|
The Sexual
Curriculum (Oct., 2002) [to
Volume
II Index] [to
Main
Index Page] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [I] [II] [III] [IV] Janssen,
D. F. (Oct., 2002). Growing Up Sexually. Volume II: The Sexual
Curriculum: The Manufacture and Performance of Pre-Adult Sexualities.
Interim Report. Amsterdam, The Netherlands 13 [previous chapter]
[next
chapter] Bodies, Functions and Culture II [1]. Instrumentalising and De-Instrumentalising the Coital Body "Do
you want me to be Nyame ayewa?"[2] Summary:
This chapter
expands on the preceding chapter by demonstrating how (especially African)
cultures actively promote or incapacitate the young body as an instrument for sexual
use. The prosexual techniques include preparation of cunnus (beautification,
elongation of labia pudenda), breasts (shaping, enlargement) vagina
(introcision, artifical defloration, dilation), and extragential areas
(scarification, siccatriciation, piercing, etc.); in males, techniques include
phallopoesis and preputial preparation. The practices are self-directed or
mutual, in other cases it is effected maternally, ceremonially or in less
extreme informal age stratified situations. Morphological alterations
demonstrate the degrees of instrumentalisation and authorisation of the coital
body. Further, anatomical structures (e.g. foreskin) are appointed variable
sexological operationalisations
(definitions) which reflect culture's tendency to intervene in and control
developmental processes. Contents [up]
Bodies, Functions and Culture II 13.0 Introduction: The Anatomisation and De-Anatomisation of Sexuality 13.1 Instrumentalising and Authorising the Sexual Apparatus 13.1.2 Cunnus; Artificial
Clitoromegaly; Vaginal Distension 13.2 De-Instumentalising Bodies 13.2.1 Antimasturbation Measures 13.3 Ambiguous, Manufactured and
Authentic Body Sexualities 13.0 Introduction: Anatomisation
and "Unbodification" of Sexuality [up] [Contents]
This chapter surveys ethnographic
variations in pre- and peripubertal genital preparatory customs. It
should be noted that original rationales behind genital modification customs,
often timed before puberty, can only be speculated upon, as it is lost in the
mists of antiquity, or variably commented upon by dated sources. A
range of 20th century societies practised anatomical modifications to prepare
the genital either aesthetically or functionally for future use from a
"sexological" perspective. In most of these cases, remarks on whether these
customs were intended as prophylaxis or thought of as being curative may be
absent. In these cases, their meaning for any phase-identified "sexuality" thus
remains unclear. It is incidentally adopted as a
sexological narrative that the prepubertal body is somehow unfit for sexual
practices on a routine basis, or on any basis at all. This refers to statements
on potency, orgasmicity and size. The available data on these matters (see
elsewhere)[3]
point to the contrary. Nonetheless, both artificial and genetically encoded
anatomical transitions are frequently interpreted and utilised as signifiers of
phase/sexual status. Anatomical modifications are noted for their association
with a number of factors that may or may not coincide with rationale referring
to "sexual" behaviour taboo or licence (e.g., tribal identity, general
aesthetics, hygiene, medical considerations). "Anatomising sexuality" renders the
bodies construable, and controllable; it appoints authority, status and
privilege. It also curricularises the body. Modes of anatomising sexuality /
"sexual" phases are thus noted: (a)
anatomical transitory timing used as an index to phase/sexual
timing/stratification; (b)
(intended) modification of anatomical transitory timing used as a means of
determining phase/sexual timing; (c)
anatomical modification used as a means of phase/sexual stratification. The present chapter was focussed on the
latter two categories (b, c). 13.0.1 Preliminary Evolutionary Observations: Rationalisation and the Developmental Body [up] [Contents] It seems that while sexual behaviour in
pre-industrial communities has retained a definite anatomical interpretation /
operationalisation (instrumentalisation, beautification, authorisation,
curricularisation), sexuality in industrial societies is de-anatomised insofar
the body does not compellingly signify status or maturity, and is not a site
for preparation, celebrated transitions, nor (hence) for enforcement of
authority or social recognition. This parallels the dissociation of sexarche
and menarche / ejacularche. As the chapter demonstrates, these principles
cannot be appreciated via a monocultural approach. Apart from practices associated
with disputed medical claims, the contemporary preadult body is not to be
interfered with texturally. Transitions appear de-anatomised, (hence)
desexualised and (hence) desocialised, rendering the transitional body
de-authorised as well as de-instrumentalised. This would facilitate continuity
between the pretransitional and transitional body, if not already obsolete
concepts. From here it could be argued that the postmodern developmental body
is continuously being reinvented and commercialised. With or without anatomical
means, this body is paced and timed (Jenks), regulated (Kamler), problematised
(Van Ussel), civilised (Elias), restricted[4],
managed[5],
"postured"[6],
instructed[7],
protected[8],
revenged in "nostalgia" projects[9],
and otherwise represented[10].
