Growing Up Sexually

Preadolescent Sex Games

Index → Preadolescent Sex Games

Author’s note:

This preliminary pro-fun mock-anthology of sex games departs from previously assembled ethnographic data (Growing Up Sexually, Vol. II, e.g. ch.6). The use of internet data, which I have kept to a minimum, is of course controversial, and increasingly difficult given the commercial and aesthetic appropriation of “games”, “role-play” and associated semantic concepts into “adult” erotic landscapes (hence the improbability to ‘google’ these matters productively). Please feel free to add to the fun and describe a new game. My own folkloristic restrictions have been (1) existence of emic (indigenous) terminological distinction, (2) ethnographic likelihood of recurrence within a cultural domain, (3) predominantly non-verbal character. To assign ‘cultural substance’ to these games is of course much more problematic than it is in non- or semi-underground child folklore, since it can not legally be documented other than in an auto/biographic representation. Also, as I previously speculated, the bulk of naturally occurring sex games is probably comprised of ad hoc perversions, interpretations or adaptations of perceived local occupational/relational roles, if at all instantiating scenarios (this would marginalise the relevance of this anthology, but perhaps not the fun in reminiscing. I imagine that such re-minding may invoke self-disciplinary operations in some individuals that take media-hyped preoccupations with mind’s eyes –as with eyes generally– extremely seriously. To these people I would like to offer the idea that they might actually form opinions on the basis of personal experiences– granted that for some it would be interesting to contemplate forming opinions on the basis of other people’s experiences). To conclude with the obvious, this page, as with a potentially large part of this corpus of data, sits at the grey soft blurry edges of professionalizable sexology; the merit of its tentative inclusion is, as an increasing part of sexology I daresay, contestable.

I have excluded (where opportune) nongenital games of gendered intimacy, for instance kissing games (e.g. Sutton-Smith, 1959)[1].

Valuable related material was collected in the subversive site The Law of the Playground, and an associated recent monograph[2].

