st Century, Beijing, China, May 29-30; Huichang, Ch. (1987) The Development of Sexual Knowledge and Sexual Physiology and Psychology among Middle School Students, Chinese Educ 20,3:63-85; Fraser, S. E. (1977) Family Planning and Sex Education: The Chinese Approach, Comparat Educ 13,1:15-28]

Historical Data [China] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Despite extensive writing on Chinese sexology, little insight is gained from ancient Chinese concepts of sexual development, at least in English language writings. In the novel Ko-lien-hua-ying ("Flower Shadows on a Window Blind")[133], tho girls explore and imitate sexual activities. A useful paper is offered by Linck-Kesting (1985)[134]. The author writes that during the Tang period, sexual intercourse with girls under age 12 was considered rape regardless of consent; the girls were pubescent at age 13, sometimes 12. During the Ming period, it was observed that 13-year-olds would not know the meaning of desire, whereas one or to years later this would be the case (p93). The legal age of social adulthood varied considerably between dynasties, from 15 (Han) to 25 (Tang) and back to 16 (Qing). Data on age of marriage (cf. infra) are diverse, but incidental cases of pubescent marriage for girls were noted (p107, 110). The most likely age for girls was in early pubescence. Adoption marriage from age six (child bride institution, tong yang xi) can be traced in all ages (p111-2). Chinese women paid Buddhist priests to deflower their daughters before marriage. This was usually done when the girls were aged seven to nine years of age[135].

"Young girls of mid-Ch'ing times may not have received any sex education from mothers or peers, but no young girl receiving these messages could be in doubt about the purpose of her marriage. In fact […] since girls were betrothed as early as eight, and dowry was assembled from the time of betrothal, learning about marriage through the dowry was a nearly lifelong process for some women" (Mann, 1994:p35)[136].Woodside and Elman ( (1994:p525)[137] mark that Huang Yen-p'ei surveyed that whereas "Western education esteemed the natural and imparted a proper sex education to both male and female pupils; late imperial Chinese education based itself on coercion, segregated the sexes, and was reticient about human reproduction".

A first nation-wide survey of sexual behaviour in China (1992)[138] observed that there is "still no national policy, curriculum, or teaching aid for sex education in China: 33.1 percent of the schools had difficulties with offering sex education because of a lack of support and materials".

Prepubertal Betrothal / Marriage [China] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

In the period till 771 BC, menarche indicated marriageable age; the minimum age was radically raised by Han Confucians. During the Ming period there was again early betrothal (Van Gulik, [1974:p18, 57, 265]). 12^th-century Yüan Ts'ai[139] warned for childhood engagements. In 1855, Huc[140] commented that "[n]othing is more common than to arrange a marriage during the infancies of the parties, or even before their birth". Nevius (1868:p253)[141] noted that, "[i]n cases where infanticide is common, males predominate to such an extent that it is difficult for parents to obtain wives for their sons, and they often make arrangements with a family which has an infant daughter to spare her life and betroth her to their son […]". Smith (1899:p260)[142] speaks of early betrothal, early marriage, and even "rearing-marriage" (adoption by parents-in-law; cf. infra). However, "[i]n contrast to India, child marriages were exceptional in China, although the betrothal of small and even unborn children, while illegal, was common (Lang, 1946:p36; Wolf, 1980)[143]. According to Fei (1939:p40)[144], arrangements for marriage were made at age six or seven.

In ancient China, betrothal of unborn children was forbidden, but between families of long established friendship the custom was quite common. The usual age for affiancing children was between seven and fourteen (Baber, 1934:p134)[145]. For an elaborate description of the custom of infant betrothal as practised before 1911 in the conservative I-ch'ang districts, see Han-yi and Shryock (1950)[146]. The minimum age for marriage was not laid down in the Colonial system. However, it seems to follow from Section 375 of the Penal Code that thirteen is the lowest at which a woman can fully enter marriage; if she is below that age, her husband commits rape when having sexual intercourse with her. Freedman (1950:p120)[147] states: "There does not appear to have ever been a tradition among the Chinese to marry very young girls and child betrothal did not lead to sexual relations until the wife was mature", contrary to the (unlawful) antenatal betrothal by Chinese peasants in Singapore (1957:p104)[148]. The 1931 Code placed minimum ages at sixteen for girls and eighteen for boys.

The Marriage Law of 1950, promulgated at May 1, bans child betrothal[149].

However, in more impoverished rural areas the reorganisation of farm labour in the household responsibility system combined with the perceived shortage of marriage partners has resulted in the revival of child betrothal arrangements (Croll, 1994:p169; Rai, 1994:p125; Harrell and Davis, 1993:p10n26)[150].

"For the rural population, marriage is not a personal matter that involves emotional commitment and romantic affection but a family responsibility of prolonging their paternal line. Therefore, in many families, the marriage of their son is a family affair and every member will have to work hard and save every penny for the dowry. If it is necessary, a family may sell its daughters to raise money to purchase a wife or to exchange with another family for a daughter-in-law. Arranged baby marriage also exists in many rural areas"[151].

Most Lolo (SCCS: 2+,2+,2+,2+,2-,2-;9,9;E) groups marry at puberty, although "some Lolos marry quite early, even at the age of four to five years" (Siang-Feng Ko, 1949:p491-2)[152], or are betrothed as infants (LeBar et al., 1964). In general, "The age of puberty is a major juncture for youngsters of all nationalities. However, many of the minority nationalities [of China] encourage the marriage of their children before they mature, and thus follow the footsteps of the older generations"[153].

Minor Marriage [China] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Among the turn-of-the-century Taiwanese, the practice of minor marriage combined with a highly competitive marriage market drove the age of the brides downward, below puberty (Ying-Chang and Wolf, 1995:p793)[154]. In some instances, families would avoid marriages to strangers by adopting girls when infants and raising them with their sons so they can marry their "sisters" (Wolf, 1968)[155]. This type of marriage is known under the name of Sim pua (Wolf, 1966, 1970, 1995)[156]. Wolf (1980):

"A girl raised as a sim-pua did not finally enter into a conjugal relationship until some time after puberty, when she and her fiancé were presented to his ancestors. The occasion was usually the eve of the lunar New Year, when family members gathered behind ciosed doors for a feast and a private ceremony known asui-lo. Whereas the wedding marking the consummation of a major marriage was a festive, colorful, noisy event, which people approvingly call lau-ziet , the consummation of a minor marriage was a drab affair. There was never a bridal procession, usually there were no guests, and often such ritual as was appropriate to the occasion was neglected. Asked if she and her brother had worshipped his ancestors to announce their marriage, one elderly informant replied, "People were supposed to do that, but we didn't bother. My father just told us it was time for us to sleep together". Another woman described her "wedding" and the preparations preceding it as follows: "When I was sixteen years old my mother told me it was time for me to marry my brother. She helped me make new clothes, and my father bought me some jewelry. There wasn't any feast and we didn't worship the ancestors. My father just said something at dinner and after that we slept together".

Sexual Education [China] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Yang (1945:p114)[157] stated that no sex instruction was given, but also that things "have recently begun to change". The subject of sex in jokes is taboo even among adolescents, although boys, unlike girls, may go naked until age ten in summer (p128, 127). Fang-fu Ruan and Lau (1997)[158] stated that "sexual play and sex rehearsal play, both alone and with peers, are punished when discovered. Such behavior is seldom if ever reported or commented on in public".

"In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, not only was there a complete lack of systematic sex education, but only a few booklets on sexuality had been published", so that eight to nine hundred million people for more than twenty years had to do with only a few pages discussing aspects of sexual relationships such as arousal, sexual responses, and frequency of intercourse".

In 1984, Shek and Mak[159] argued that (1) sex education has never been a formal subject, (2) few other subjects have components related to sex education, and (3) subjects which might include sex education are not offered at all schools. Until recently, "open public discussion of sexuality topics was taboo in China"[160]. A study by Shu et al. (1997)[161] was to investigate sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of fifth and sixth grade students in aboriginal elementary schools in the Ping-Tung area. The results as summarised by the authors: "(1) The sexual knowledge score was low but sexual attitudes showed a positive trend. (2) 64.7% and 67.4% of students had at some time seen pictures of male or female sexual organs. (3) About 61% of students had seen sexual magazines or videotapes. (4) 66.2% of male and 88.1% of female students had heard about wet dreams or menstruation before their first experience; more than half of the students thought that wet dreams need treatment. (5) 17.8% of students had masturbation experience, and after that 59.3% of students had fear or guilt feeling. (6) Female students had significantly higher knowledge and attitude scores than male students, demographic variables produced no significant difference in the above scores. (7) 42.4% of students most desired to know what phenomena indicate sexual maturity. (8) Sex knowledge had significantly positive correlation with sex attitude".

Evans[162] argues that "the explosion of sexually explicit material since the 1980s and the transformation of sexual practices among urban young people suggest the emergence of a new sexual culture in China's urban centers". Zhang et al.[163] argued that "[s]ince the one-child family and open door policies in the 1970s and the economic reforms of the 1980s, attitudes toward sexuality in the People's Republic of China have changed. Premarital sex has become widely accepted among young people". Data from 1988 indicated that teenagers in China do not find premarital sex to be acceptable, yet they seem to be tolerant of those who engage in sexual activity[164]. Compared to Western societies, the rates of masturbation and homosexual experience were much lower than those of the Western youths in the same age range[165].

In a senior high school in the Weicheng District of Weifang City, 47.9% of male students and 63.8% of female students did not have previous knowledge about puberty, 39.9% of boys and 52.2% of girls felt puzzled and disgusted with the onset of puberty (Guang-Ren, 1997)[166]. About 18% of boys and about 2% of girls reported masturbation. The average frequency of masturbation was 3.5 times a month in the boys and two times monthly in girls. Adolescents acquired sexual knowledge and information predominantly from magazines (25.8% of boys and 28.0% of girls). About 64% of boys and 44% of girls wanted to be given educational programs on sex.

Sexual Socialisation [China] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

DeMause[167] states [orig. footnotes]:

" […] reliable research on childhood sexuality [DeMause means abuse] is somewhat more limited than for India. Although parents traditionally sleep with their children until they are adolescents, [[168]] exactly what happens in Chinese family beds has not yet been much investigated, although some observers have reported that Chinese girls, like Indian, have no trace of a hymen, supposedly because caretakers "clean the sexual organs of the little children during daily washings [...] so scrupulously [...]"[[169]] […]. During adolescence, youths were instructed to have intercourse with young girls who have "undeveloped breasts", but to practice "moderation" by withholding their semen" [[170]].

Mitchell and Lo (1968:p317)[171] reported that mothers in Hong Kong would punish their children or tell them that such behaviour was "dirty" if they found them "playing with themselves". Ho (1986:p5)[172] reviewed that sex training was among the most severe of all child-rearing areas (cf. Ho and Kang, 1984)[173]. However, Muensterberger (1951 [1969:p306])[174] observed that genital play was "not forbidden" in southern China. [See further Chan (1990)[175] and Bo and Wenxiu (1992)[176]]. Scofield and Sun (1960:p223)[177] found that oral, sex, dependence and aggression training are all more severe for Chinese generally than for Americans, the exception being toilet training (cf. Wilson, 1970:p26)[178]. According to the table, infants are never naked, sexual exploration/interest in bodies and sex play are punished, and nudity is shamed; training is continuous from birth. Compared to immigrant Chinese, Euro-Americans are more accepting of nudity[179]. "Playing with oneself" is seen as very indecent behaviour damaging health, and children are taught this attitude from a young age[180]. In urban Hong Kong, Mitchell and Lo (1968:p317)[181] found that sex differences were marginal in sex and modesty training. "Nine of the 10 mothers of the dependent [as a character trait] children say they would use physical punishment if they found their children playing with themselves. Only 2 of the other 10 mothers report they would do this. In their response to questions on this topic, the latter mothers said that they would explain to their children that playing with themselves is bad for their health and that they should not do it again; some of these mothers also would tell their children that such behavior is "dirty". However, what is important is that they would verbally explain to their children- thereby bringing the children into an adult conversation- rather than physically punish them".

Hu and Wu (1997)[182] presented survey data on the sexual development of Chinese youth and how it compares with youth in other countries.

Chinese women would often use the "primal scene" argument to resist the sexual demands of their husbands (Jankowiak, 1989:p78)[183].