"Body development", thus, may take diverse forms, including coming to "know"[11]
or becoming "aware"[12],
being offered ownership[13],
"finishing"[14], etc. The
uncertain place of relative bodies in development as such is illustrated by the
apparently problematic category of intergenerational touching[15]
in academically advanced societies (or is it America only?). The touched body
is increasingly rationalised ("good"/"bad" distinctions being "taught in virtually
every [late 1980s American] child sexual abuse prevention program"[16];
cf. America); the curricular "unbodification",
thus, is a spurious one. 13.0.2 Cross-Culturalists and Modification of The Developmental Body [up] [Contents] Speaking of "sexological" implications
or legitimisations, (intended) modifications may be rationalised by curative,
prophylactic, preparatory, and provocative motives. Potentially important
matters are the mode and timing of anticipation associated with (intended)
modifications. Notably, four SCCS codes[17]
(which deal with operations in terms of "mutilation", "deformation" and "pain")
measure occurrence and timing only and do not include data on this point. The
following discussion, therefore, as yet lacks statistical elaboration. 13.1 Instrumentalising and
Authorising the Sexual Apparatus [up] [Contents]
13.1.1 Thelopoesis [up] [Contents] Breast themes are sporadically
documented to enter the play of prethelarchic girls[18]. In some societies[19],
it is thought that the development of the female breast can be aided or should
be induced by artefact[20].
It is practised by mothers (Timbira),
solitary or in peer groups, for cosmetic and functional (e.g., Batetela) purposes. Antithelopoetic
measures are rarely described (Burma,
Amboa). By contrast, the stimulation, as distinct from simulation of breast growth in American girls could not be further
substantiated by Benedek et al. (1979:p543)[21]
than placing it between parentheses. As detailed in §12.2.2, in these
(especially African) cases the breast represents a central hallmark of maturity
as well as a well-defined symbol of beauty. Maturity and beauty are collapsed
into a single well-defined desiderans that the girls actively pursue;
when "achieved" it is celebrated with entitled
social transitions. This entitlement is closely related to need to intervene in
and augment on natural poesis. 13.1.2 Cunnus; Artificial Clitoromegaly; Vaginal Distension[22] [up] [Contents] It
has previously been noted that the cunnus may be subject to extensive
preparation. Cosmetic of
functional preparation in some way of another is practised in a large number of
(African and Oceanic) societies[23].
The technique of preparing the nymphae is taught or performed by the mother
(Marquesan, Hawai'i, Nkundo, Luba, Hottentot,
Zimbabwe [vaRemba], Mangaia, Ra'Ivavae), by men (Ponape), by older
comrades (Betchuans, Shona, Baushi) and attached to institutions such as
puberty schools (Venda). There seems to be two major timing patterns: one in
infancy (maternal), and one peripubertal, commonly peri-initiatory. In the
latter case, the custom seems to be a social event, done in secret or
semi-private congregations (Batetela, Nkundo, Betchuans, Luba), and also
mutually ("Grand Lacs" [Great Lakes] peoples, Burundi, Bemba, Shona, Baushi,
Dahomey). The scene of labial elongation,
traditionally typical for Southern African tribes, used to be one of mutuality,
a joint venture for attractiveness and sexual identity, or at least a personal
quest for future complementation. These practices were saturated with social
significance, being colloquial, compulsory, and complementary[24]. 13.1.3 The Cultural Hymen I [up] [Contents] 13.1.3.1
Introcision [up] [Contents]
Female[25]
introcision (the enlargement of the vaginal opening by tearing or cutting the
perineum)[26] was
practised among some of the aboriginal Australians[27]
(notably, Pitta-Patta, north-western
Queensland) in order to facilitate the first experience of sexual intercourse
(Head, 1978; Cook, 1979; Huelsman, 1976)[28].
Bryk (1931:p243) states, in case of the Arunta,
that this was done because of the broadness of the (subincised) virile member.
