Growing Up Sexually

LOBEDU / LOVEDU (BANTU; NORTHERN South Africa)

Index →Africa→ South Africa → Lobedu

Featured: Zulu, Basuto, Tswana, Swasi, Bovale, Pedi, Thonga, Lemba, Xhosa, Xesibe, Tshidi Barolong, Venda, Fingo, Lobedu; ®!Xo

Krige and Krige (1947:p109)[1] mentioned “play intercourse”. Among the Lobedu, play villages are erected called mandwane. Not more than a few years ago, sexual intercourse would take place as pubertal boys and girls (of marriageable age) claimed a role in the play. Now, “[t]he game is confined to children under the age of puberty”. “[…] [M]asturbation among children is looked upon as “playing with” the sexual organs, among boys and girls it is indulged in less for its sexual satisfaction than to prove to their mates that they have reached maturity (p290).

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

Last revised: Sept 2004