[Additional refs.: Yang, M. M. C. (1967) [Child Training and Child Behavior in Varying Family Patterns in a Changing Chinese Society], Kuo Li Tai-wan Ta Hsueh She Hui Hsueh K'an [National Taiwan Univ J Sociol] 3:77-83]

Courtship [China] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Before the Cultural Revolution, marriages were "unambiguously an alliance between families" mediated by match-makers (Hershatter, p238)[184]. During the Revolution, "vital and numerous love songs came under heavy fire" due to the suppression of folksongs devoid of overt politcal content (Mackerras, 1984:p198)[185]. Courtship was effected primarily by song, such as among the Hmong and Bai minority (Mackerras, 1988:p62)[186].

Hong Kong [China] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index] [IES]

Interestingly, Man-lun Ng and Ma (2001)[187] offer no data on childhood sexuality. In some authors on Chinese childhood, the matter of sex is equally stepped over (e.g., Stafford, 1995)[188].

Taiwan (Hokkien) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

In Taiwan, infantile genitalism is said to be counteracted (Diamond, 1969:p34)[189], and information about birth is censored[190]. "Nor do parents feel it necessary to provide information about sexual matters. Despite the fact that the child continues to share the parental bedroom, and the parental bed, until well into primary school, people are convinced that the children are completely unaware of sexual intercourse. Indeed, there does seem to be some kind of block that operates. Many women say that until their marriage they had no idea at all that intercourse took place between married couples, and the men claim outside sources for their information. Most have their first sexual experiences in their late teens, when an older boy takes them into the city to visit the prostitution district".

Pre-20th century patterns include parental selection of spouse, separation of sexes from puberty to marriage, absence of dating, courtship and engagement, and irrelevance of romantic love as an institutionalised basis for mate selection[191].

Barnett (1971:p445-6)[192]:

"Even small children know a lot about sex for the village is rural and children observe the mating of farm animals and know the function. Given the sleeping arrangements and the proper site for sex, i.e., in a bed which will be shared with sleeping children, it is likely they have also observed human intercourse. I remember one occasion when the barber, a bachelor, was building a new three-room house because he planned on marriage. A group of 9 to 10 year olds were showing me around and when we came to the prospective bedroom, a boy said, "He is getting married and this is where he will stick it in her" […]. Men and old women talk about enjoying sex when children are within hearing distance although someone will occasionally shush them. During the wedding party in front of all the guests and children too, the bride is given a flower to hold, the name of which has exactly the same sound as the common term for penis, for the purpose of helping to produce male offspring. Earthy remarks though resound softly throughout the audience such as, "Do you think it is too big?" "Have you ever squeezed one before?" or "That's not the only one you will get today" ".

Wolf (1972:p139-40)[193] stated that children are told nothing about sex, and learn not to ask questions for which, if persistent, they will be punished.

Korea, Corea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (eHRAF) (Koreans: 3+,3+,3+,4,4,4;2,1) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index] [IES]

Child[194] and even (informal?) prenatal[195] betrothal occurred in rural Korea. The "capping ceremony" was synonymous to betrothal (Landis)[196]. This occurred at age twenty in ancient times, and at the time of writing this had decreased to an incidental age of 10. North Korean child betrothal was banned by law in 1948[197]. Turn-of-the-century accounts suggest that "most impoverished families sent their daughters out as child brides, minmyŏnŭri, to be raised in the households of their future mothers-in-law (Kendall, 1996:p62, 181-2)[198].

Around the middle of the 17th century Hamel[199] noted:

"They make no love, because they are marry'd at 8 or 10 Years of Age, and the Young Maids from that time live in their Father-in-laws House unless they be only daughters".

Osgood:

"Among the Okj[?]o, girls left their homes at the age of about ten to go and live with the families of their betrothed. At the time of marriage, however, they returned to their parents and the future husbands had to pay a bride price before the marriages were consummated".

Taboo on and punishment of "masturbation" is seen in the Korean Americans (Turner, [1905:p3])[200]. Brandt (1971)[201] stated that "[c]hildren are, of course, aware of sexual matters at an early age, both through the conversation of their elders and because of the crowded sleeping arrangements". The author observed that for the ages 12 to 14, "[t]here is considerable romantic longing for someone of the opposite sex, but both individuals are ashamed and pretend to dislike each other when they meet, sometimes using insults that provoke real quarrels". Han (1949:p70)[202] relates that "grandparents as well as other older members of the family often pay complement on the child's sex organ". As close as the mother-daughter relationship may be the latter would not think of undressing in front of her mother. Nevertheless, it is her mother to whom she tells of her first menstruation. However, "[a]bsolute ignorance of sex on the part of a bride is considered to be a womanly virtue and a sign of complete chastity" (p120). Knez (1960:p81-2)[203] agrees that girls only after menarche (age 15) acquire some sexual information since they are then regarded as women socially as well as biologically. After the occasion, they are "[…] no longer allowed to play with boys […]". "Parents are reluctant to educate their children in sexual matters". The same was observed by Osgood (1951)[204]. Young men are often "introduced to sexual behavior" by a widow (Knez, p83).

While the country's high schools "still generally lack a realistic sex education program", the age of first intercourse has lowered "significantly"[205]. In one study[206] of 849 adolescents (with a mean age of 18.8 years), coitally active repondents began sexual activity [coitus] at about 18 years of age. Youn expected underreporting "[b]ecause premarital sex for adolescents is considered very undesirable in the Korean social setting". In a study by Choi et al. (2000)[207], the average age of initiation of masturbation was 14.26 +/- 1.66 years. Seven and one half per cent of parents, especially mothers, rationalise circumcision of boys with the intent "to improve future sexual potency"[208].

Jung and Honig (2000)[209] found that paternal job satisfaction and relationship with own mother as well as educational attainment predicted fathering behaviours with respect to child sexuality and parental rules.

A study of Korean children and adolescence doing Japanese comics[210] includes data on the reception of sexual themes therein.

[Additional refs.: Choi, H. (2001) South Korea, in Francoeur, R. T. (Ed. in chief) The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. Vol. IV. New York: Continuum. Online ed.]

Japan (Premodern rural: 2,2,3+,4-,3,3;5,5) (Burakumin) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index] [IES]

The (early) sexual milestones of the urban Japanese were monitored regularly, as reported by Asayama[211] and Hatano[212]. These large studies prove of less value in interpreting Japanese sexual culture, which has been the agenda of many Western scholars. In an interesting, and to some extent unique, article, Mamiya (1956)[213] measured "excitability to words, sentences, anatomical figures and pictures with sexual content by means of GSR [galvanic skin resistance?] and respiratory rate recordings" apparently in peripubescents. The results would suggest "[a] period from 11 to 13 years old [...] to be the one of psychosexual change which is earlier than physiological maturation" [Psychinfo]. This is interesting since drawings of Japanese peripubescents, as compared to those drawn in other parts of the world, and while being more detailed and sophisticated in general, "sexual details were nonexistent"[214].

"In Japanese society sexuality is considered part of one's inward, hidden life; however, there are few notions of guilt or prohibition. Although the legal system was changed in 1945 under US pressure to shift from a patriarchal family system to a more egalitarian one, the patriarchal system remains quite strong" in 1984[215].

Historical Note on Marriage [Japan] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Herold (1985)[216] states that from the sixteenth century on, marriage could be conducted by puberty, menarche occurring at ages 12-14. Puberty was marked by a change of dress (genpuku), its timing being variable over the centuries. Sexual education was provided by the grandparental, not the parental generation; it largely consisted of the introduction to prostitution after the genpuku (p688). Legal age distinctions were historically placed at 7, 10 and 16 (603-967), 15 (967-1467), and 15 or 13 (1467-1603). Until in the 20th century, male and female dormitory systems were widespread, entered by males from 15-25; a "double morality" would have been relevant here (p695), with more freedom for males. Marriage could occur at age 13 (females) and 15 (males), among the noblemen at 12 or 13 (p697, 698).

Child betrothal among the Ainu was infrequent and its outcome negotiable (Bachelor, 1892:141-2)[217].

Sexual Climate [Japan] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

DeMause (e.g., 1991)[218] repeatedly interprets the makeup of Japanese society as "incestuous" [orig. footnotes]:

"The average Japanese today sleeps with his or her children until the children are ten or fifteen years old"[219], - one recent Japanese study found daughters still sleeping with their fathers over 20 percent of the time even after age sixteen[220]. Even when the home contains a dozen rooms or more, parents and grandparents feel "lonely" if they sleep apart from the children in the family, and therefore go to bed with some child every night (the mean age in one study of children sleeping alone is 12.7 years)[221]. Since so many families still practice what is termed dakine co-sleeping - with the parent or grandparent sleeping while physically embracing the child, a practice said to be beneficial to the health of the adult"[222] - and since most Japanese parents still regularly have sexual intercourse while the child is in bed with them[223], one wonders how scholars can continue to maintain that nothing sexual usually happens to the Japanese child in the family bed, particularly since none have yet asked the children themselves about their sexual experiences".

From his Emotional Life of Nations[224], it appears that this interpretation is largely a "Western", but not entirely a psychohistorical[225] party [orig. footnotes]:

"Western observers even today often notice that Japanese mothers masturbate their young children during the day in public and at night in the family bed-in order, they say, "to put them to sleep"[226]. The average Japanese mother sleeps with her children until they are ten or fifteen years old, traditionally sleeping "skin-to-skin" (dakine) while embracing her child because the father-as in the traditional gynarchy-is usually absent, over two-thirds of Japanese husbands being involved in extramarital intercourse[227]. Japanese mothers often teach their sons how to masturbate, helping them achieve first ejaculation in much the same manner as with toilet training[228]. A "mental health hotline" in Tokyo recently reported being flooded with calls about incest, 29 percent of them with complaints such as that the mother would offer her body for sex while telling the son, "You cannot study if you cannot have sex. You may use by body", or "I don't want you to get into trouble with a girl. Have sex with me instead"[229]. Wagatsuma reports "Japanese mothers often exhibit an obsession with their sons' penises...[they are] usually brought in by their mothers who fear that their sons' penises are abnormally small"[230], with the result that Japanese marriage clinics find "60 percent of their patients are afflicted with the 'no-touch syndrome", that is, they will have no physical contact with their wives for fear that it will lead to sex...[termed] the "I love mommy' complex[231]" Adams and Hill and Rosenman have thoroughly documented the castration anxieties resulting from Japanese maternal incest[232]".

DeMause (1994/1998; cf. 1991)[233] further argues:

"Childhood in contemporary Japan—although somewhat more Western than that of other Eastern nations—still includes masturbation by mothers "to put them to sleep." Parents usually have intercourse with the children in bed with them; and "co-sleeping," with parents physically embracing the child, often continues until the child is ten or fifteen. One recent Japanese study found daughters sleeping with their fathers over 20 percent of the time after age 16. Recent sex surveys report memories of sexual abuse even higher than comparable American studies. "Hot lines" of sexual abuse report mother-son incest in almost a third of the calls, the mother saying to her teenage son, "It's not good to do it alone. Your IQ becomes lower. I will help you," or "You cannot study if you cannot have sex. You may use my body," or "I don't want you to get into trouble with a girl. Have sex with me instead".

Japan indeed seems to have a history of early prostitution (cf. supra).

Buschan ([1921:p250])[234] states that, particularly in the south, boys were prepared systematically for prostitution "von Kindesbeinen an" (cf. Ploß / Renz, 1912:p551). Drew and Drake (1969:p109-16)[235] state that boys were trained per digitum (often) by former prostitutes from age 8 or 9.

The "incestuous" climate (co-sleeping, masturbation instruction, prostitution, pederasty) of Japan sketched by DeMause, however, is counteracted by other authors with a psychodynamic claim, at least in the case of co-sleeping. Commenting on this practice, Connor (1976:p192-3)[236] argues that

"both maternal closeness and strong family ties bring about a strong feeling of dependency and a resultant suppression of sexuality or genital primacy. The Japanese mother does not encourage maleness in a genital sense".

Caudill and Plath (1974)[237] similarly argue that Japanese co-sleeping implies

"[...] a strong cultural emphasis upon the nurturant aspects of family life and a correlative de-emphasis of its sexual aspects" (Connor).

De Vos and Wagatsuma (1973:p54) add that "parents must use opportunities when children are absent or asleep for sexual congress". The claims of Kitahara (1989:p56)[238] are not paralleled by similar claims.