The operator, an elderly man, enlarges the vaginal orifice by tearing it
downward with three fingers bound with opossum string. In other districts, the
perineum is split with a stone knife. This is usually followed by compulsory
sexual intercourse with a number of young men. The timing was said to be
neopubertally, but this should be interpreted with caution, at least
historically, regarded the timing of aboriginal coitarche (®Atlas, Australia). Introcision represents the most extreme
example of enforced complementation within "coital roles". The (apparently
inadequate) vagina is enlarged to accommodate and submit to a (broadened)
phallus. This interdigitates with the marginal autonomy of women in some
traditional tribes, girls being betrothed before birth, exchanged, and acquired
by capture. 13.1.3.2
Neonatal, Infant, Prepubertal and Pubescent Defloratio Artificialis [up] [Contents]
Parental
defloration of the infant and initiation-associated defloration used to be
occasionally practised across the continents[29]. It
is described as an old Swedish tradition, "worthy of adoption in other
communities, since it protects young women later against many complexes and
repressions"[30]. The
widespread custom of artificial (noncoital, precoital, antecoital) defloration
is frequently attributed to a need for "sparing the male", and perhaps the
female, of the horror of defloration, anatomically or socially speaking. Its
actualisation is most often associated with initiation ceremonies after
menarche, but it is regularly described as taking place at some time before
puberty. As in ritualised coital defloration, artificial defloration is
routinely described as ceremonial, but may also be practised informally. If not
"symbolic" for coitus, its factuality marks a socially recognised and controlled
procoital argument, as is the case with introcision. [note: defloration rituals are not recorded
for the SCCS apart from under 153.1: Ceremonial (Normative) Rape
[Roze-Koker].] 13.1.4 The Cultural Penis [up] [Contents] 13.1.4.1 Phallopoesis [up] [Contents]
It
has been noted elsewhere that masturbatory practices in some cases are related
to an alleged effect of penile enlargement, particularly in the setting of
early puberty. Artificial phallopoesis has been documented for many cultures[31],
whereas antiphallopoetic practices are rarely described (Menomini). Old Arab as well as medieval European physicians
encouraged masturbation for this purpose. The practice may have been regarded
as obligatory[32]. Concentrating on the African case, the
factual penis occupies a central patriarchal position as a fertiliser and
successor of the male lineage. The functional penis (§s 12.3.1-2) as well
as the anatomical penis is a site for preparation, signalling curricularised
status and hence, power dynamics. 13.1.4.2 The
Cultural Foreskin (Circumcision, Preputial Conditioning and "Male Defloration") [up] [Contents]
The notion of male virginity is not
widely recognised or valued, perhaps partly because it would lack an anatomical
signifier. It is suggested that in traditional society, the prepuce, or rather
its natural adherence to the glans penis, is recognised as an obstacle for
sexual intercourse, and therefore at
least symbolises behavioural and social virginity as well as taboo
(particularly in Africa). The sexological reasons for circumcision are diverse[33]
and its practice widespread (cf. Ploß and Renz, 1912, II:p137-235). Cox (1995)[34]
held that both the hymen and the foreskin represented obstacles to sex "and
marriage" as these would interfere with "the learning process and make young
adults less likely to be saddled with dependents before they are able to care
for them". He hypothesised [orig.
footnotes]: "Originally, [circumcision] was carried
out on mature teenagers as a sign that sex would now be permitted to them. This
is still the case in many societies[35],
and it is clear that all circumcision traditions started in this way[36].
In this way, the foreskin is allowed to carry out […] its role of discouraging
sex until the boy is ready for adulthood. Circumcision then removes the
impediment to coitus, and also provides protection against infections such as
balanitis during adult, reproductive life. By establishing a cultural condition
that coitus is only permitted once the foreskin is actually removed, not merely
retracted, the biological restriction on early cohabitation is made more
effective". Kagura
songs indeed seem to imply that circumcision is done to facilitate coitus. Less obviously,
Cox also held that uncircumcised masturbation, "in the critical post-pubertal
years", represented a "specific alternative form of sexual release" also aiding
to postpone coitus. However, Cold and
McGrath (1999)[37] argued that "Cox's thesis is based on two erroneous assumptions,
namely that masturbation is more common in males with foreskins, and that a
foreskin delays sexual activity. Recent studies from the University of Chicago
have shown both of these assumptions to be erroneous [refs omitted]. Although
Cox is one of the few modern authors to hypothesise about the evolution of the
male prepuce, no scientific research has demonstrated that the male prepuce is
a factor in masturbation or delayed sexual activity". Drenth (1991)[38]
argued that during childhood and early puberty, sexual experiments and
masturbation effectively stretch the prepuce to its adult size. This view
opposes that of Sir James Spence[39]
who argued that "[…] Nature does not intend it
[prepuce] to be stretched or retracted […] What looks like a pin opening at 7
months will become a wide channel of communication at 17 […] Nature is a
possessive mistress, and whatever mistakes she makes about the structure of the
less essential organs such as the brain and stomach, in which she is not much
interested, you can be sure that she knows best of the genital organs". In the mean time, it could be assumed
that (spontaneous) preputial adhaesiolysis
continues until adolescence in order
to protect the premature glans penis[40]. The fenulum praeputii may actually play
a role in masturbatory autodefloration (Grewel, 1958)[41].
