POKOMO (BANTU, Kenya) 

 

IndexAfricaKenya → Pokomo

 

Featured : Pokomo, Amwimbe, Kore, Kuria, Masai, N’Jemp, Ariaal Rendille, Kamba, Tiriki, Chuka, Maragoli, Kikuyu, Kipsigis, Gusii, Luo, Meru, Samburu, Tuken, Nandi; ®Iteso


 

 

Betrothal takes place in childhood, marriage is to await puberty and initiation (Prins, 1952:p23[1]). Sexual relations are sanctioned before payment, but apparently not between future spouses. “Promiscuous intercourse of the sexes while immature is said to be disapproved of” (ibid., referring to Fischer, 1878-9:p27)[2]. Bunger (1973:p87)[3] speaks of the decline of the rigi initiation for males (average 14/15, with a wide range), including “basic sexual lore”, and courting of girls according to a set of rigid rules, including coital taboo. A woman would be married within a year or two of her reaching puberty, lest “her blood may dry”; virginity was valued (p102).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

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

Last revised: Sept 2004

 



[1] Prins, A. H. J. (1952) The Coastal Tribes of the North-Eastern Bantu. London: International African Institute

[2] Fischer

[3] Bunger, R. L. (1973) Islamization among the Upper Pokomo. Syracuse, NY: Program of Eastern African Studies, SyracuseUniversity