Edwardes and Masters (1961:p80)[239] write: "Coitus between little boys and girls is quite common in Japan as elsewhere throughout the Orient". Maretzki and Maretzki (1963:p492)[240] observed that "[i]nfants may be patted or manipulated around the genital area by an adult. Old women like to tweak a little boy's penis and jokingly say. "What is that, what is that?" Female infants are quickly covered with exaggerated expressions of shame whenever they are exposed for diaper changes. Petting of genitals by an adult is used mostly to soothe the child. It would be severely rebuked, however, if attempted by a child caretaker". "As children get older, exposure of genitals is much less serious in the case of a boy than in the case of a girl. Little girls are told to sit like their mothers with their legs together and are never permitted to expose their genitals. This is true even for those young girls who are still without pants. Occasionally boys tease a little girl by shouting, "Your vagina [pudenda?] is showing". Sexual manipulation between children, either homosexually or heterosexually, was never observed. The following observation illustrates the response of an older sibling to her 4-year-old sister, who attempts to imitate a urinating boy". "Exhibitionism between boys occurs, and a urinating demonstration among boys with an erection is occasionally seen. Such behavior is not condoned by adults. Girls, however, almost always urinate alone at a short distance from the group. Children are shamed if one refers to their genitals as they approach school age. The separation between boys and girls, which increases with greater age, also discourages mutual play or sex experimentation".

Cornell and Smith (1956:p73)[241]:

"Infant sexuality [?] is accepted unless it occurs in what is regarded as inappropriate surroundings. Small children indulge in sexual play without censure, several common games having clear sexual overtones. Masturbation is regarded as harmless in very small children, but as the child grows older he is likely to hear warnings from elders and stories about the adverse physical and mental effects the practice has on growing youth. This advice stresses the increased nervousness and fatigue that allegedly result from masturbation".

Mothers co-sleep with infants until the birth of a second, and maternal co-bathing with sons may continue till age 12, or when they begin to object (Lebra, 1985:p176)[242]. Thus, it is common for a Japanese mother to bathe and sleep with her son even after her offspring reaches the age of puberty, states Kitahara[243]. Thus:

"Co-bathing is equally significant, continuing until the age of six and beyond. Mothers sometimes wash their children even after they have reached adolescence. Although sexual motivations are vigorously disavowed during these activities, research reveals a pattern that links co-sleeping and co-bathing to incest. For boys, this incestuous activity with mother is so traumatic that the notion of sexuality with other females is repugnant, marriage is often impossible, and fears of impotence are common. Even granted that incest does not occur in many instances, the libidinal excitation experienced by Japanese children during these experiences is extreme. […] Mothers flick their sons' penises while bathing them and joke about how prolific their sons will be as adults. They masturbate their children in public to keep them quiet. They masturbate them at night to put them to sleep"[244].

On the post-war Okinawans, Pitts (1955)[245] stated that data on birth was withheld from children[246], and are reprimanded for dirt talk[247].

"Adults playfully tweak the penises of little boys and may put little children of both sexes to sleep by prolonged patting of the buttocks. They do not tell their children about the nature of sex and expect them not to know, yet the children hear much thinly-disguised discussion of sexual relationships and, sleeping with their parents as they do, may be vaguely aware of their parents' relations. Parents expect their children to learn of sex "naturally" as they grow older. As Maloney reports[248] , there is little masturbation among small children, but two of Pitts' informants reported that adolescent boys sometimes hold masturbation contests to see who can ejaculate the fastest. This practice is said to stop with the beginning of heterosexual activity".

A 66-year-old woman would argue that "a male after seven years does not sit with a woman" (Danjo nanasai nishite seki o onnachu sezu). In rural Japan, "Rules about sex were very strict": girls of 12 were not to talk to boys outside their home (Bernstein, 1978:p27)[249].

"In the premodern community, children of similar ages formed peer groups and played together near their farm homes, in a backyard, an open field, or in the barn. The children often obtained interesting and helpful information related to sex from observing the farm animals; in this manner, sexuality education went on in an informal manner. The "doctor/nurse play" they often enjoyed within their peer group in a secret space provided sexual information and fantasy, which in turn helped them form a healthy sexual identity of their own" (Hatano and Shimazaki, 1997)[250].

Today, little seems changed even in industrial environments. "For small children, provided they confine such indulgences to private contexts, playing with these [genitals] is no big deal. They can play "doctors" with no comparative impunity; they naturally tire of this just as rapidly as they do a game with Transformer robots or electronic talking dolls. […] Women bathing boys often flick nascent appurtenances with a finger, laughing about the lady-killer its proud owner will grow up to be" (Bornoff, 1991:p127-8)[251].

Issei families and, to a lesser extent, Nisei families maintain the traditional, patriarchal and hierarchical family structures and relationship found in the traditional Japanese family, are restrained and are not less physically demonstrative in their expressions of affection, love, and intimacy; and rigidly control the sexual expressions and behaviour of children (Hirayama and Hirayama, 1986)[252].

Sex Education [Japan] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Smith (1912)[253] had argued that "there is a good deal of 'freedom of speech' on all sex matters among all classes of people as compared with Western standards of modesty", ranging from "talk and stories of nurses and servants in the case of well-to- do and of playmates in the cases of poor children". Smith further discussed "a real effort in the secondary schools at proper sex education, at least for the girls". As a matter of fact, the contributors to Human Sexuality, a 1905 initiative of physician Fujikawa Yû generally advocated that Japanese schools adopt a program of sexual pedagogy modelled on German practices[254]. Frühstük[255] writes:

"Most pedagogues who contributed to the [1908] debate in the Yomiuri shinbun [daily newspaper] agreed that sex education was necessary primarily "to avoid the horrible consequences of masturbation" [...] Yubara Motoichi, the head of Tôkyô Ongaku Gakkô [Tokyo school of music], suggested discussing sexual instinct in a way that would not embarrass young boys and girls. He also thought it essential to separate boys and girls during sex education. Masturbation, he argued, was to be mentioned rarely and only if absolutely necessary, and before doing so a doctor was to be consulted. [...] For Washiyama Yayoi [...] founder and director of Japan's first medical school for women [...] masturbation was "the most terrible ailment related to the sexual instinct". Regarding sex education, she asserted: "The only purpose of the sexual instinct is reproduction, and any abuse has fatal consequences". Washiyama believed that ignorance led students between the age of fifteen and seventeen to masturbation. Since masturbation did not lead to satisfaction, they masturbated frequently and had to bear unimaginable consequences" [as cited by Smith].

Norbeck and Norbeck ([1956:p672])[256] later observed: "Although parents seldom or never include direct reference to sexual relations in instruction regarding the proper deportment of girls, by the time a girl has reached puberty she has learned thoroughly that pre-marital sex experience is not only prohibited but also that it may be disastrous".

[Additional refs.: Norbeck (1954)[257]; White, M. I. (1993) The Material Child: Coming of Age in Japan and America. New York: Free Press. Esp. chapter "Sexuality: Illusions and realities"; Shimamoto, M. (1988) [Present situation of knowledge about sex in adolescents and future sex education], [Jap J Child & Adolesc Psychia] 29,2:87-91; Tsubakita, T. (2000) Sex Education in Children and Children's Fantasy about Sexuality, in Chen, Sh. J., Furutsuka, T. & Shirotani, Y. (Eds.) Research and Clinical Center for Child Development Annual Report, 1998-1999. No. 22. Hokkaido University, Sapporo (Japan). Faculty of Education]

Juvenile "Sexual Delinquency" [Japan] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Contemporary Japanese culture has an established concern for preadult sexual misdemeanour[258]. This includes the phenomenon of "amateur prostitution" (enjo-kousai) in late adolescence[259]. It was argued[260] that the causes of [juvenile] sexual delinquency include a "breakdown of family bonds, instigation by mass-media, a social tendency that people tend to indulge in momentary pleasures, and education unconcerned with sexual morality". Whatever the causes, LeTendre [261] recently found that the social construct of hormones as an intoxicating and distracting force was common among U.S. middle school teachers, while Japanese teachers "did not link puberty with hormones or disruptive behavior with sexual energy". Rather, the issue of exposure to pornography has a long-standing concern[262].

Opposing currents, Savells [263] argued that, cross-culturally, juvenile delinquency was low, while the number of sexual offences had been steadily dropping. Shibuya (1999)[264] further argued that in most articles published in Kyoiku-Jiron during Japan's Meiji Period (late 19th-early 20th century), behaviours entitled "sexually delinquent" were "uncritically problematized, with authors concluding that youth should be strictly supervised and youth sexuality controlled". Takahashi (1993)[265] had argued that, while "traditional" Japanese sex education emphasized training in the practical method of sexual intercourse, "modern" Japanese sex education is "a mechanism of social control and a reaction to sexual delinquency. Though sexual delinquency is commonly believed to be linked to presentation of information about sex in the mass media, no such linkage has been established, and sexual delinquency among Japanese has not significantly increased".

[Additional refs.: Fujita, H., Miura, M. & Hosomizu, R. (1984) [Various aspects of sexuality in delinquent girls through their compositions], [Jap J Criminal Psychol] 22,1:37-43; Yap, J. G. (1986) Philippine ethnoculture and human sexuality, J Social Work & Hum Sex 4,3:121-34]

Burakumin Minority (Japan) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

De Vos and Wagatsuma (1966:p229/1973:p398-9)[266] offer a psychodynamic account of Japanese childhood sexuality in Barukumin community. The authors argue that in comparison to total Japanese society, the Burakumin child is more exposed to adult coitus and sex talk, has less of a "latency period", and know more about sexual matters. There is more premarital freedom, and innocence before marriage is not expected.

[Additional refs. Japan]:

Cinema: Tomato Kechappu Kôtei / Emperor Tomato-Ketchup (Shuji Terayama, 1970?) [note: compiler has no knowledge of the current legal status of the work, and has not reviewed it in person]

Philippines (Tagals, Agta, Kalingas, Bagobo, Mandaya, Batak, Sulod, Badjau, Buid, Ifugao, Negritos, Sagada Igorots, Bontoc Igorot, Isneg Igorot, Ilocos) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index] [IES]

A historical literature overview of Philippine prepubertal betrothals and marriage was offered by the Amsterdam Colonial Institute (1921[IV]:p474-6)[267]. Such early betrothal would before 1811 be the case among Subanum, Mandaya [Samal-Davao], Bisaya, Igorot, Tingyan, and Negrito ethnicities. However, traditional Philippine societies are equally known for their dormitory systems. An old woman was sometimes employed for childhood defloration (Mallat, 1846, I:p61; De Morga, 1868:p304-5; Crawley, 1927, II:p69-70)[268].

Javier (1969)[269] speaks of segregation of sexes from preschool age on in the Central Plain of Luzon, Philippines. Guthrie and Jacobs (1966:p134-47)[270] provide a fairly elaborate account of sexual development among the Philippines. Whitam and Mathy (1986:p44-52)[271] provide some indication of sexual development (attraction in childhood sex play, gender of first sexual contact, age of first sexual contact, age of first sexual attraction, age of realization of sexual orientation) among Philippino, as compared to Brazilian, Guatemalan and North American hetero- and homosexuals.

[Additional refs: Leyson, J. (2001) The Philippines, in Francoeur, R. T. (Ed. in chief) The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. New York: Continuum. Expected online ed.; Health Action Information Network (1987) Child and Youth Prostitution in the Philippines. Manila; Cavendish (1588)[272]]

Tagals (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Among the Philippine Tagals, uncircumcised children are teased by the insult of suput ("tight"), or being unfit for sexual intercourse[273].

Plasencia (p118)[274] suggests that marriages have been contracted in early childhood. Premarital freedom would be considerable, according to Blumentritt[275] (also cited by Wilken, 1889:p439)[276], citing author Cañamaque[277] who accuses even children of lewdness ("beschuldigt selbst Kinder der Unzucht").

Agta (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Jean (as cited by Hewlett)[278] describes for the Philippine Agta hunter-gatherers:

"The infant is eagerly passed from person to person until all in attendance have had an opportunity to snuggle, nuzzle, sniff, and admire the new- born [...]. A child's first experience, then involves a community of relatives and friends. Thereafter he enjoys constant cuddling, carrying, loving, sniffing and affectionate genital stimulation".

Bohol (Visayans; Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Circumcision is to occur during elementary school[279]; if not, the boys will be teased. "Courtship has its own rituals and beliefs. Although courtship is now generally based on romantic love, marriage proposals are still made with the held and consent of the parents. Whereas the sex act is perceived as natural and pleasant, […] it is considered sinful if performed outside of marriage. Young people found to have engaged in premarital intercourse are pressured to get married".

Kalingas (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Among the Kalingas (Northern Luzon), only a "denegerated form" of olag institution is called maki-obóg; nor would sexual freedom exist here (Barton, 1949:p61)[280]. It is entered at age 10. This institute would not have been defunct among the 1954 Madukayans, according to Scott (1960:p178)[281]. Nudity is not problematised even into adulthood. An informant would deny any age, accomplishment, or other standard for either courtship or marriage; "with some bemusement he pointed out that some boys seem to be more interested in going out to work in the field than they are in the opposite sex". Child betrothals were most common among the well-to-do, "for the recognized purpose of preserving the family heritage".