Artificial denudation is found in Middle-Eastern and African societies[42],
practised by caregivers (infancy) or boys themselves (pre- to peripubertal);
this includes "blowing" [Hawai'i], manipulation [Middle East], urinary
ballooning [Tahitians], autofrenulotomy [Zulu], ligatures using cow hairs [Luo,
Shona], caustic irritation [Crow, Masai, Nandi], etc. In most of the African and Oceanic
cases, the practice is unambiguously procoital. Examples: During the process of masturbating with
caustic plants, Nandi boys call out,
" "Suren suren, ce kwamon pek a metet"
(Become big and I'll give you something to eat). The blossoms of this plant are
usually stuck into the hair, the separated milk serving as the agglutinant. Now
the little fellow can go to a girl and try it" (Bryk). [Hargraves (1978)[43]
relays Bryk's statement of this use of plant.] On
the Polynesian
island of Tongareva, denudation was
performed by an older women at puberty, before ritual coitarche with her
(Danielsson). Jacobus X…: "The precocious
tane [Tahitian youth] already prepares for the adventures of
love in his eleventh or twelfth year, sometimes even his tenth. In order to get
his glans free, he takes the foreskin between his thumb and index finger when
he urinates, so that only a small opening remains for the passage of the urine;
the urine, in collecting, forms a jacket around the glans under the foreskin,
and since the lad repeats this several times a day, there is a regular
mechanical distension of the opening. If that is not sufficient to free the
glans, the lad cuts through the ligament with a large piece of flint and heals
the wound without danger or pain by applying to the wound some cotton saturated
with the juice of an arnica like plant. Immediately thereafter his intercourse
with the feminine sex begins". 13.1.5 The Self-Prepared Body [up] [Contents] In the case of preputial conditioning,
artificial thelopoesis and cunnus preparation, practices are typically
described as peer-organised performances. Not frequently mentioned in
discussions by "genital mutilation" activists, these cases point to the active
role taken or accepted by children to claim their influence within the "anatomised
sexuality" discourse. In the absence of formal morphology alteration, children
may perform minor surgery on themselves[44].
These observations counterbalance globalist and feminist attacks on genital
surgery practices generalised under the heading of "mutilations" and measures of control. Luo boys are said to practice a
preputial conditioning at the age of 10 to 12 (Parkin, 1973:p335-6)[45].
In this "auto-instigated sexual initiation rite", "he might prise his prepuce
attachment (ondwong') from his penis
by means of a thorn, insert the hair of a cow and tie it tightly round the
attachment. After a week or so, it is said that the tied attachment withers and
"comes away", leaving the sensitive part of the penis free to move. The
practice is said to be useful in that, by removing the ondwong' and enabling
the fully unrestricted movement of the penis, a newly married man may achieve
successful penetration without suffering bleeding when he has to force his
bride (miaha) into allowing sexual
intercourse- Luo girls are customarily expected to resist coitus in early
marriage, as well as before marriage". Also, it would facilitate penetrating a
small vagina. There is no circumcision, and the practice is done without
parents' knowledge. 13.2 De-Instumentalising Bodies [up] [Contents]
13.2.1 Antimasturbation Measures [up] [Contents] As reviewed by Spitz (1952)[46],
anticheiromanic surgery was recommended in America and Europe until
well in the 20th century (particularly in the third quarter of the 19th
century) both from a therapeutic and preventative perspective. The operations
included cauterisation (clitoris, labia), circumcision, clitoridectomy, and the
application of a variety of specially designed devices. Male circumcision is by
far the most widely practised operation intended to end masturbation before
puberty, and it is often included as a collateral legitimisation for religious
practice. Countless successful, and some frustrated, cases are mentioned in the
medical literature. 13.2.2 Infibulation [up] [Contents] The most
obvious case of contrasexual morphology alteration is female infibulation
(e.g., Ploss, Bartels, and Bartels, 1965:p153-9). Infibulation or Pharaonic
circumcision is widely practiced in Somalia, Northern parts of Kenya, Djibouti,
Eastern part of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Mali, Upper Egypt and isolated areas
of Nigeria. References to early male infibulation are rare, and would serve as
anticheiromanic, antipederastic (Zulu Islands) [debated] or stimulant (Pintadas
Islands, Borneo). The consequences of infibulation on prepubertal sexual
behaviour are, as far as can be expected, not investigated, in contrast to
those on adult sexuality[47]. Infibulation
demonstrates how sexual claims were negotiated and established at the level of
anatomy rather than moral convention. Rather than being a case of a unilateral
display of power[48],
infibulation and defibulation practices concentrate, invest, communicate and
exercise meaning via curricular (in this case mostly prepubertal) modifications
of otherwise potentially instrumental
bodies. 13.2.3 The Cultural Hymen II [up]
[Contents]
13.2.3.1 The
Authorised Hymen: Hymenorrhaphy [up] [Contents]
An exponent of the Islamic hymen cult
is hymen reconstruction (hymenorrhaphy,
hymenoplasty)
said to occur in Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan. Hymen repair is illegal in
most Arab countries but is said to have been performed unofficially throughout
the Islamic world, with specialists doing five or six a week. The matter
presents ethical issues in non-Islamic countries[49].
Of course, Islamic doctors are well aware of the fact that the coital truth of
anatomical non-intactness is not a complete one (Talmudic sources mention
this). At the Medical Jurisprudence Third Symposium on "The Islamic Vision of
Some Medical Practices" held from 18-21 April, 1987 A.D., Sheikh M. Al-Ghazali
argued: "I swear to God, girls have come to me, they only played with
themselves, and I believe them because their tears were faster than their words
[…]"[50].
