Growing Up Sexually

KARAKALPAK(Uzbekistan)

Index → Middle East → Uzbekistan ®Karakalpak

More: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazachstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, Syria, Uzbekistan, Yemen

Also: Arabs, Basseri, Bedouin (Arabia, Libya), Fellahin, Kazach, Kurds, Nubians, Riffians, Teda, Turks

Mote (2002)[1]:

“Karakalpak girls are expected to marry young. During the 1960s, one-third of them married between 16 and 19. Although allowed to attend middle, technical, and, occasionally, higher schools, many girls withdrew at age 18 to be married. Men are expected to pay a brideprice (kalym). Although discouraged by Soviet mores, marriage by prior arrangement (i.e., child marriage) sometimes occurred. Wives were expected to move into the household of their fathers-in-law. They had few rights and privileges except the dowry, which was not illegal in the USSR. What was illegal was the marriage of minors. Muslim families often concealed the ages of their daughters through outright chicanery, for example, by refraining to register their girl infants or by sending them away to relatives in districts where their ages were not known”.

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

Last revised: Sept 2004