Bagobo (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

No puberty rites and marriage later than would be common for Philippine tribes (Cole, 1913:p101)[282].

Mandaya (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

At puberty, teeth are filed and blackened to render a person "more beautiful and, therefore, able to contract a suitable marriage". "Frequently parents arrange matches for their children while they are very young, but in the majority of cases the matter is left until after the age of puberty when the wishes of the young people are taken into consideration" (Cole, 1913:p192)[283].

Batak (Philippines; ®Indonesia) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Eder (1977)[284] examined is the disappearance of the umbay ceremony and related practices among the Batak of Palawan Island in the Philippines, a small Negrito society. The ceremony represents a rite of passage for boys and girls (aged about 14) from childhood to adolescence, involving a mock sexual intercourse scene between initiate and an already initiated partner of the opposite sex.

Sulod (Central Panay, Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Jocano (1968:p154)[285]states that most girls are chaste before their first marriage. There is no trial mating, and no dormitory system. Child marriages were common in some places, but fast disappearing in others (p154, 161). The children could be betrothed at age eight or nine, and married at puberty.

Badjau (2-,2-,2-,2) (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Sex is freely discussed before children, and children commonly explore genitalia. Premarital experiences are condoned and expected (Nimmo, 1965:p252-3)[286], but may still lead to forced marriage or fining (p255).

"Children early become aware of the nature of the human genitals. They wear no clothes until the age of eight or ten, and commonly explore one another's genitals during these early years. Parents do not become upset with such behavior unless the child displays undue curiosity, when he may be scolded, or more likely teased, until his attention is diverted to something else".

Adolescents meet in houseboats and at ceremonies to socialise. The sex act among the unmarried is organised with the use of boy-to-girl gifts and go-betweens.

Buid (Mindoro, Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

According to Gibson (1985:p404)[287], the children begin to separate at puberty, and courtship seems to follow when the boys build their own houses.

Ifugao (Nothern Luzon, Philippines) (2,2,2,2,2-,2-;8,8;E) (eHRAF) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Barton (1919:p18)[288] states that marriage took place "at any age". This encompasses trial marriages (including "primitive sexual mating") in the dormitories and contract marriage, usually arranged for when the children are "quite small".

Lambrecht (1935) [289] also stated this was the case with prepubertal children, "although cohabitation and some particularities of secondary importance may be postponed until the spouses have grown up; the crime of adultery has become possible […], and real divorce negotiations must be entered into in order to nullify such a marriage".

An autobiography (Barton, 1938:p99-100)[290] reveals: "A boy is ashamed to attempt sexual intercourse before puberty, because he fears that when the girl discovers his organ to be small, she will ridicule him or scold him. On the other hand, if a girl is being courted by an unwelcome suitor, she may be glad to have an immature boy sleep with her: when the unwelcome one comes around and tries to get her to leave the side of the immature boy, she can answer, "Málamok! Bokun lalaki dumduma?" [What's the matter? Isn't this a male, also?]". Boys enter the agamang dormitory at age 4 to 7. Masturbation and sex perversions would be absent ("at least I am sure about the latter. There is no positive evidence for the former and no word for either"). Little girls in the mixed dormitory receive a "complete education long before they require it" (p9-10).

Lambrecht (1935:p171)[291] also states that preadolescents may accompany their adolescent "elder aga'mang-mates (ma-iaga'mangcha, "they share the sleeping place of the girls"; ma-iha'ludcha, "they flirt with the girls" […]). One must not however think that boys always go to the sleeping places of the girls to have sexual relations with them: they often go only to talk and to joke with them, and after a certain time go back to sleep in their own aga'mang, or may just sleep there"[292]. The dormitories are entered as early as three or four (Goldman, 1937:p170)[293].

Negrotis (North Luzon, Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Vanoverbergh (1930:p530; cf. 1928:p425)[294] only once noted a "very indecent" act in children. It was a six-year-old girl in the process of voyeurism and exhibitionism. Vanoverbergh (1928:p423)[295] noted among the Negritos of Northern Luzon: "I have […] observed that the custom prevails of tickling and kissing them [children] more especially on the genitals. This is also more or less practised by the other tribes I have had to do with during my missionary career" (e.g., Isneg).

Igorots (Sagada, Bontoc, Isneg) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Blumentritt (p27; Wilken, 1889:p445) argued that "Sobald die Kinder geschlechtsreif werden, tritt eine vollständige Isolirung der Jünglinge und Mädchen ein". This restraint, and threat of severe physical punishment or even death, lasts until formal engagement, after which one was allowed "die Fruchtbarkeit der Braut zu erproben".

Sagada Igorots (Northern Luzon, Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Among the Sagada Igorots, children began to sleep at the dap-ay (where courtship techniques are transmitted by older boys) or ebgan (where courtship takes place) at age six, or eight (Eggan, 1960:p42/1971)[296], or thirteen (1965:p79-81)[297]. According to one high school student, girls learn from elder girls how to perform massage (on boys, mainly). "The function of the ebgan was primarily to provide training in courtship and preparation for marriage" (Eggan, 1963:p51-2[298]; cf. Pacyaya, 1951)[299]. " "Sleeping together" today may or may not involve sexual relations but probably did so more frequently in the past, when it was the major way in which marriages were arranged" (E., 1963).

Bontoc Igorot (unrated) (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Jenks (1905)[300] described that the child is weaned before it is two years old, and then moves to the o'-lâg if a girl, or the pabafunan or fawi, if a boy. Allegedly, "[….] the olag is nightly filled with little girls whose moral training is had there". However, "[c]hildren before puberty are said to be virtuous" (p67). Adolescent sexual intercourse used to be "unbelievably free"[301].

Isneg Igorot (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Vanoverbergh (1938:p179)[302] noted parental stimulation of male, but not female genitalia (cf. Negritos).

Ilocos (Philippines) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Nydegger and Nydegger (1963)[303] state that sex training is "surprisingly meagre" in view of the adults' lack of self-consciousness about sexual matters. Sex play "barely exists, only 17 instances being reported for the 83 children". These were all interpreted as teasing (p839). Thus, "it is prerogative of young boys to lightly pinch girl's genitals if they are exposed. The privilege is exercised with hilarity and enthusiasm and is a most effective training method". "Of the 24 sample mothers, 17 reported no incidence of masturbation at any age. Three said it had occurred with their boys only in infancy". The behaviour is physically punished and attributed to "insufficient cleansing of the genitals; most assume it is inherently pleasurable but must be prohibited before it becomes a habit" (p825). Erections, however, bring on a smile, or may be "tapped" until subsiding. Girls' modesty is more marked than boys'. Parents argue, "By 12 or 13, sexual activity is already a plaything of their fancy" (p863). There is much occasion for observing animals, parents, and overhearing discussions. Adolescents meet at dancings and play card games at puberty [14, 15 for boys], which is not marked officially.

Further References [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

-- Noone, R. & Holman, D. (1972) In Search of the Dream People. New York: William Morrow & Company

-- Okamura, A., Heras, P. & Wong-Kerberg, L. (1995) Asian, Pacific Island, and Filipino Americans and sexual child abuse, in Fontes, L. A. (Ed.) Sexual Abuse in Nine North American Cultures: Treatment and Prevention. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc., p67-96

Index to Section: Asia [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

[1] LeBar, F. M., Hickey, G. C. & Musgrave, J. K. (1964) Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press; LeBar, F. M. (Ed., 1972) Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast Asia. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press. 2 vols.

[2] http://www.ageofconsent.com/ageofconsent.htm, Nov., 2001. The following ages were given by the ILGA (2001). Hong Kong: 16 (het)/ 16 (fem hom)/ 21 (male hom); Cambodia: 16; New Zealand: 16; Philippines: 12; South Korea: 13; Taiwan 16; Thailand 15. See http://www.ilga.org/Information/Legal_survey/Asia_Pacific/1world_legal_survey__asia_pacific.htm

[3] ECPAT International, Online Database [http://www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp]

[4] Graupner, H. (2000) Sexual consent: The criminal law in Europe and overseas, Arch Sex Behav 29,5:415-61

[5] "The age of majority is 18 years in PRC. There does not seem to be a legal age of consent, but several provisions criminalize sexual act with children below 14 years of age regardless of their consent. Thus one could say for practical reasons that the age of consent for sexual relations is 14 years. This is also the age limit for being a child. Anyone who has sexual intercourse with girls under 14 years age commits statutory rape. […] Acts of sodomy with boys is not included in the rape offence. It falls under a general prohibition of acting indecently with children under 14 years of age. The definition of indecent acts includes all kinds of sexual touching; both from the child and the perpetrator, regardless of consent. However, an indecent act only constitutes a crime when it causes some undesirable social impact or results in injury to the child. The impact on enforcement of the first criteria is difficult to determine. Additionally, it is required that the perpetrator actually knows that the victim is underage".

[6] "The age of consent is 13 years according to the Japanese Criminal Code. All sexual acts with children under this age are prohibited regardless of their consent. Under the Child Abuse Prevention Law this age limit is raised to 18 years when the perpetrator is a parent or a legal guardian. This law however does not provide for punishment of the offender. Additionally, local government regulations in most regions prohibit indecent acts with children under 18 years of age, as causing damage to the sound development of children".

[7] "Under the law [Penal code] the age of consent and absolute protection is 15 years. Sexual relations with children under this age are prohibited and fall under the offence of raping a child. It is not stated if the definition of sexual relations only covers acts of sexual penetration, although the title of the offence hints at it".

[8] "The age of consent is 16 years in Malaysia. Sexual intercourse with a girl under this age is punishable with a fine, up to 5 years imprisonment or a combination of both, unless the act takes place within marriage or the perpetrator had reasonable cause to believe that the girl was older than 16 years of age. It also is illegal to incite a child under 14 years of age to engage in acts of gross indecency with other persons. Under Islamic law provisions a female child may be charged with "khalwat" or "close proximity" (the charge used to prosecute premarital or extramarital sexual relations) even if she is under 18 years of age and her partner is an adult".

[9] "Reportedly, there is no legal age of consent to sexual relations in the Maldives".

[10] "The age of consent seems to be 16 years for boys and girls since it is prohibited to have sexual intercourse with a person under this age. The age of majority is 18 years".

[11] "Anyone having sexual intercourse with a girl under 14 years of age with or without her consent commits the offence of rape".

[12] "According to the General Law, sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 16 is presumed to be rape".

[13] "The North Korean Criminal Code contains articles prohibiting sexual relations with minors. According to article 136 of the code, it is an offence to have sexual relations with a person that has not attained sexual maturity. No age limit seems to be specified. This offence is aggravated if it involves seduction or perversion. […] The provision appears to apply to both sexes".

[14] "The age of consent is 12 years for boys and girls alike. Sexual intercourse with children under this age constitutes statutory rape. According to provisions in the Philippine Penal Code it is an offence to seduce a virgin girl under this age for a parent, persons in a position of influence or other persons when using deceitful means. The penalty is less severe if the assaulted girl is not a virgin".

[15] "The Singaporean Penal Code contains statutes prohibiting sexual intercourse with girls younger than 14 years of age and acts against the order of nature between all persons. […] The age of consent for females is 14 years of age. Anyone having sexual intercourse with a girl under this age commits mandatory rape. The offence is considered aggravated if it results in injury or involves a girl under 14 years of age who is not consenting. Further, it is presumed that girls under 12 years do not consent unless otherwise proven. Homosexual relations are strictly prohibited, regardless of the participants' sex or age […]".

[16] Despite a new comprehensive law - The Youth Sex Protection Law - on CSEC offences (July 2000) "It seems that an age of consent is not stipulated".

[17] "The age of consent is 16 years for boys and girls in Sri Lanka. Heterosexual intercourse with a girl under this age constitutes statutory rape. An exception is made for acts committed within marriage with girls older than 12 years of age".

[18] "The age of consent is 15 years. The offence of mandatory rape deals with sexual intercourse (including sodomy) with girls and boys under this age. It carries a penalty of 4 to 20 years imprisonment or, if the girl is under 13 years of age, life imprisonment. Boys and girls under 15 years of age are protected from any violent or non-violent indecent act".

[19] "All children, irrespective of sex, are protected from sexual intercourse and other lewd acts [sic]. Sexual intercourse with a child under 13 years of age is treated as statutory rape".