El Saadawi (1980:p15-8)[51]
relates that girls may refrain from masturbation by fear for their hymen (on
the other hand, they would be frequently "touched" by their brothers). An absolute prerequisite for conjugal
sexarche, the hymen is part of an unambiguous cult exercised at the unilateral
level of the female's sexual biography. The body is operationalised
(identified) as revealing this basis. Contrary to the many portrayals of hymen
cults, the experience of girls is rarely explored within a cross-cultural
setting. 13.2.3.2 Culture
and Hymen [up] [Contents]
Coitocentric
societies have traditionally been distinguished in their cults or disregard of
"virginity", a concept variably invested in somatic factuality, and more
commonly used as a synonym for first coital experience. In fact, hymen cults
signify coitarchal (and therefore coital) cults, and represent a prime
celebration of coitus as the sole real sexual activity. The social fate of
coital curricula, thus, is variably fixed by the identity of the first partner.
Of course, this concept is assigned different meanings in different social
contexts[52] (as is most
clearly demonstrated in the cultural challenge associated with migration[53])
particularly those differing in their valuing of unambiguous paternity rights
and conjugal exclusivity. This renders some coitarchal experiences as communal
(SCCS v748: Customs surrounding Consummation of Marriage [Broude
& Greene]). It seems to require a psychology of its
own[54].
It could be argued that economic and cultural factors weigh heavily on a young
women's "ability", and willingness, to "be" a virgin, and that virginity
discourse is laden with (middle-class) assumptions about self-empowerment and
achievement[55]. Other
sources conceptualise non-coitus as an active performance ("doing virginity").
Psychoanalysts, for their part, have stressed the disruption of patriarchal
control of the daughter necessary for her transfer to her husband[56]. The subjective experience of "first
sex" as "defloration" is explored in numerous articles[57].
Individuals may conceptualise virginity as a gift, stigma, or part of a process[58].
The way this may be a discussion of anatomical reality is variable. Carpenter,
for instance, does not refer to hymens or anatomy (2001, 2002). 13.3 Ambiguous,
Manufactured and Authentic Body Sexualities [up] [Contents]
According
to Losonczy (1993)[59],
for an Embera girl the beginning of menstrual cyclicity marks the
opening of the feminine body to "a cosmic movement, focused on the capacity of
childbearing". The girl in the transitional phase between childhood and
maturity is represented in initiation rites as an accomplice, seductress, and
nurturer of supernatural beings. This transitional status must culminate in marriage
and maternity to sustain the cosmic movement of production and reproduction. In postmodern
societies bodies gradually enter a range of sexological discourses, but these
do not seem to be synchronized with sexual transitions. This in effect
"ambiguous sexual scripting and conflicting sexual messages"[60]
in the identification of bodies render changing
bodies ambiguous[61], as
demonstrated in the contradictions and ambiguities encountered
in the "performance of body matters in identity", within the domains of
language and culture, and within such situational sites as gender and race[62].
The resolution of discursive ambiguities (bodies, sexualities) would encompass
the essential identity of "adolescence"[63]
(cf. §3.1.4). Kelle[64]
notes that by German 4 to 6-graders, ambiguously, "development is understood as
a natural process and as an aim to be achieved at the same time". The author
concludes that "children contest the age appropriateness of activities and the
authenticity of self-presentation, thereby presenting development as social
praxis". The case defended here is that parenting cultures may or may not
introduce discourses of body-development-as-praxis and
sexual-maturity-as-praxis, while children themselves may elaborate upon,
reformulate or rework such entries when non-monovalent. 13.4 Concluding
Remarks [up] [Contents]
The
anatomical interference with genitalia for aesthetic or functional purposes is
motivated by two distinct attitudes toward (specific) sexual interactions,
those opposing it and those facilitating it. The curricularising effects of
these alterations of appearance or functionality are very immediate,
irreversible and powerful emblems of sexual legitimacy, or, conversely,
stigmata of suppression. As such they represent the rare material signifiers of cultural attitudes toward potential sexual behaviour
trajectories. The potentially coital apparatus is instrumentalised in a