*Indigenous Name*	*Alias*	*Annotation*

Adultery		Role-play (examples found in Australia, Normaby Island, Yanoama, Mehinaku)
Animals		See GUS, vol. II, §8.2.3. E.g., Pig-and-Sow, Cock-and-Hen, Cow-and-Bull*
Asanga		Cf. Marriage*. See Batetela
Black Crook		(Ref. Kellogg)
Bra-Snapping		Boys (stereotypically) let girls’ bra’s ‘snap’
Bride-and-Groom		Role-play pivoting around a defloration theme (examples found for Morocco, Kanuri, Bakatla, Baganda). Cf. Marriage*
Bulya		“[…] cooking grain that they [children] have gleaned away from the fields at harvest, the inevitable sexual play between the children acting as mother and father, and the caring for imitation cattle”. Ref. Tanner. See Sukuma
Chase & Kiss
Circle Jerk		(Ref. Cornog, 2000, 2001)
Cock-and-Hen		(Ref. Elwin, 1939). See Baiga
Cooking-in-small-quantities		Cf. Marriage*. “You know we used to steal some mealie-meal (maize flour) and go in the bush. It was a game. We called it “cooking in small quantities” – but that wasn’t all we did! We would pretend that it was dark. Then the older boys would start to divide us – boys and girls – “This is the wife of this one. This is the wife of this one. Now we young ones we were told that we were the animals in the village – dogs and hens and cocks. Then they would say, “Now, it’s time to sleep!” And the older ones would go into the shelters we had made. Now, those older boys and girls, they would do it (i.e. attempt to have sexual intercourse) and we young ones we would peep and then later we would try for ourselves. I didn’t really do anything, but as a boy, as long [as] you were on top, then you felt o.k.”[3]
Cow Milking	Ge: Kühemelken	(Ref. Adler, 1911)
Cow-and-Bull		(Ref. Elwin, 1939). See Baiga
Co-Wives		Role-play (!Kung)
Doctors, Doctors-and-Nurses		Doctor-patient role-playing. Widely known in Euro-American settings.
Doll play		See GUS, , Vol. II, § 6.2.13
Dozens, playing the		Cf. Souding*. See GUS, Vol. II, § 4.5.1
Elopement		Role-play (Sioux). Cf. Marriage*
False Pocket		Bottom of trouser pockets cut out, peers are requested to put their hand in the pocket to see what is in there
Fire-Fighter	Ge: Feuerwehr-Spiel	(Ref. Adler, 1911)
Fun House		(Ref. Martinson, 1973)[4]
Gangisa		Cf. Marriage*. See Thonga
Ghost(s)		Nude wrestling in the dark
Hickey		An area of skin, usually in the back of the neck, is sucked to create a bruise
Horror House		(Ref. Martinson, 1973)[5]
Horse-and-Mare		(Ref. Elwin, 1939). See Baiga
Icekwa	touch-and-run	(Ref. Nelson Mandela's 1994 autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. New York: Little, Brown & Co.)
Ioto	“kitchen”	Role-playing, by girls. See Nkundo mongo. Cf. Marriage*
Kanupai	“taking a wife”, marrying	See Yanoama and Mehinaku. Cf. Marriage*
Kimama-mama na kibaba-baba	playing house or playing mummy and daddy	[Tanzania] (ref. Family Care International/Tanzania, 2005, pp. 32-35)[6]
Kombolela		[Tanzania] (ref. Family Care International/Tanzania, 2005, pp. 32-35)[7]
Kunyenga		(Ref. Lockhart, 2002). See Tanzania
Little Wolf		(Ref. Réstif de la Bretonne)
Mai-Mai		Children’s society. See Kanuri
Mantlewane		Cf. Marriage*. Bantu version of playing marriage (Seligman). Also transcribed as mandwane (Krige and Krige) or mantlantlwane (Pitje), mantloana, or housie-housie (Gevisser and Cameron), masanje (Stannus), mansansa (Kokonge and Erny), masansa (Maxwell), mahundwani ("miniature village") (Stayt).:
Mantombwa	“harvest festival”	See Ila
Marriage	Pappa-and-Mamma, Being Engaged, Husband-and-Wife; King-and-Queen.	Husband-wife role-playing. Cf. Bride-and-Groom, Kanupai, Cooking-in-small-quantities*. Unambiguous ethnographic examples of the parental scenario with sexual elements, often coital, include: Australian aboriginals, Trobrianders, Western Papuas, Akamba, Kanuri, Ila, Mbuti, Bakatla, Amhara, Nuer, Nkole, Bemba (Bantu tribes in general, including Lobedu, Venda, Pedi), Baganda, India (Santals, Nimar Bahalis, Baiga, Lepchas) Chewa, Sisala, Ga, Tallensi, Gogo, Shona, Thonga, Nandi, Batetela, Muyaka, Baushi ("kitchen", etc.), Nkundo Mongo (also age stratified), Chaga, Sukuma, Bena (?), Azimba, Lake Nyasa, Pangwe / Fan, Mbum (and other Cameroon tribes), Kwakiutl, Blood (also Mother-and-Child), Klamath, Yakutat Tinglit, Hopi, Pawnee, Polynesia, Marquesan, Siuai, native Tahitians, Pukapukans, Mehinaku, Tapirapé, Yanoama, Sharanahua, Jamaica, and many European countries. See geographic index