[20] Van der Valk, M. H. (1936) The New Chinese Criminal Code, Pacific Affairs 9,1:69-77. Cf. Tanner, H. (1994) Chinese Rape Law in Comparative Perspective, Austr J Chinese Affairs 31:1-23, see p3

[21] Cf. separate paper, Age Disparate Homoeroticism: Annotated Ethnohistorical Bibliography.

[22] Bevilacqua, E. (1998) Child sex tourism and child prostitution in Asia: what can be done to protect the rights of children abroad under international law? ILSA J Int & Comparative Law 5,1 [http://www.nsulaw.nova.edu/student/student_organizations/ILSAJournal/issues/5-1/Bevilacqua_5-1.htm]

[23] Benjamin, H. & Masters, R. E. L. (1964) Prostitution and Morality. New York: Julian Press

[24] Brongersma, E. (1987) Jongensliefde, Deel 1. Amsterdam: SUA. See also Brongersma, E. (1987) [Jongensliefde bij de Chinezen], OK Mag 8:23-6; Brongersma, E. (1987) [Jongensliefde in Japan], OK Mag 6:21-5

[25] E.g., Montgomery, H. (1996) Public Vice and Private Virtue: Child Prostitution in Pattaya, Thailand. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK.

[26] Mathews, P. W. (1987) Some Preliminary Observations of Male Prostitution in Manila, Philippine Sociol Rev 35,3-4:55-74

[27] Jackson, P. A. (1989) Male Homosexuality in Thailand. Meppel: Krips Repro/ Global Academic Publishers

[28] Puterbaugh, G. (1990) Thailand, in Dynes, W. R. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. New York & London: Garland Publ. Inc. Vol II, p1288-20, at p1289

[29] Podhisita, C., Pramualratana, K., Uraiwan, Wawer, M. & McNamara, R. (1993) Socio-Cultural Context of Commercial Sex Workers in Thailand, Paper presented at the IUSSP Working Group on AIDS: Seminar on AIDS Impact and Prevention in the Developing World

[30] DeMause, L. (1991) The Universality of Incest, J Psychohist 19,2:123-164

[31] Kitahara, M. (1989) Childhood in Japanese Culture, J Psychohist 17,1:43-72

[32] Ihara, S. (1972 [c1680) Comrade Loves of the Samurai. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co.; Frederic, L. (1972) Daily Life in Japan at the Time of the Samurai. London: George Allen & Unwin; Shiveley, D. H. (1970) Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the Gewoku Shogun, in Craig, A. M. & Shiveley, D. H. (Eds.) Personality in Japanese History. Berkeley: University of California Press; Varley, H. P. (1970) The Samurai. London: Widenfeld & Nicolson; Buruma, I. (1984) Behind the Mask. On Sexual Demons, Sacred Mothers, Transvestites, Gangsters, Drifters and Other Japanese Cultural Heroes. New York: Pantheon; Childs, M. (1977) Japan's Homosexual Heritage, Gai Saber 1: 41-45; Marc, D. (1949) Les amants du soleil levant, Arcadie 66: 356-51; Saikaku, I. (1972) Tales of the Samurai. Tokyo: Tuttle; Krauss, F. S. (1911) Das Geschlechtsleben in Glauben, Sitte, Brauch und Gewohnheit der Japaner. Second Ed. Leipzig: Ithnologischer Verlag; Scott, G. R. (1941) Phallic Worship. London: Torchstream Books, p228; Czaja, M. (1974) Gods of Wyth and Stone. Phallicism in Japanese Folk Religion. New York: Weatherhill; Pflugfelder, G. M. (1999) Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950. Berkeley: University of California Press; DeMause (1991)

[33] For the age of geisha, one is to consult De Becker, J. E. ([1899]) The Nightless City, or The History of the Yoshiwara Yukwaku. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Thttle Co.; and Dalby, L. C. (1983) Geisha. Berkeley: University of California Press, p197; Schalow, P. G. (1989) Male Love in Early Modern Japan: A Literary Depiction of the "Youth", in Duberman, M. B., Vicinus, M. & Chauncey, Jr., G. (Eds.) Hidden From History. Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past. New York: New American Library, p118-28. Cf. Schalow, P. G. (1993) The Invention of a Literary Tradition of Male Love. Kitamura Kigin's Iwatsutsuji, Monumenta Nipponica 48,1:1-31; Saikaku, I. (1995) Gay Tales of the Samurai. San Francisco: Alamo Square Press; De Vos and Mizushima, in De Vos [et al.] (1973:p269), cit. infra

[34] De Vos and Wagatsuma, in De Vos [et al.] (1973:p268), cit. infra

[35] De Becker, op.cit.

[36] Hara, H. & Minagawa, M. (1986) Japanische Kindheit seit 1600, in Martin, J. & Nitschke, Au. (Eds.) Zur Sozialgeschichte der Kindheit. München: Verlag K. Alber, p113-89, see p146

[37] Schalow, P. G. (1990) Samurai, in Dynes, W. R. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. New York & London: Garland Publ. Inc.Vol II, p1149-50

[38] Cf. Carpenter, E. (1914) Intermediate Types among Primitive Folk. American edition. New York, Mitchell Kennerley, ch. 8

[39] Watanabe, T. & Iwata, J. (1987) The Love of the Samurai. A Thousand Years of Japanese Homosexuality. London: GMP Publishers; Saikaku, I. (1990) The Great Mirror of Male Love. Stanford: Stanford University Press

[40] Tonomura, H. (1994) Black Hair and Red Trousers: Gendering the Flesh in Medieval Japan, Am Hist Rev 99,1:129-54

[41] Childs, M. H. (1980) Chigo Monogatari. Love Stories or Buddhist Sermons? Monumenta Nipponica 35,2:127-51. Adapted from the author's 1978 MA thesis. Referred to by Payne, R. K. (1999) At Midlife in Medieval Japan, Jap J Religious Stud 26,1–2:135-57; and Pflugfelder, G. M. (1992) Strange Fates. Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Torikaebaya Monogatari, Monumenta Nipponica 47,3:347-68, at p365-6; and Brock, K. L. (1995) The Shogun's "Painting Match", Monumenta Nipponica 50,4:433-84, at p471; and Allen, L. W. (1995) Images of the Poet Saigyo as Recluse, J Jap Stud 21,1:65-102, at p79; and Guth Ch. M. E. (1987) The Divine Boy in Japanese Art, Monumenta Nipponica 42,1:1-23, at p 16, 18. Cf. Childs, M. H. (1996) The story of Kannon's manifestation as a youth, in Miller, S. (Ed.) Partings at Dawn: An Anthology of Japanese Gay Literature. San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press; Childs, M. H. (1985) Kyôgen-kigo: Love Stories as Buddhist Sermons, Jap J Religious Stud 12,1:91-104

[42] Screech, T. (1996) The Boys of Kansei. AAS Abstracts, Japan Session 9, at http://www.aasianst.org/absts/1996abst/japan/j9.htm

[43] Saeki, J. (1996) Male Homosexuality in Meiji Literature: Its Traditional Aspects and Change Through Meiji Modernization. AAS Abstracts, Japan Session 9, at http://www.aasianst.org/absts/1996abst/japan/j9.htm

[44] Helms, U. (2000) Obscenity and homosexual depiction in Japan, J Homosex 39,3-4:127-47

[45] Diamond, M. & Uchiyama, A. (1999) Pornography, rape, and sex crimes in Japan, Int J Law Psychia 22,1:1-22

[46] McLelland, M. J. (2000a) No climax, no point, no meaning?. Japanese women's boy-love sites on the Internet. Paper presented at the workshop Japanese Popular Culture in Hong Kong, Bishop Lei International House, Hong Kong, December 10-12, 1999. In Communication Abstracts 23,6:763 / J Communication Inq 24,3:274-91; McClelland, M. J. (2000b) The Love Between 'Beautiful Boys' in Japanese Women's Comics, J Gender Studies 9,1:13-25; McLelland, M. J. (2000c) Male Homosexuality and Popular Culture in Modern Japan, Intersections 3 [http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/issue3/mclelland2.html]; McLelland, M. J. (2000d) Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan: Cultural Myths and Social Realities. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press; McLelland, M. J. (2001) "Why are Japanese Girls' Comics Full of Boys Bonking?" Intensities: J Cult Media 1,1 [http://www.cult-media.com/issue1/CMRmcle.htm]

[47] Wieringa, S. E. (2001) Silence, Sin and the System; Women's Same-Sex Practices in Japan. Paper for presentation at the 3^rd IASSCS, 1-3 Oct[http://www.kcwh.unimelb.edu.au/full_length_papers/ Saskia E. Wieringa.doc]

[48] Hinsch, B. (1990) Passions of the Cut Sleeve. Berkeley [etc.]: University of California Press

[49] Breiner, S. J. (1985) Child abuse patterns: Comparison of ancient Western civilization and traditional China, Analytic Psychother & Psychopathol 2,1:27-50

[50] Op.cit.

[51] Op.cit.

[52] Drew, D. & Drake, J. (1969) Boys for Sale. New York: Brown Book Co.

[53] Vivien W. Ng (1987) Ideology and Sexuality: Rape Laws in Qing China, J Asian Stud 46,1:57-70

[54] Citing Barrow, J. (1806) Travels in China. London

[55] Ng, V. W. (1989) Homosexuality and the State in the Late Imperial China, in Duberman, M. B. et al. (Eds.) Hidden from History. New York: New American Library, p76-89

[56] Weiss, M. S. (1974) Valley City: A Chinese Community in America. Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman

[57] Farwell, W. B. (1885) The Chinese at Home and Abroad, […]. San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft Company

[58] Ho, T. & Kwok, W. (1991) Child sexual abuse in Hong Kong, Child Abuse & Neglect 15,4:597-600

[59] Tang, C. (2002) Childhood Experience of Sexual Abuse among Hong Kong Chinese College Students, Child Abuse & Neglect 26,1:23-37

[60] Luo, T. E. (1998) Sexual Abuse Trauma Among Chinese Survivors, Child Abuse & Neglect 22,10:1013-26

[61] Rutt, R. (1961) The Flower Boys of Silla (Hwarang), Royal Asian Soc, Transact Koran Branch 38:1-66. Reprinted in Dynes, W. R. & Donaldson, S. (Eds., 1992) Asian Homosexuality. New York & London: Garland, p187-266

[62] Murray, S. O. (1992) The Wharang of ancient Korea, in Murray, S. O. (Ed., 1992) Oceanic Homosexualities. New York & London: Garland, p103-9

[63] Schafer, E. H. (1951) Ritual Exposure in Ancient China, Harvard J Asiatic Stud 14,1/2:130-84, see p159,n

[64] Drew, D. & Drake, J. (1969) Boys for Sale. New York: Brown Book Co.

[65] G. N. (1980) Desert Patrol. [Paris]: Editions de la Jungle

[66] Johnson, M. (1998) Global desirings and translocal loves: Transgendering and same-sex sexualities in the southern Philippines, Am Ethnol 25,4:695-711

[67] Miles, G. M. (2000) "Children don't do sex with adults for pleasure": Sri Lankan children's views on sex and sexual exploitation, Child Abuse & Negl 24,7:995-1003

[68] UNAIS / WHO, Epidemiological Factsheet on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2000 Update, p10

[69] Winslow, D. (1980) Rituals of First Menstruation in Sri Lanka, Man, N. S. 15,4:603-25

[70] Green, T. L. (1956) Cross Cultural Educational Adaptation in Ceylon,J Educ Sociol 29,7:292-304

[71] Learning From Experience, SCF UK, www.savethechildren.org.uk/development/lfe/girlsrights.pdf

[72] Stone, L. (2000) Kinship and Gender. Oxford: Westview Press. 2nd ed.

[73] Figures before age ten, girls: Maithili: 23%; Parbatiya: 14.85%; Newar: 2.2%. No marriages before age ten were seen in the Rai and Tamang.

[74] Garg, V. K., Agarwalla, A., Agrawal, S., Deb, M. & Khanal, B. (2001) Sexual habits and clinico-etiological profile of sexually transmitted diseases in Nepal, J Dermatol 28,7:353-9

[75] Messerschmidt, D. A. (1976) The Gurungs of Nepal. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips

[76] Barnouw, V. (1955) Eastern Nepalese marriage customs and kinship organization, Southeast J Anthropol 11:15-30

[77] Jones, R. L. (1977) Courtship in an Eastern Nepal community, Anthropos 72:288-99

[78] Peter, Prince of Greece and Denmark (1963) A Study of Polyandry. The Hague: Mouton

[79] Ludwar-Ene, G. (1975) Die Sozialisation Tibetischer Kinder im Soziokulturellen Wandel, Dargestellt am Beispiel der Exiltibetersiedlung Dhor Patan (West Nepal). Wiesbaden: Steiner

[80] Norbu, Th. J. & Turnbull, C. M. (1968) Tibet. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970 pr.