specific procoital discourse. In selected cases, children are known to
claim their position in the anatomical order, or effectuate their own
anatomised sexual discourse. Notes [up] [Contents]
[last updated
011102] [1]
For a full exposé on genital preparation and references, see a preparatory
article, Artefacts of Destiny: Anatomical
Curricularisation of the Sexual Life Span. [2]
Sarpong, P. (1977) Girl's Nubility Rites
on Ashanti. Tema, Ghana:
Ghana Publ. Co., p16. "When I was a young
boy, I remember noticing a girl rubbing clay on her chest, and, being curious
about it, I asked why she was making herself dirty. She answered: "Do you want
me to be Nyame ayewa? [i.e. 'God's
little wife'—a euphemism for a perpetual spinster] I want my breasts to grow
quickly". Sarpong writes that parents, in the case of late spontaneous
thelarche, would rather delay initiation rites than "face the humiliation of
having to expose their daughter's ugly breasts". [3]
Literature reviews by the author. [4]
Costa e Silva, J. A. (1985) Ethnopsychomotricité et identité: le role de la
place du corps de l'enfant et de la mere, Ann Medico-Psychol
143,10:985-90 [5]
Spree, R. (1992) Shaping the Child's Personality: Medical Advice on
Child-Rearing from the Late Eighteenth to the Early Twentieth Century in
Germany, Social Hist Med 5,2:317-35 [6]
Nishimura, H. (1997) [Japanese Modernization and Children's Bodies: A Social
History of the Sitting Body Technique during the Meiji- Taisho Era], Soshioroji
42,2:43-64 [7]
Thompson, B. W. (2001) Childhood lessons: Culture, race, class, and sexuality,
in Satow, R. (Ed.) Gender and Social Life. Needham Heights, MA, US:
Allyn & Bacon, p125-31 [8]
Canning, K. (1996) Social Policy, Body Politics: Recasting the Social Question
in Germany, 1875-1900, in Frader, L. L. & Rose, S. O. (Eds.) Gender and
Class in Modern Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, p211-37 [9]
Consider Javeau, C. (1998) Corps d'enfants et émotion collective: essai de
sociologie à chaud sur les meurtres d'enfants en Belgique (1996), Education
& Societés 2:135-47 [10]
Duncum, P. (1999-2000) The Semiotics of Children's Bodies as Found in Popular
Media, Arts & Learning Res 16,1:78-82 [11]
Debold, E. (1997) Knowing bodies: Gender identity, cognitive development and
embodiment in early childhood and early adolescence, DAI-B 57(7-B):4742 [12]
Burstin, J. (1957) La representation du moi physique dans la preadolescence, Enfance
2:143-63 [13]
Gunsberg, L. & Tylim, I. (1995) Ownership of the body and mind:
Developmental considerations for adult psychoanalytic treatment, Psychoanal
Rev 82,2:257-66 [14]
Lupton, D. & Tulloch, J. (1998) The Adolescent 'Unfinished Body',
Reflexivity and HIV/AIDS Risk, Body & Society 4,2:19-34 [15]
Yamaguchi, H., Yamamoto, H. & Haruki, Y. (2000) The relationship between
the frequency of touching by parents and children's psychological adjustment, Jap
J Health Psychol 13,2:19-28; Weiss, S. J. (1990) Parental touching:
Correlates of a child's body concept and body sentiment, in Barnard, K. E.
& Brazelton, T. B. (Eds.) Touch: The Foundation of Experience. Full
Revised and Expanded Proceedings of Johnson & Johnson Pediatric Round Table
X. Clinical Infant Reports. Madison, CT, US: International Universities Press,
Inc., p425-59 [16]
DeYoung, M. (1988) The good touch/bad touch dilemma, Child Welfare
67,1:60-8 [17]
v241: [timing of] male genital mutilations [Murdock]; v542.5/6:
genital operation [and other pain] [ Schlegel & Barry III]; v562:
occurrence of [male] circumcision [Paige & Paige]; v931/2.9: deformation
or mutilation of the [female, male] genitals, e.g., clitoridectomy,
circumcision, sewing the labia together [Frayser] [18]
E.g., Opie, I. & Opie, P. (1970 [1969]) Children's
Games in Street and Playground: Chasing, Catching, Seeking, Hunting, Racing,
Duelling, Exerting, Daring, Guessing, Acting, Pretending. Oxford: Clarendon Press, p333;
Martinson (1973:p59) [19]
This seems to be the case for the girls among the eastern Chipita, Shona,
Chaga, Ashanti, Tetela, Kai (New Guinea), Trobrianders, Aranda, Tiwi, Tzeltal,
Timbira [20]
Cf. Ploss, Bartels, and
Bartels (1965:p227-35). According to the
authors, breast growth was affected in Uganda (Roscoe), Congo, and Angola
(Pogge) (P,B&B, p231). In many more, the eventual shape was modified. [21]
Benedek, E. P., Poznanski, E. & Mason, S. (1979) A note on the female
adolescent's psychological reactions to breast development, J Am Acad Child Psychia 18,3:537-45 [22]
An elaborate bibliography on the matter was compiled in a preliminary draft. [23]
Pacifics: Marquesas, Trukese, South Carolines, Marquesans, Hawai'ians,
