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HAITI (REPUBLIC OF HAITI)
“In Haiti little
boys and girls privately experiment in sexual activity from early childhood
until puberty” (Ford and Beach, 1951:p181).
Danielsson
([1956]:p84-5; 1961:p834)[1]
quotes Cook:
“Dances of an erotic character
were common. Cook wrote that in Haiti, dances of this type were “performed by
young girls, whenever eight or ten of them can be collected together, and
added that they consisted of “motions and gestures beyond imagination wanton,
in which they are brought up since their earliest childhood, accompanied by
words, which, if it were possible, would more explicitly convey the same idea[2]”. Small children imitating sexual
intercourse were a common sight on all islands. Only children of the same
age, however, took part in these sexual games, and it was considered in the
highest degree improper and abnormal for an adult to show any interest in
them. Any such offence was punished with extreme severity”.
In spite of this, Danielsson
adds that the “first real intercourse” occurred with “an older experienced
person”, after practical instruction of its technique. See also Elis (1782, II:p153, quoted by
Diamond, 1990:p433)[3]: “The ladies are very lavish of
their favors […] and some of their attachments
seemed purely the effects of affection. They are initiated into this way of
life at a very early period; we saw some, who could not be more than ten
years old”.
In the early 1940s, there was no parental sex
education among Haiti peasants (Simpson, 1943:p665)[4]. Underwood and Honigmann (1947:p568)[5]
stated that masturbation was prohibited and not observed. Training would be
so effective that even erections are not observed [sic]. Housing leaves room for minimal privacy only.
A more recent study of Cuban and Haitian child-rearing
practices clearly demonstrates two divergent parental views of adolescent
sexuality (DeSantis and Thomas, 1987)[6].
Janssen,
D. F., Growing Up Sexually. VolumeI. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin:
Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology
Last
revised: Sept 2004
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