[81] Maung Maung, U. (1963) Law and Custom in Burma and the Burmese Family. The Hague: Matinus Nijhoff

[82] Nash, M. (1965) The Golden Road to Modernity. New York [etc.]: Wiley

[83] Spiro, M. E. (1986) Kinship and Marriage in Burma. Berkeley [etc.]: University of California Press

[84] Brant, Ch. S. & Khaing, M. M. (1951) Burmese kinship and the life cycle: an outline, Southwest J Anthropol 7:437-54

[85] Leach, E. R. (1954) Political Systems of Highland Burma. [University of] London: The Athlone Press. 1970 repr.

[86] Marshall, H. I. (1922) The Karen People of Burma. Columbus: University at Columbus

[87] Benedict, R. (1952) Thai Culture and Behavior. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University

[88] Hanks, J. R. (1963) Maternity and its Ritual in Bang Chan. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, Department of Asian Studies, Southeast Asia Program. See p12

[89] DeYoung, J. E. ([1955] 1956) Village Life in Modern Thailand. Berkeley [etc.]: University of California Press

[90] Kaufman, H. K. (1960) Bangkhaud: A Community Study in Thailand. Locust Valley, New York: Association for Asian Studies

[91] See p86

[92] Textor, R. B. (1973) Roster of the Gods: An Ethnography of the Supernatural in a Thai Village. New Haven, Conn.: HRAF

[93] Visser, A. P. R. (1978) Een Dorp in de Centrale Vlakte van Thailand. Dissertation, University of Utrecht, Holland

[94] Taywaditep, K. J., Coleman, E. & Dumronggittigule, P. (1997) Thailand, in Francoeur, R. T. (Ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. New York: Continuum, Vol. 2. Quoted from the online edition

[95] Lyttleton, Ch. (1999) Changing the rules: shifting bounds of adolescent sexuality in Northeast Thailand, in Jackson, P. A. & Cook, N. M. (Eds.) Gender & Sexualities in Modern Thailand. Bangkok: Silworm, p28-42

[96] Pongthai, S. (1990) Sexual experience and sexual orientation among Ramathibodi medical students, Thailand, J Med Assoc Thai 73, Suppl 1:81-6; Pongthai, S. (1992) First masturbation, sex dream, coitus and homosexual contact of Thai medical students, in Bezemer, W. et al. (Eds.) Sex Matters. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica, p177-9

[97] Chompootaweep, S., Yamarat, K., Poomsuwan, P. & Dusitsin, N. (1991) A Study of Reproductive Health in Adolescence of Secondary School Students and Teachers in Bangkok, Thai J Health Res 5,2

[98] VanLandingham, M. J., Suprasert, S., Sittiitrai, W., Vaddhanaphuti, Ch. & Grandjean, N. (1993) Sexual Activity Among Never-Married Men in Northern Thailand, Demography 30,3:297-313

[99] Fongkaew, W. (1995) Early Adolescent Girls in Transition in a Peri-Urban Northern Thai Community: Perceptions of Gender Role and Sexuality. Diss., University of Washington

[100] Omori, K. (1999) [Knowledge about AIDS and risk behaviors among hill tribes in northern Thailand], Nippon Koshu Eisei Zasshi 46,6:466-75

[101] Dorrestein, P. (1993) Opgroeien in een Akha-Dorp. Dissertation, University of Utrecht, Holland

[102] Bernatzik, H. A. (1947) Akha und Meau. Vol. 1. Innsbruck: Kommissionsverlag

[103] LeBar, F. M. & Suddard, A. (1960) Laos. New Haven: HRAF Press

[104] www.plannedparenthood.org/fpia/laos.html

[105] http://www.unescobkk.org/ips/arh-web/PDF/laoPDF/lao1.pdf

[106] Wall, B. (1975) Les Nya Hön. Vientiane: Vithagna. Also cited by Duerr, H. P. (1988) Nacktheit und Scham. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp. Vol. 1 of Der Mythos vom Zivilizationprocess. 2nd ed., p201

[107] Aymonier, É. (1883) Note sur les coutumes et croyances superstitieuses des Cambodgiens, Cochinchine Française 9 :[193]

[108] Steinberg, D. J. (1959) Cambodja: Its People, Its Scoiety, Its Culture. New Haven: HRAF Press [A 1957 edition states (p264) that young children are not permitted to "refer too loosely to sex".]

[109] Dr. Beat Richner, Kantha Bopha Children`s Hospitals, Phnom Penh / Siemreap Angkor. The Human Rights Day, 10.12.99. To The President of the International Court of Justice and Human Rights. http://www.beat-richner.ch/Publications/richner_court.html; Richner, B. (Sept. 1998) The Passive Genocide of Cambodia's Children. http://www.beat-richner.ch/Publications/richner_genocidee.html

[110] Scully, M., Kuoch, Th. & Miller, R. A. (1995) Cambodians and sexual child abuse, in Fontes, L. A. (Ed.) Sexual Abuse in Nine North American Cultures: Treatment and Prevention. Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc; Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc., p97-127

[111] Jacobus X ([1893]1898) L'Amour aux Colonies. Paris: I. Liseux. 3 vols. Second and enlarged english ed., Untrodden Fields of Anthropology (etc.). Paris: Librairie de Medecine, Folklore et Anthropologie. 2 vols.

[112] Child Workers in Asia 12,3(1996) Boy prostitutes in Phnom Penh: "Boys on the streets of Phnom Penh are involved in offering sex to foreigners and to Khmer men. In 1995 local authorities acted against the problem with the first prosecution of a foreigner".

[113] Matignon, J. J. (1883) Superstition, Crime et Misere en Chine. Lyon [etc.]: Stock; Quoted by Bleys, R. C. (1996) The Geography of Perversion: Male-to-male Sexual Behaviour Outside the West and the Ethnographic Imagination 1750 – 1918. New York, NY : Cassell, p178

[114] Devereux, G. (1961) [Lecture notes], as cited by Lebar et al. (1964:p147), op.cit.

[115] Forrst, D. V. (1982) The eye in the heart: Psychoanalytic keys to Vietnam, J Psychoanal Anthropol 5,3:259-98

[116] http://ethnomed.org/ethnomed/clin_topics/vietnam_hiv_final.html. Online in Januari 2002

[117] Rydstrøm, H. (2002) Sexed bodies, gendered bodies: children and the body in Vietnam, Women's Studies Int Forum 25,3:359-72

[118] Girls could be referred to as a con/cai him (lit. child/ female vulva; i.e. vulva girl), but I never registered an occurrence of this term. In my observations, a little girl's genitals are only commented on with respect to hygienic matters. Besides such comments, I have not recorded any talk about girls' genitals; they do not appear to be a matter of conversation in daily family life. [orig. footnote]

[119] See also ®American Hmong

[120] Rice, P. L. (2000) Hmong Women and Reproduction. London: Bergin & Garvey

[121] Geddes, W. R. (1976) Migrants of the Mountains. Oxford: Oxford University Press

[122] Wilder, W. (1970) Socialization and social structure in a Malay village, in Mayer. Ph. (Ed.) Socialization: The Approach from Anthropology. London [etc.]: Tavistock, p215-68

[123] Xenos, P. (1993) Extended Adolescence and the Sexuality of Asian Youth: Observations on Research and Policy. East-West Centre Reprints Population Series; No. 292. Referred to by Zulkifli, S. N. & Low, W. Y. (2000) Sexual practices in Malaysia: determinants of sexual intercourse among unmarried youths, J Adolesc Health 27,4:276-80

[124] Singh, H. S., Yiing, W. W. & Nurani, H. N. (1996) Prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among Malaysian paramedical students, Child Abuse Negl 20,6:487-92

[125] Kassim, K. & Kasim, M. S. (1995) Child sexual abuse: psychosocial aspects of 101 cases seen in an urban Malaysian setting, Child Abuse Negl 19,7:793-9, at p797

[126] Buhrich, N., Armstrong, M. S. & McConaghy, N. (1982) Bisexual feelings and opposite-sex behavior in male Malaysian medical students, Arch Sex Behav 11,5:387-93

[127] Zulkifli, S. N., Low, W. Y. & Yusof, K. (1995) Sexual activities of Malaysian adolescents, Med J Malaysia 50,1:4-10

[128]Female circumcision in Malaysia, Women's Int Network News Autumn 1993;19,4:35

[129] Van Eerde, J. C. (1901) Een huwelijk bij de Minangkabausche Maleiers, Tijdschr v I Taal, Land & Volkenk [Dutch] 44; Ronhaar, J. H. (1931) Woman in Primitive Motherright Societies. Groningen: Wolters/ London: D. Nutt, p331

[130] Dentan, R. K. (1978) Notes on childhood in a nonviolent context: the Semai Case, in Montagu, A. (Ed.) Learning Non-Aggression. Oxford [etc.]: Oxford University Press, p94-143

[131] Dentan, R. K. (1968) The Semai. New York [etc.]: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

[132] Kler, J. (1938) Birth, Infancy and Childhood among the Ordos Mongols, Anthropol Quart 11,3/4:58-66

[133] French version by Franz Kuhn, Kuhn, F. (1962) Femmes Derrière un Voile. Paris: Calmann-Lévy. Cited by Bullough, V. L. (1976) Sexual Variance in Society and History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p299

[134] Linck-Kesting, G. (1985) China: Geschlechtsreife und Legitimation zur Zeugung, in Müller, E. W. (Ed.) Geschlechtsreife und Legitimation zur Zeugung. München: K. A. Freiburg, p85-176

[135] Westermarck, Marriage, Vol. 1, p120

[136] Mann, S. (1994) The education of daughters in the mid-Ch'ing period, in Elman, B. A. & Woodside, A. (Eds.) Education and Society in Late emperial China, 1600-1900. Berkeley [etc.]: University of California Press, p19-49

[137] Woodside, A. & Elman, B. A. ( 1994) The expansion of education in Ch'ing China, in Elman, B. A. & Woodside, A. (Eds.) Education and Society in Late emperial China, 1600-1900. Berkeley [etc.]: University of California Press, p525-60

[138] Liu, D., Ng, M. L., Zhou, L. P. & Haeberle, E. J. ([1992]) Sexual Behavior in Modern China: Report on the Nation-wide Survey of 20 000 Men and Women. Joint Publishers, Shanghai. 1997 transl., New York: Continuum. [http://www.sexarchive.info/GESUND/ARCHIV/FIRST.HTM]

[139] Ebrey, P. B. (1984) Family and Prosperity in Sung China. Princeton: Princeton University Press, p97-8, 221-2

[140] Huc, M. (1855) [A Yourney through] The Chinese Empire. New York / London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans. Cited by Scott (1960:p74), cit. infra

[141] Nevius, J. L. (1868) China and the Chinese. New York: Harper & Brothers. Quoted by Hull, T. H. (1990) Recent Trends in Sex Ratios at Birth in China, Populat & Developm Rev 16,1:63-83, at p79

[142] Smith, A. H. (1899) Village Life in China: A Study in Sociology. Fleming H. Revell Company / 1969 ed., New York: Greenwood Press

[143] Lang, O. (1946) Chinese Family and Society. New Haven [etc.]: Yale University Press; Wolf, (1980) Marriage and Adoption in China, 1845-1945. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press: "Infant and even prenatal betrothal were common in China and created obligations as binding as those forged by adoption".