Ponapeans; Africa: Nyakyusa, Mangaia, Ra'Ivavae, Nama Hottentot,
Betchuans, Luba, Nkundo, Ngoni, Zimba, Baganda, Bagishu, Suaheli, Shona,
Burundi, Zande, VaRemba, Bahemba, Venda, Lenda, Bapende, Bemba, M'wemba, Nkoya,
Kgatla, Thonga, Tetela, Lamba, Beti, "Bamouns", Tikars, Mangbetu, Fan (Dahomey),
Ila, "Grand Lacs" tribes, Chewa, Chaga, Makonde, Lozi, Baushi [24]
The Azande "take a little girl and rub the paste on her vulva and then pinch
the eleusine [a riverside shrub dug up and sun-dried in] with it, saying: "You
are medicine of eleusine. Eleusine, you expand like a woman's vulva which, be
it ever so small, is sufficient for any man. Eleusine, you expand in the
granary like a woman's vulva. Eleusine, you expand like susu. May not eleusine lessen. Let it be sufficient"
(Evans-Pritchard, 1937:p457). [25]
Male "introcision"
(mika,
subincision) is never practised before puberty. [26]
Sanderson, L. P. (1981) Against the
Mutilation of Women: The Struggle against Unnecessary Suffering. London,
UK: Ithaca Press, p4 [27]
The custom was said to be exclusive for these people (Gregersen). However, it
was said to be practised in eastern Mexico, Brazil, and in North-Eastern Peru,
among a division of the Pano Indians (Conibos). Unconfirmed sources speak of
its practice in Somalia. At present, there seems to be little if any literature
indicating the prevalence, timing or geographic distribution of this procedure
(Ferguson and Pamela, 1995). [28]
Cook, R. (1979) Damage to Physical Health from Circumcision (Infibulation) of
Females. A Review of the Medical Literature. World Health Organization,
Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt; Huelsman, B. R. (1976) An
anthropological view of clitoral and other female genital mutilations, in
Lowry, T. P. & Lowry, T. S. (Eds.)
The Clitoris. St. Louis, Mo.: Warren H. Green, p111-61 [29]
Mid/South America (Mexico [Totonác], Bororó, Yanoama [Surára and Pakidái],
Tukano, Pano, Arawak, Tupi, Cubeo, Shipibo, Chíwaro), Australian
aborigines, Hindu Indonesia schismatic Copts, Africa, (Nubia, ,
Makonde, Lake Nyasa, Cewa, Akamba, Lozi, Hehe [debated], Bantu [Bemba, Yao,
Makua], Lalia-Ngolu, Madagascar Fingo, Wakka); Babylonia [30]
Zum Kapitel "Der Hymen", Zeitschr
Sexualwiss & Sexualpol 16:353-5 [31]
Paraguay, New Guinea, New Hebrides, Malukula Big Nambas, Morocco, and Africa
(Riffian Ambo, Ndembu, Akan, Baushi, Batetela, Mongo, Lamba, Warramunga) [32]
"Ambo are convinced that he could not beget children or even perform the
marital act if he omitted this doctoring". [33]
E.g., Weiss, Ch. (1966) Motives for male circumcision among preliterate and
literate people, J Sex Res 2,2:69-88 [34]
Cox, G. (1995) De virginibus puerisque:
the function of the human foreskin from an evolutionary perspective, Med Hypoth 45:617-21 [35]
Crowley, I. & Kesner, K. M. (1990) Ritual circumcision (Umhwetha) amongst
the Xhosa of the Ciskei, Br J Urol
66:318-21 [36]
Bryk, Circumcision [37]
Cold, C. J. & McGrath, K. A. (1999) Anatomy and
histology of the penile and clitoral prepuce in primates, in Denniston, G. C.,
Hodges, F .M. & Milos, M. F. (Eds.) Male and Female Circumcision. New
York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, p19-29. An identical criticism
appeared to be aired before in June 1997 issue of Circumcision eJournal,
2,1 [http://faculty.washington.edu/gcd/CIRCUMCISION/v2n1.html]
[38]
Drenth, J. J. (1991) The Tight Foreskin: A Psychosomatic Phenomenon, Sex & Marit Ther 6,3:297-306 [39] Spence, J. (1964) On circumcision, Lancet, 2, [p902]. Quoted by Øster, J.
(1968) Further fate of the foreskin, Arch
Dis Ch'h 43:200-2 [40]
Kayaba, H. et al. (1996) Analysis of shape and retractability of the prepuce in
603 Japanese boys, J Urol
156,5:1813-5 [41]
Grewel, F. (1958) The frenum praeputii and the defloration of the human male, Folia Psychia, Neurol & Neurochir
Neerland [Holland] 61,2:123-6 [42]
Hawai'i, Turkomans, Kurds, Uzbeks, Kazak-Kirghiz, Semi-hamites, Nandi, Luo,
Shona Massai, Tahitians Tongareva, Crow [inferred] [43]
Hargraves, B. J. (1978) Killing and curing: succulent use in Chipita, Soc Malawi J 31,2:21-30 [44]
Subincision is performed by Samburu herdboys around age seven to ten (Margetts). The boys
operate on themselves, and sometimes on their peers. The operation is
attributed to custom, to efforts to differentiate the male urine stream from
the female (both sexes squat during micturation), and, according to five
informants, to make ejaculation faster. In response of the patriarchal banning
of clitoridectomy, Meru girls
participated in Ngaitana,
self-circumcision groups (Thomas). [45]
Parkin, D. J. (1973) The Luo living in Kampala, Uganda, Nairobi, and central
Nyanza, Kenya, in Molnos, A.
