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MPUR (Irian Jaya, Indonesia)
Kalmbacher (1991:p108-9/1998)[1] argued that “[u]ntil recently, the parents chose the spouses for their children. A person thus betrothed was called bajiram. At present, however, more and more young people are choosing their own spouses. [...] Concerning the appropriate age for marriage, older women said that a girl may marry before her first menstrual period said to occur at the late age of 16], and that this was not unusual for their generation. They felt a girl was old enough if she had a cleavage between her breasts. Younger wmen, on the other hand, now say that a girl marries sometime after her first menstruation, but never before”
Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. Volume I. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology Last revised: Oct. 2004 |
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[1]Kalmbacher, Carol J. (1991) Being an Mpur woman: First menstruation through infant care, Irian 19:107-14 [http://www.papuaweb.org/dlib/irian/19.pdf]. Reprinted in Marilyn Gregerson & Joyce Sterner (Eds., 1998) Symbolism and Ritual in Irian Jaya. Jayapura & Dallas: Cenderawasih University and Summer Institute of Linguistics, p102-14