[144] Fei, H. (1939) Peasant Life in China. London : Paul, Trench, Trubner

[145] Baber, R. E. (1934) Marriage in Ancient China, J Educ Sociol 8,3:131-40

[146] Han-yi, F. & Shryock, J. K. (1950) Marriage Customs in The Vicinity of I-ch'ang, Harvard J Asiatic Studies 13,3/4:362-430

[147] Freedman, F. (1950) Colonial Law and Chinese Society, J Anthropol Instit Great Britain & Ireland 80,1/2:97-126

[148] Freedman, M. (1957) Chinese Family and Marriage in Singapore. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office

[149] Translated text appears in People's China, I, No. 12 (June 16, 1950), p28-30. See also The Marriage Law of the PCR. Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1950; The Marriage Law of the PCR. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1982. Cf. Bullough, V. L. & Ruan, F. (1994) Marriage, divorce, and sexual relations in contemporary China, J Comparat Fam Stud 25,3:383-93

[150] Croll, E. (1994) From Heaven to Earth: Images and Experiences of Development in China. London & New York: Routledge; Rai, S. M. (1994) Modernisation and gender: education and employment in post-Mao China, Gender & Educ 6,2:119-29; David, D. & Harrell, S. (1993) Introduction, in David, D. & Harrell, S. (Eds.) Chinese Families in the Post-Mao Era. Berkeley, CA: CAlifornia University Press, p1-22

[151]Ren, X. (1996)Violence against Women under China's Economic Modernisation: Resurgence of Women Trafficking in China, in Sumner, Ch., Israel, M., O'Connell, M. & Sarre, R. (Eds.)International Victimology: Selected Papers from the 8th International Symposium. Proceedings of a Symposium held 21-26 August 1994, Adelaide. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, p69-73

[www.aic.gov.au/publications/proceedings/27/ren.pdf]

[152] Siang-Feng Ko (1949) Marriage Among the Independent Lolos of Western China, Am J Sociol 54,6:487-96

[153] Ruxian, Y. (1991) Marriage and family among China's minority nationalities as viewed from Beijing, Mankind Quart 31,4:345-55

[154] Ying-Chang, Ch. & Wolf, A. P. (1995) Marriage in Taiwan, 1881-1905: An Example of Regional Diversity, J Asian Stud 54,3:781-95

[155] Wolf, A. P. (1968) Adopt a Daughter-in-Law, Marry a Sister: A Chinese Solution to the Problem of the Incest Taboo, Am Anthropol 70:864-74

[156] Wolf, A. P. (1965 [1969]) Marriage and Adoption in a Hokkien Village. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms; Wolf, A. P. (1970) Childhood association, sexual attraction, and the incest taboo: a Chinese case, Am Anthropol 70:864-74; Wolf, A. P. (1970) Childhood association and sexual attraction. A further test of the Westermarck hypothesis, Am Anthropol 72:503-15; Wolf, A. P. (1995) Sexual Attraction and Childhood Association. A Chinese Brief for Edward Westermarck. Stanford: Stanford University Press

[157] Yang, M. M. C. (1945) A Chinese Village. New York: Columbia University Press

[158] Fang-fu Ruan & Lau, M. P. (1997) China, in Francoeur, R. T. (Ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. New York: Continuum. Vol. 1.

[159] Shek, D. T. & Mak, J. W. (1989) Sexual health of high school students in Hong Kong, Int J Adolesc Med & Health 4,3-4:175-86

[160] Herold, E. S. & Byers, E. S. (1994) Sexology in China, Canad J Hum Sex 3,3:263-70

[161] Hsu, H.Y., Liu, C.A. & Lin, Y.C. (1997) [An exploration of sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in aboriginal elementary school students in the Ping-Tung area], Hu Li Za Zhi 44,2:38-50

[162] Evans, H. (1995) Defining Difference: The "Scientific" Construction of Sexuality and Gender in the People's Republic of China, Signs 20,2:357-94

[163] Zhang, K., Li, D., Li, H. & Beck, E. J.(1999) Changing Sexual Attitudes and Behaviour in China: Implications for the Spread of HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases, AIDS-Care 11,5:581-9

[164] Kaufman, G., Poston, D. L. Jr., Hirschl, Th. A. & Stycos, J. M. (1996) Teenage sexual attitudes in China, Social Biol 43,3-4:141-54. Errata id., 44(1997),3-4:293

[165] Hong, J. H., Fan, M. S., Ng, M. L., Lee, L. K. C. et al. (1994) Sexual attitudes and behavior of Chinese university students in Shanghai, J Sex Educ & Ther 20,4:277-86. Cf. Fan, M. S., Hong, J. H., Ng, M. L., Lee, L. K.C. et al. (1995) Western influences on Chinese sexuality: Insights from a comparison of sexual behavior and attitudes of Shanghai and Hong Kong freshmen at universities, J Sex Educ & Ther 21,3:158-66

[166] Guang-Ren, L. (1997) An investigation of adolescent health from China, J Adolesc Health 20,4:306-8

[167] Op.cit.

[168] Francis L. K. Hsu, (1970) Americans and Chinese: Purpose and Fulfilment in Great Civilizations. Garden City, New York: The Natural History Press, p75; Francis L. K. Hsu (1971) Under the Ancestors' Shadow: Kinship, Personality, and Social Mobility in China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, p221 [orig.footnote]

[169] Ploß (1887, I); Gregersen, E. (1983) Sexual Practices: The Story of Human Sexuality. New York: Franklin Watts, p228 reports "Some Hindus believe that intercourse with a bride whose hymen is unbroken is dangerous for the groom. consequently, some mothers practice "deep cleansing" on their very young daughters which tears the girls' hymen" [orig.footnote]

[170] Van Gulik, R. H. (1961) Sexual Life in Ancient China: A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 BC till 1644 AD. Leiden: E. J. Brill, p147 [orig.footnote]

[171] Mitchell, R. E. & Lo, I. (1968) Implications of changes in family authority relations for the development of independence and assertiveness in Hong Kong children, Asian Survey 8:309-22

[172] Ho, D. (1986) Chinese patterns of socialization: a critical review, in Bond, M. H. (Ed.) The Psychology of Chinese People. Hong Kong [etc.]: Oxford University Press, p1-37

[173] Ho, D. & Kang, T. (1984) Intergenerational comparisons of child-rearing attitudes and practices in Hong Kong, Developm Psychol 20:1004-16

[174] Muensterbger, W. (1951) Orality and dependence: characteristics of Southern China, in Róheim, G. (Ed.) Psychoanalysis and the Social Sciences. Vol. 3. New York:International University Press. Reprinted in Muensterberger, W. (Ed., 1969) Man and his Culture. London: Rapp & Whinting, p295-329

[175] Chan, D. (1990) Sex, knowledge, and experience of Chinese medical students in Hong Kong, Arch Sex Behav 19,1:73-93

[176] Bo, Zh. & Wenxiu, G. (1992) Sexuality in Urban China, Australian J Chinese Affairs 28:1-20

[177] Scofield, R. W. & Sun, Ch. (1960) A comparative study of the differential effect upon Chinese and American child training practices, J Soc Psychol 52,2:221-4

[178] Wilson, R. W. (1970) Learning to be Chinese. Cambridge, Mass.: & London: M.I.T. Press

[179] Rothbaum, F., Morelli, G., Pott, M. & Liu-Constant, Y. (2000) Immigrant-Chinese and Euro-American parents' physical closeness with young children: themes of family relatedness, J Fam Psychol 14,3:334-48

[180] Geense, P. (1994) Opvoeding in Chinese gezinnen, in Pels, T. (Ed.) Opvoeding in Chinese, Marokkaanse en Surinaams-Creoolse Gezinnen. Rotterdam [Holland]: ISEO, p-33-80. See p41

[181] Mitchell, R. E. & Lo, I. (1968) Implications of Changes in Family Authority Relations for the Development of Independence and Assertiveness in Hong Kong Children, Asian Survey 8,4:309-22

[182] Hu, P. & Wu, Ai. (1997) Education and Counseling on Adolescent Life, in Caring in an Age of Technology. Proceedings of the International Conference on Counselling in the 21st Century (6th, Beijing, China, May 29-30

[183] Jankowiak, W. R. (1989) Sex Differences in Mate Selection and Sexuality in the People's Republic of China, Austral J Chinese Affairs 22:63-83

[184] Hershatter, G. (1984) Making a Friend: Changing Patterns of Courtship in Urban China, Pacific Affairs 57,2:237-51

[185] Mackerras, C. (1984) Folksongs and Dances of China's Minority Nationalities: Policy, Tradition, and Professionalization, Modern China 10,2:187-226

[186] Mackerras, C. (1988) Aspects of Bai Culture: Change and Continuity in a Yunnan Nationality, Modern China 14,1:51-84

[187] Man-lun Ng, E. & Ma, J. L. C. (2001) Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China), in Francoeur, R. T. (Ed.-in-chief) The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. Vol. IV. New York: Continuum, p216-45 [online]

[188] Stafford, Ch. (1995) The Roads of Chinese Childhood. Cambridge [etc.]: Cambridge University Press

[189] Diamond , N. (1969) K'un Shen: A Taiwan Village. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. "If a child is discovered masturbating he is severely scolded and beaten. He is threatened with what will happen if he continues; he will be unable to urinate, or he will go crazy. Children are also expected to conceal their genitalia from the eyes of others. If a boy urinates outside, he must use his hand to conceal his genitals, while girls past the age of four are expected to use the privacy of the benjo where no one can see them. They are reprimanded with slaps and scoldings if they expose themselves".

[190] "Information about birth is also a taboo subject from childhood through the teen years. When a baby is being born, the children are shooed away from the room or even from the house. They are told later that the mother "found" the baby somewhere, or brought it from somebody's home, or that it came out of a stone that was split open. Some parents will say that the mother gave birth to it, without any further explanation, and the child who persists in questioning will be scolded and told not to ask more questions. However, children are usually allowed to watch animals giving birth, or animals having intercourse. The feeling is that they will not understand what is happening anyway, and no adult would offer an explanation to them".

[191] Marsh, R. M. & O'Hara, A. R. (1961) Attitudes Toward Marriage and the Family in Taiwan, Am J Sociol 67,1:1-8

[192] Barnett, W. K. (1971) An Ethnographic Description of Sanlei Ts'un, Taiwan, With Emphasis on Women's Roles: Overcoming Research Problems Caused by the Presence of a Great Tradition. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms

[193] Wolf, M. (1972) Women and the Family in Rural Taiwan. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press

[194] Han, S. (1977) Korean Fishermen. Seoul: Seoul National University Press: "[…] the parents try to betroth their son or daughter to someone appropriate as early as possible even before the children have come of age"; Dallet, Ch. (1874) A History of the Church in Korea. Vol. 1. Paris: Victor Palmé: "When children reach the age of puberty, it is their parents who arrange their betrothal and marriage without consulting them, without considering their tastes, and often even against their will".

[195] Moose, J. R. (1911) Village Life in Korea. Nashville: M. E. Church: "The betrothal takes place in early childhood, and I am told that friends sometimes make the engagement, under certain conditions, even before the children are born"; Yi, K. (1975) Kinship System in Korea. New Haven, Conn.: HRAF: "The pregnant women promise each other the betrothal of their children, when one bears a male and the other a female".

[196] Landis, E. B. (1898) The Capping Ceremony of Korea, J Anthropol Instit Great Britain & Ireland 27:525-31, at p525-6

[197] Goodkind, D. (1999) Do Parents Prefer Sons in North Korea? Stud Fam Plann 30,3:212-8, see p213

[198] Kendall, L. (1996) Getting Married in Korea. Berkeley [etc.]: University of California Press, and references

[199] Hamel, H. ([1918]) The description of the kingdom of Corea. Reprinted in Transact Korea Branch Royal Asiatic Soc 9:129-48

[200] Turner, L. (nd) The Social and Psychological Role of the Korean Sorceress. "There is no circumcision and genital handling or masturbation by the child is tabued whenever observed".

[201] Brandt, V. S. R. (1971) A Korean Village Between Farm and Sea. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. See p135

[202] Han, Ch. C. (1949 [1970]) Social Organization of Upper Han Hamlet in Korea. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms. Relevant pages include p69-70, 118, 120

[203] Knez, Eu. I. (1960 [1970]) Sam Jong Dong: A South Korean Village. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms

[204] Osgood, C. (1951) The Koreans and their Culture. New York: The Ronald Press Company. "Sex education has no formal place in the child's life and although sex occupies a major place in youthful discussion, it is not shared between males and females"

[205] Seung-Duk, K., Eun-Joo, K., Hye-Kyung, S. & Aeree, S. (2001) Viewpoints of Korean senior high school students on school-based sex education, Asia Pac J Public Health 13, Suppl:S31-5

[206] Youn, G. (1996) Sexual activities and attitudes of adolescent Koreans, Arch Sex Behav 25,6:629-43

[207] Choi, Y. J., Lee, W. H. et al. (2000) Masturbation and its relationship to sexual activities of young males in Korean military service, Yonsei Med J 41,2:205-8

[208] Oh, S. J., Kim, K. D., Kim, K. M., Kim, K. S., Kim, K. K., Kim, J. S., Kim, H. G. et al. (2002) Knowledge and attitudes of Korean parents towards their son's circumcision: a nationwide questionnaire study, BJU Int 89,4:426-32. "As perceived by Korean parents the other major benefits of circumcision are improved sexual potency, penile growth, and the prevention of premature ejaculation; mothers, rather than fathers, believe these to be true".

