Growing Up Sexually

MUTHUVAR (India)

More: Abor, Lingayats, Bengali, Punjabi; Rājpūts, Brahmans, Nagas, Chamars, Todas, Purum, Santals, Garos, Baiga, Nimar Bahalis, Telugu, Lepcha, Lodha, Uttar Pradesh, Andamanese, Nicorbarese

According to Kumar (2005)[1], “Besides, the writings of earlier anthropologists like Thurston (1909), Krishna Iyer (1939), and Thomas (1958) too do not point to any sort of sexual relations in the ca_vat[i [male dormitory system] [which] creates a distance between the two sexes rather than uniting them to transgress the community’s rule and have premarital or extramarital sexual relations. [Kumar points out] the multitude of functions of the ca_vat[i against the viewpoint that youth dormitories were merely ‘systems’ to regulate the pre-marital affairs of youth before marriage, by establishing a temporary relationship between boys and girls, and to prevent the children from their parent’s sexual life [sic]”.

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

Last revised: Feb 2006