Some folks still think that sex is the same for everybody, wherever they go. What about a trip around the world, getting to know customs and curiosities of certain peoples in different parts of the planet.
In South Africa, at the Zulu tribe, a king could keep as many as hundred wives. Certain customs of this tribe are somewhat peculiar- being sexual relation prohibited after a nightmare, during a storm. The same rule applies in case of a husband killing a big cobra, a crocodile or a hyena. In Afghanistan, back at the Taliban regime, women’s sexuality was literally non-existent. They were obliged to cover themselves with burkas, with only eyes and nose protected by a wet mesh enabling sight. When turning adolescents, they were forbidden from striking a single word with men, except parents. Looking over at or remaining more than five minutes with a man other than a family member, deemed adultery and bound to pelting at public premises until death. Let alone breast-feeding or shoe trampling sounds, totally out of question. Women aren’t allowed jewelry flashing in public as well as nails polished showing or fingers would be chopped off. Households with women in should display painted windows to avert outsiders from peering over. After toppled the Taliban regime TV broadcasted footage of a people celebrating their freedom. Theses images of a country undergoing reconstruction came to show that some women had already abolished Burkas. Every which transformation can affect the exercising mode of sexuality. In any aspect, transformations of a culture in a whole usually tend to be somewhat sluggish and, in that, only time will take care of showing results. In Alaska, some Inuit tribes have the custom of offering, or even better, placing up for grabs, their wives or daughters as a gesture of friendship and beckoning. This traditional “sexual hospitality” can also be found in certain places of Siberia and Polynesia. The civilized world still reluctant towards such welcoming sexuality custom, so much for the male population. In Angola, when a man is crowned Saba (a king head of a group of tribes), he receives as a gift a virgin and ought to have sex with her in front of his subjects. In the Ashanti tribe, in Ghana, the widows are obliged to have sexual relations with strangers so to rid themselves from the spirit of the former husband. In Botswana, men are allowed polygamy. When they are absent, their wives are permitted to keep sexual relations with each other. In this country, the small vaginal lips “as big as bat wings” are considered attractive for them. As children, they are used to pull their small lips, since used to kill bats and after burning their wings, smear its ashes on cuts done around the area. After all so far described, it’s undeniable that the manner we exercise sex is the net result of social-cultural influences of a people in a certain age. How about you, still thinking that sex can be the same for everybody?
Kelly Cristine Barbosa Cherulli
Psychologist and Sexologist
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