Mbuliya		House-keeping game. Ref. Varkevisser. See Sukuma. Cf. Marriage*
Menagerie-Spiel		(Ref. Adler, 1911)
Mokutelano	Hide-and-Seek	See Pedi. Cf. Undize*
Mooning		Exposing bare buttocks, usually from or to a driving vehicle
Mother-And-Child		Role-playing (Ref. Blacking for the Venda)
Muhumbwe	mahungwe, mahumbwe	Cf. Marriage*. See Shona
Mwaygini Kwayta	"copulation amusement"	(Ref. Malinowski) See Trobrianders
Nambushi Mwingilo wa nsenshi	Mother of Goats	See Baushi
Pantsing		Pulling down other’s pants in public
Peeing Contest		Height or distance
Pfänderspielen		(Ref. Adler, 1911)
Pig-and-Sow		(Ref. Elwin, 1939). See Baiga
Post Office
Prostitutes, Souteneurs, and Men-about-Town		Role-play pivoting around a prostitution theme (Ref. Moll, 1908; Grützner)
Rape		Role-play (Mehinaku)
Robinson-Spiel		(Ref. Adler, 1911)
Sale sale kinkamba	Everone is to Choose whom he Pleases	See Baushi
Seven Minutes in Heaven		A participant is blindfolded and put in a closet. Another participant then has seven minutes to do what s/he wants
Sex Bracelets		See Snap*
Shale		Ref. Fernandez. See Bwiti. “[The] children sit around spread-legged. A bystanderusually a man- then comes forward with a piece of wood or a stone in his fist. He thrusts his fist up between the legs of each in turn, leaving it under one. There is much giggling. He sings: “Trapdoor spider, trapdoor spider”, [salé] you are very foolish! Hide this for me”. Now another player comes out from a hut and attempts to guess where the object is hidden. As he reaches up between the legs, the seated player attempts to grab him”.
Show; Show Mine / Show Yours		Genitalia are observed or presented
Slot Machine		“drop a coin down your friends pants & if it didn’t fall out his pants leg after 3 jumps, you had to reach down & get it”
Snap		“Girls as young as 11 are stacking colorful rubber "sex bracelets" up their arms while their parents are unaware that each piece of the cheap jewelry represents a different sex act, according to a secret-code the kids share.”. See ‘SEX RING: 11-Year-olds' game trades sexual favors’, by Marianne Garvey and Carl Campanile [undated] [http://www.usafa.af.mil/wing/art/SexRing.pdf]; and ‘Kids' Cuff Kink’, by Marianne Garvey and Carl Campanile, New York Post: May 23, 2004. More references[8] here: http://www.snopes.com/risque/school/bracelet.asp
Sounding		Cf. Playing the Dozens*. See GUS, Vol. I, § 4.5.1
Spin-the-Bottle		A bottle is spinned horizontally on its vertical axis in the centre of a group of participants, till it comes to a stop. The thus selected participant strips 1 piece of clothing, or has to perform a task, or has to be kissed. See also Truth-or-Dare*
Sticky Biscuit		“A sex game whereby a biscuit (cookie) is placed centrally between a circle of masturbating males. The last male to ejaculate, over the biscuit, is obliged to eat it.”
Strip Poker		Poker, the loser takes off one clothing item
Suka-Sehil		Cf. Marriage*. See Senegal
Swordfight		Phalli are used as swords
Tag, genital		Antagonists’ genitalia are touched to switch ‘turns’, or ‘being ‘it’’
Teneju itãi	“women’s sons”	Ref. Gregor. See Mehinaku
Touchy Feely		Guessing identity of felt body parts under covers
Troca-troca	(turn-taking)	Two (or more) boys take turns, each inserting his penis in his partner’s anus. Ref. Parker. See Brazil
Truth-or-Dare		“Where someone gets to choose truth or dare. Then the person who chose them asks them either a truth question or to do a dare.” (Laurie and Winifred Bauer, 2002). See also Spin-the-Bottle*
Tuko Xung’kol	“le jeu dans les déchets de millet”	Ref. Enry. See Alur
Ukitsapai, ukítsapi	“being jealous”, “jealousy”	See Yanoama and Mehinaku
Uku Uku		(Ref. Mukherjea, 1962). See Santals
Ukwenza Isincogolo	playful sexual intercourse	(Ref. Krige). See Zulu
Undize	Hide-and-seek	See GUS,Vol. II, section §6.1.3.1. Cf. Mokutelano*
Upper-and-Lower		(Ref. Martinson, 1973)[9]
We Are A Boy		(Ref. Ribal, 1973:p62)[10]
Wife Abduction		Role-play (Crow). Cf. Marriage*
Wife-Exchange		Role-play (Pedi). Cf. Marriage*
Yembankongo		Indecent ape imitation. Ref. Hulstaert ([1937:p81]) and cited by Pedrals (1950:p16). See Amhara

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

Last revised: Sept 2005