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PERU
Featured: Sharanahua, Shipibo, Machiguenga, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Urarina; ®Aymara)
A male’s first sexual experience in Lima was typically either with a
prostitute or a “fling” (Nencel, 1994:p62, 63, 68)[1]. In a study (Chirinoset al., 2001)[2] on Latino male adolescent (12-19)
students living in California and Lima, “the” sexual debut was 13 years
in both samples. Of the sample, 43% had ever had sex; age at first sexual intercourse was 13 years (Chirinos et
al., 2000)[3]. Males tended to mainly discuss sexuality
with their male peers. In a previous (early 1990s) Lima study on low-income mid-twenties
reported by Mahler[4], first coitus occurred at a mean
age of 16.2 (mm) and 19.2 (ff). In a later study[5] on 6,962 urban secondary school
students aged 13-18, seventeen per cent reported ever having had sexual
intercourse (boys: 32 per cent, girls: 7 per cent). Among those reporting
having had coitus, the mean age at its first occasion was 13.1 and 14.1 (bs
and gs).
Whitam et al. (1998)[6] offer some material regarding
lesbian identity development.
In one study from the mid-1980s, “Many of the
young men said their first sexual experience had been with a much older
woman- probably a prostitute, according to the investigator”[7]. “Most contacts of [female
adolescents] were with boyfriends. [Male adolescents], however, had had
intercourse with friends, prostitutes, and girlfriends. Homosexual
experiences were reported at 12.3% for men and 4.3% for women. Preceding such
experiences, noncoital practices served to facilitate the initiation of youth
to coitus at a rather early age”[8].
In Moche, Peru, female virginity is highly
valued but many boys have intercourse by ages 12-13 years though dating
doesn’t begin until ages 15-16 years. Premarital intercourse, “although
disapproved, is taken for granted” (Gillin, 1948)[9]. Gillin (1949:p70-1)[10] argues that sex is dealt with
“naturally”. Thus, “Masturbation is ideally frowned upon, but elders do not
hound their child to desist and it is actually regarded as a legitimate
outlet for the sex drive in those rare cases where “normal” satisfactions are
not available. [...] A boy begins to have sexual relations when he is about
twelve or thirteen, but such relations are restricted. Most boys seem to have
their first experience with girls of about their own age or somewhat older.
The more common practice seems to be for a boy to waylay a girl as she passes
through the campiña [...] Sometimes a group of boys waylays a group of girls.
As a rule, either type of seduction is preceded by verbal plans or hints and
certainly by prior acquaintance. [...] By the age of fifteen or sixteen a boy
makes dates with a girl to meet him at a given place in the campiña when he
is supposed to be coming home from the market”. “Perhaps the majority of
children [...] have seen intercourse at an early age, and practically all
children know about it in a vague way by the time they are eight or nine
years old, though they fail to understand its details or biological purpose.
There is no puritanical attitude about it, and there is no effort to withhold
knowledge from children, though privacy is preferred. [...] the disapproval
of masturbation seems to be more half-hearted than real. Children are not
corrected for acts evidencing autoeroticism, but a confession is made to European
mores. “Of course t is bad”, they say, but children are not lectured on its
baleful effects not hounded to desist. The same is true regarding premarital
intercourse”.
As found by Chung et al.[11],
“All the adults who
were interviewed expressed concern that both boys and girls initiate their
sexual experiences too early (at 12 or 13 years of age). However, the
adolescents in the study reported initiating sexual activity at an older age
(between 15 and 20 years of age). The most frequently cited age by adolescents
for beginning sexual activity for girls was 20 (45 percent) and for boys was
18 (38 percent) […] Many boys view girls who have reached menarche as sexual
objects. Boys have heard from their mothers and grandmothers that when a girl
bleeds, she “is ready to look for a man and be with him.” A teacher in
Luyanta commented about girls’ experience of sexual intercourse, stating
“Young men go looking for girls at the pasture, and when the girls are not
paying attention, they go and rape them.” The girls become pregnant, and
their barely begun adolescence comes to an end. As many of the boys deny
paternity, they are able to continue to enjoy their adolescence. The girls,
on the other hand, abruptly become single mothers, cutting short any
expectations for formal education or self development, and exacerbating
existing poverty”.
Tessmann (1930)[12] gathered data on premarital
intercourse prohibitions and early homosexuality in 49 Peruan Indian tribes.
His data reveal that the common prohibition and punishment of premenarchal
coitus is usually associated with early homosexual behaviour or, less common,
masturbation. Societies with no such prohibition (Koto, p201; Bora, p278;
Kandoschi, p291; Yagua, p470; and less clear, Mayoruna, p375) reveal minimal
homosexual play. An exception to this rule are the Muinane (p336), in whom both occurs, and the Auischiri (p483) as well as the Okáina (p557), for both of whom neither practice is seen. Among the Indians of Ucayali , Tessmann
(1928:p208-9)[13] notes:
“Mit
dem Geschlechtsverkehr beginnt die Tschama früh- es ist sehr schwer, über das
Alter etwas auszusagen- mit acht bis zehn Jahren dürfte nicht zu früh
geschätzt sein. […] Der Tschama ist genau wie der peruanische Mischling
selbst in Iquitos schon von frühester Jugend an strak auf das weibliche
Geschlecht eingestellt. Seinem Trieb folgt er früh und sucht die kleinen
Mädchen zu verführen. Diese kommen ihm, wenn sie nur können, entgegen und
benutzen jede Gelegenheit, wenn ihre Mutter sie der Pflanzung beschäftigt
ist, oder die abendlichen Stunden, um ihren Liebhaber zu treffen und sich
hinzugeben. Beide heißen muerati, was ich nur mit Vorbehalt als “Geliebte”
bzw. “Geliebter” zu übersetzen wage, da nicht etwa ein Junge immer dasselbe
Mädchen hat, sondern jeder nachstellt, die er erreichen kann, wie sie auch
nur dann keinen anderen nimmt, wenn keiner zu bekommen ist. Dieser von keinen
sentimentalen Anwandlungen getrübte Liebesverkehr beginnt schon lange vor der
Beschneidung der Mädchen, und meine Berichterstatter haben mir versichert,
wie ich schon sagte, daß keine der zu Beschneidenden noch jungfräulich ist”.
The parents do not protest. Masturbation
would be uncommon (typical of most Peruan Indians), and anal intercourse
occurs “nur unter kleineren Jungen”.
Fejos (1943:p74)[14] on the Peruan Yagua: “Girls have
their first sexual experience either before their first menstrual period or
shortly afterwards. Boys and girls of the same clan meet secretly in the bush
or on outer chacras but if they are discovered they are not punished”.
Janssen,
D. F., Growing Up Sexually. Volume
I. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed.
2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology
Last
revised: Dec 2004
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