(Ed.) Cultural Source Materials for
Population Planning in East Africa. University of Nairobi, Institute of
African Studies. Vol. 3, p330-9 [46]
Spitz, R. (1952) Authority and masturbation: some remarks on] a bibliographical
investigation, Psychoanal Study Child
7:490-527 [47]
Of course, the timing
of the practice would be important for judging the impact and psychodynamics of
the operation in respect to preoperative sexual behaviour patterns. Since the
postoperative girl lacks both clitoris and introitus vaginae, it seems that,
theoretically, labial and anal play remains, in addition to play directed to
the external "neomeatus". [48]
Constantinides argues that Sudanese women's sexuality and fertility are
considered powerful and polluting, carrying with them the danger of dishonour
and needing to be controlled and directed to their "proper" social ends by men.
Men pay for their daughters' infibulation, retain the right to dispose of them
in marriage, honour their wives after childbirth, and claim children of the
union for their patrilineage. However, it is women who actually practice
infibulation and who keep firmly within their hands all the ritual surrounding
vital stages of their life cycle. Throughout, women symbolically assert the
fundamental nature of their reproductive power. See Constantinides, P. (1985)
Women Heal Women: Spirit Possession and Sexual Segregation in a Muslim Society,
Soc Sci & Med 21,6:685-92 [49]
[Various authors] (1998) Should doctors reconstruct the vaginal introitus of
adolescent girls to mimic the virginal state? BMJ, Feb 7;316(7129):[459-62]; Usta, I. (2000) Hymenorrhaphy: what
happens behind the gynaecologist's closed door? J Med Ethics 26,3:217-8 [51] El Saadawi, N. (1980) Tschador: Frauen im Islam. London.
German Ed. [52]
Berger, D. C. & Wenger, M. G. (1973) The Ideology of Virginity, J Marr & Fam 35,4:666-76 [53]
Mouthaan, I., Neef, M. de, Rademakers, J. et al. (1997) Twee Levens. Dilemma's van Islamitische Meisjes Rondom Maagdelijkheid.
Delft [Holland]: Eburon [Dutch] [54]
Wile, I. S. (1937) The psychology of the hymen, J Nerv & Ment Dis 85:143-56 [55]
Lichtenstein, B. (2000) Virginity Discourse in the AIDS Era: A Case Analysis of
Sexual Initiation Aftershock, NWSA J
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Yates, S. L. (1930) An investigation of the psychological factors in virginity
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E.g., Holland, J., Ramazanoglu, C. et al. (2000) Deconstructing
virginity--Young people's accounts of first sex, Sexual & Relat Ther 15,3:221-32; Amuchastegui, A. (1998) Virginity
in Mexico: The Role of Competing Discourses of Sexuality in Personal
Experience, Reprod Health Matt
6,12:105-15. Cf. Amuchastegui, A. (1999) Dialogue and the Negotiation of
Meaning: Constructions of Virginity in Mexico, Culture, Health & Sex 1,1:79-93 [58]
Carpenter, L. M. (2001) The ambiguity of "having sex": The subjective
experience of virginity loss in the United States, J Sex Res 38,2:127-39. Cf. Carpenter, L. M. (1998) "Virginity Is a Gift": A Distinctive
Approach to Early Sexual Experiences. Paper for the American Sociological
Association; and Carpenter, L. M. (2000) Virgin Territories: The Social
Construction of Virginity Loss in the Contemporary United States, DAI-A 60, 7,
Jan, 2692-A [59] Losonczy, A. M. (1993) La Nourrice d'Esprits. La Jeune
Fille chez les Indiens Embera du Choco (Colombie), Cahiers Litt Orale 34:157-76 [60]
E.g., Houts, L. A. (2001) "But Was It
Wanted?" Women's First Voluntary Sexual Intercourse. Paper for the Southern
Sociological Society [61]
E.g., Yates, A. (1986) Discussing sex with adolescent patients, Med Asp Hum Sex 20:150-5; Lee, J. (1997) Never
innocent: Breasted experiences in women's bodily narratives of puberty, Feminism & Psychol 7,4: 453-74;
Moore, S. M. (1995) Girls' understanding and social constructions of menarche, J Adolesc 18,1:87-104 [62]
Massey, C. (1996)
Body-Smarts: An Adolescent Girl Thinking, Talking, and Mattering, Gender & Psychoanal 1,1:75-102 [63] Wiltzer, P. (1981) La crise de l'adolescence, une
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