[209] Jung, K. & Honig, A. S. (2000) Intergenerational comparisons of paternal Korean childrearing practices and attitudes, Early Child Developm & Care 165:59-84

[210] Yi, S. H., Lee, K. Y. & Chyung, Y. J. (1993) Adolescents' subscription of Japanese comic books and their envy toward Japan, Korean J Child Stud 14,2:65-78

[211] E.g., Asayama, Sh. (1949) Sexual Behavior of the Present-Day Japanese Students; Asayama, Sh. (1957) Comparison of sexual development of American and Japanese adolescents, Psychologia 1:129-31; Asayama, Sh. (1975) Adolescent sexual development and adult sex behavior in Japan, J Sex Res 11,2:91-112; Asayama, Sh. (1976) Sexual behavior in Japanese students: comparisons for 1974, 1960 and 1952, Arch Sex Behav 5,5:371-90; Asayama, Sh. (1980) Existing state and future trend of sexuality in Japanese students, in Forleo, R. & Pasini, W. (Eds.) Medical Sexology. Amsterdam [etc.]: Elsevier, p114-30

[212] E.g., Hatano, Y. (1991) Changes in the sexual activities of Japanese youth J Sex & Educ Ther 17,1:1-14; Hatano, Y. (1993) Sexual activities of Japanese youth, J Sex & Educ Ther 19,2:131-44

[213] Mamiya, T. (1956) Sei-teki hattatsu no rinkaiki ni kansuru mondai: Chukan hokoku [Problem of the critical period of psychosexual development], Jap J Educ Psychol 4:21-7

[214] Iwawaki, S. & Vandewiele, M. (1989) L'Etre humain dessiné par les écoliers Japonais de sept à douze ans, Cahiers de Sociol Economique & Culturelle, Ethnopsychol 12:119-42

[215] Bauhain, C. & Tokitsu, K. (1984) Structures familiales et sexualité au Japon, à l'epoque moderne, Cahiers Int Sociol 31, 76:71-90

[216] Herold, R. (1985) Geschlechtsreife und Legitimation zur Zeugung (Jugend, Sexualität und Heiratsverhalten im Japan der Tokugawa- und Meji-Zeit, in Müller, E. W. (Ed.) Geschlechtsreife und Legitimation zur Zeugung. München: K. Alber, p683-716

[217] Batchelor, J. (1892) The Ainu of Japan. London: Religious Tract Society

[218] DeMause, L. (1991) The Universality of Incest, J Psychohist 19,2:123-164

[219] John Connor, Takie Sugiyama Lebra, George DeVos and Alan Roland, personal communications.

[220] Hendry, J. (1986) Becoming Japanese. The World of the Pre-School Child. Manchester: Manchester University Press, p21, 44; Mizushima Kanae, Shinshitsu Haibun ni Miru Oyako no shinsosei [Parent-child intimacy as seen in sleeping arrangements]

[221] Kitahara, "Childhood in Japanese Culture", p54 [cit. infra]

[222] Lebra, Japanese Women, p176-80 [cit. infra]

[223] Coleman¨, Family Planning in Japanese Society, p177, finds most families respond to questions about why they have sex in the same bed with children by saying it would be "selfish" not to do so.

[224] DeMause, L. (nd) The Emotional Life of Nations. Karnac Books, Limited, UK. Online ed., ch. 7

[225] See also Adams, K. A. & Hill, L. Jr. (1997) The phallic female in Japanese group-fantasy, J Psychohist 25,1:33-66

[226] Smith, R. J. & Wiswell, E. L. (1982) The Women of Suye Mura. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, p68-72; Haring, D. G. (1956) Aspects of Personal Character in Japan, in Haring, D. G. (Ed.) Personal Character and Cultural Milieu. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, p416; Bornoff, Pink Samurai, p76 [cit. infra]

[227] Gregersen, E. (1983) Sexual Practices: The Story of Human Sexualiy. New York: FranklinWatts, p246

[228] Kitahara, "Childhood in Japanese Culture", p56 [cit. infra]

[229] Kitahara, "Incest-Japanese Style", p446 [cit. infra]

[230] Adams, K. A. & Hill, L. Jr. (2000) The Phallic Planet, J Psychohist 28:[p33]

[231] Ibid., p31

[232] Adams & Hill, Jr., "Castration Anxiety in Japanese Group-Fantasies", cit. infra; Adams & Hill Jr. (2000), cit. supra; Rosenman, S. (2000) The Spawning Grounds of the Japanese Rapists of Nanking, J Psychohist 28:2-23

[233] DeMause, L. (1994) The History of Childhood as the History of Child Abuse, Aesthema 11:48-62 / DeMause, L. (1998) The History of Child Abuse, J Psychohist 25,3:216-36

[234] Albert, M. & Buschan, G. (1921) Handbuch der Sexualwissenschaften. 2nd ed. Leipzig: Vogel

[235] Drew, D. & Drake, J. (1969) Boys for Sale. New York: Brown Book Co.

[236] Connor, J. W. (1976) Family bonds, maternal closeness, and the suppression of sexuality in three generations of Japanese Americans, Ethos 4,2:189-221

[237] Caudill, W. & Plath, D. (1974) Who sleeps by whom? Parent-child involvement in urban Japanese families, in Levine, R. A. (Ed.) Culture and Personality. Chicago: Aldine, p125-54

[238] Op.cit.

[239] Edwardes, A. & Masters, R. E. L. (1961) The Cradle of Erotica. New York: The Julian Press. See also p136, 290

[240] Maretzki, Th. W. & Maretzki, H. (1963) Taira: an Okinawan village, in Whiting, B. B. (Ed.) Six Cultures: Studies of Child Rearing. New York: John Wiley & Sons, p367-539

[241] Cornell, J. B. & Smith R. J. (1956) Two Japanese Villages. Ann Arbor: University Press of Michigan

[242] Lebra, T. S. (1985) Japanese Women. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press

[243] Kitahara, M. (1989) Incest - Japanese Style, J Psychohist 16,4:445-50

[244] Adams, K. A. & Hill, L. (1999) Castration Anxiety in Japanese Group-Fantasies, J Psychohist 26:779-809

[245] Pitts, F. R. (1955) Post-war Okinawa. Washington D.C.: National Research Council, Pacific Science Board

[246] "The only aspect of life that seems to be deliberately withheld from them is sex. They are told that babies come out of their mothers' knees, and although they may overhear a good deal about the sexual relationships of different people and the difficulties that result from them, they are given no notion of the nature of sex".

[247] "The terms for the sex organs, tani, "penis", and hoo, "vulva", are used rather freely by older persons, but children are expected to use them only for serious purposes. It is said that if children used the terms repeatedly in joking they might be scolded for "dirty talk". An old woman once told me, in the presence of several younger women and a twelve-year-old girl, an amusing story about an old woman who always sat with her kimono pulled up and was therefore called "Hoo-Hai Ayaa", "Mother Vulva-Visible". Everyone laughed but the girl, who looked rather embarrassed. After the battle in 1945 when American food was issued in quantities, Okinawans became familiar with wiener sausages, which they still remember with relish as tani-gwaa, "little penises". As in Japanese, the word for sexual relations is formed by adding the verb "to do" to the word for vulva. This term would not be used before children or in polite conversation.

[248] Maloney (1945:p392). See Maloney, J. C. (1945) Psychiatric Observations in Okinawa Shima, Psychiatry 8:391–9

[249] Bernstein, G. L. (1978) Women in rural Japan, in Lebra, J. et al. (Eds.) Women in Changing Japan. Standford, CA: Stanford University Press, p25-49

[250] Hatano, Y, & Shimazaki, T. (1997) Japan, in Francoeur, R. T. (Ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. New York: Continuum, Vol. 2. Quoted from the online edition

[251] Bornoff, N. (1991) Pink Samurai. London: Grafton. New York [etc.]: Pocket Books

[252] Hirayama, H. & Hirayama, K. K. (1986) The sexuality of Japanese Americans, J Soc Work & Hum Sex 4,3:81-98

[253] Smith, P. A. (1912) Sex education in Japan, J Educ Psychol 3,5:257-63

[254] Frühstük, S. (2000) Managing the Truth of Sex in Imperial Japan, J Asian Studies 59,2:332-58. Cited by Smits, G. J., in Making Japanese. Unpublished textbook, Pennsylvania State University [http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/j/gjs4/mj/ch5_main.htm]

[255] Managing the Truth, op.cit., p342

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[262] E.g., Kiyonaga, K. (1971) Youth's Attitude toward Sex and the Sexual Exposure in Mass Media: III. Sexual Attitudes in Youth. National Research Institute of Police Science, Japan. Most of the subjects received information on sex through friends, although mass media (particularly magazines and TV) did provide some information. Accounting for their abstinence in sex activity, junior high students more often cited their "immaturity", senior high subjects stated that sex is "unhealthy" or "filthy", and juvenile delinquents reasoned that some sexual behaviours are prohibited by "law".

[263] Savells, J. (1991) Juvenile delinquency in Japan, Int J Adolesc & Youth 3,1-2:129-35

[264] Shibuya, T. (1999) [Problematization of Sexualities of Youth in Gakusei-Fuki Problem Report: Based on Articles of Kyoiku-Jiron in Meiji Period], Kyoiku-shakaigaku Kenkyu [J Educ Sociol] 65, Oct.:25-47

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[266] De Vos, G. A. & Wagatsuma, H. (1973) Socialization, self-perception and Burakumin status, in Socialization for Achievement. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. Previously in De Vos, G. A. & Wagatsuma, H. (1966) Japan's Invisible Race: Caste in Culture and Personality. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, p228-40

[267] Koloniaal Instituut te Amsterdam (1921) Pandecten van het Adatrecht. Mededeeling no. IV. Amsterdam: De Bussy [Dutch]

[268] Mallat, J. (1846) Les Phillipines; De Morga, A. (1868) The Philippine Islands [etc.] ; Crawley, E. (1927) The Mystic Rose. New York: Boni & Liveright. Vol. II

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[272] Quoted in Dingwall, E. J. (1925) Male Infibulation. London: John Bale, sons & Danielsson Ltd., p52-3

[273] Dingwall, E. J. (1925) Male Infibulation. London: John Bale, sons & Danielsson Ltd., p90, referring to Barney, C. N. (1903) Circumcision and Flagellation among the Filipinos. Carlisle, Pa., p4

[274] Plasencia (1893) De gewoonten der Tagalogs op de Filippijnen, Bijdragen Taal-, Land-, & Volkenk Nederlansch-Indie XLII:101-19

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[277] Cañamaque, F. (1877) Recuerdos de Filipinas,. Madrid. I, p174

[278] Cited by Hewlett, B. S. (1996) Diverse contexts of human infancy, in Ember, C. & Ember, M. (Eds.) Cross-Cultural Research for Social Science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall

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[283] Op.cit.

[284] Eder, J. F. (1977) Modernization, Deculturation and Social Structural Stress: The Disappearance of the Umbay Ceremony among the Batak of the Philippines, Mankind 11,2:144-9

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[291] Op.cit.

[292] See also Ford, C. S. & Beach, F. A. (1951) Patterns of Sexual Behavior. New York: Harper & Row, p190

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[299]Pacyaya, A. (1951) The Sagada Ebgan, The Gold Ore 5:i, 2-4. Quoted by Eggan (1963:p)

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[301] Mills, C. A. (1936) Physiologic Sterility of Adolescence, Human Biology 8,4:607-15, at p607

[302] Vanoverbergh, M. (1938) The Isneg. Washington: Catholic Anthropological Conference. Also cited by Duerr, H. P. (1988) Nacktheit und Scham. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp. Vol. 1 of Der Mythos vom Zivilizationprocess. 2nd ed., p201/416n25

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Central and non-Indonesian South East Asia

Geographic Index

[separate chapters for Bangladesh/ India/ Pakistan and Indonesia]

Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China,Japan, Koreas, Laos,Malaysia, Mongolia, Myammar (Burma), Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Thailand, Vietnam

Ethnographic Index

Agta, Akha, Badjau, Bagobo, Batak, Bohol, Bontoc Igorot, Buid, Burakumin, Burmese, Hmong, Ifugao, Isneg Igorot, Ilocos, Kalingas, Limbu, Malay, Mandaya, Minangkabaus, Myanmar (Burma), Negritos, Nya Hön, Sagada Igorots, Sedang, Semai, Sulod, Thai, Vietnamese

Contents of Section

Generalia [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Current Age of Consent[2] [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]

Age-Stratified Patterns[21] and Prostitution: General Remarks (®Middle-East; ®Indonesia) [up] [Contents] [Geographic Index] [Ethnographic Index]