Growing Up Sexually

GUSII, KISII, ABAGUSII (Kenya)

Index → Africa→ Kenya → Gusii

Featured : Pokomo, Amwimbe, Kore, Kuria, Masai, N’Jemp, Ariaal Rendille, Kamba, Tiriki, Chuka, Maragoli, Kikuyu, Kipsigis, Gusii, Luo, Meru, Samburu, Tuken, Nandi; ®Iteso

“The Kisii tolerate extensive sex play among smaller children, although shame taboos require that after about age 7, such activities are not to be seen by parents” (Brockman, 1997)[1]. LeVine and LeVine (1963:p492)[2] noted the following verbalisation of Gusii parental conflict on boy’s heterosexual play: “I would cane him very badly; thinking, “After all, it is the natural thing to do”, but since I found them at it, I must cane severely”. Parental intercourse occurs only when children are supposed to sleep[3]. LeVine and LeVine (1981)[4] mentioned rape of prepubescent girls by adult men “who in many instances are the classificatory parents”. Mayer (1973:p132)[5] wrote: “Even little boys would play at “pretending to catch little girls”. Decency required that from about the age of seven they should not play sexually in front of parents, or other abansoni (respected people). They would have witnessed copulation of animals, if not humans, and would have slept in the mother’s bed until decency required them to move to the grandmother’s, or a saiga (boy’s hut). Circumcision took place in early puberty (13 to 15)[6], whereby the novices may be teased by girls exposing their genitals, causing painful erections. The first formal sexual experience is usually after initiation (girls: 8 to nine years; Boys: 10 to 12 years). Earlier intercourse would be forbidden and punished (LeVine, 1959). Initiated girls, “as young as they are, begin grooming themselves for marriage” (LeVine, 1959:p117)[7]. The Gusii practice clitoridectomy and excision of the labia minora (Meschig et al., 1983)[8]. Thus, “Female genital cutting is a traditional rite of passage performed on all Gusii girls at the age of 8-12 years old. The purpose of the operation like for boys is to mark transition period, from childhood to adulthood. During the circumcision rite the tip of the clitoris is cut off” (Tanaka, 2000)[9].

Marriage does not take place after circumcision or menarche (Kyewalyanga, 1977:p42).

Minturn and Lambert (1964:p247-8)[10]:

“One of the most serious offences is for a boy to attack a girl who is not his sibling. Such attacks are regarded as sexual in motivation even among young children. Preadolescent boys and girls do indulge in sex play when adults are not around. When the girls approach initiation they begin to spurn the advances of their male playmates, who are still several years away of their initiation. The attacks of herd boys on these girls are evidently the result, in part, of this rejection. One of the reasons given by the girls for desiring to be initiated was to avoid these attacks, since parents take strong action to stop attacks of uninitiated boys on initiated girls”.

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. Volume I. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Aug 2005