Where Masturbation and Homosexuality Do Not Exist

The Atlantic ^ | Dec 4 2012 | Alice Dreger

[Mrs. Don-o]

Aka father carrying his daughter while out on a hunt [Courtesy of Barry Hewlett]

Barry and Bonnie Hewlett had been studying the Aka and Ngandu people of central Africa for many years before they began to specifically study the groups' sexuality. As they reported in the journal African Study Monographs, the married couple of anthropologists from Washington State University "decided to systematically study sexual behavior after several campfire discussions with married middle-aged Aka men who mentioned in passing that they had sex three or four times during the night. At first [they] thought it was just men telling their stories, but we talked to women and they verified the men's assertions."

In turning to a dedicated study of sex practices, the Hewletts formally confirmed that the campfire stories were no mere fish tales. Married Aka and Ngandu men and women consistently reported having sex multiple times in a single night. But in the process of verifying this, the Hewletts also incidentally found that homosexuality and masturbation appeared to be foreign to both groups.

[Sergio]

bkmk

[twister881]

And I got old enough my body retired me!

lol. We always can dream:

I`m back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again

Ridin` the range once more
Totin` my old .44
Where you sleep out every night
And the only law is right
Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-oh
Rockin` to and fro
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-yay
I go my way
Back in the saddle again

[printhead]

I’m curious if the good Doctor Barry S. Hewlett, American Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University might be a descendant of one of my most admired people, William Reddington Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Company.

[LadyDoc]

I don’t believe it.

You see, women get pregnant and don’t want sex sometimes. And if you get pregnant while breastfeeding, your milk dries up and the kid dies of Kwashiorkor (protein deficiency because the replacement foods are mainly carbohydrate).

Some Bantu tribes allow variations of sex to prevent these problem...and the article doesn’t even mention these things...nor do they mention that other Bantu tribes forbid vaginal intercourse while pregnant or while breast feeding....(again, they may allow sex, but not vaginal intercourse)...

Maybe the writers had an agenda, or the folks told them what they wanted to hear, which is how some folks get rid of those nasty anthropologists who ask personal questions.

(Margaret Meade was looking to justify her adultery, so wanted stories of promiscuity and got them; and some Native Americans laugh at these anthropologists and told them really crazy stories, some of which are still found in scholarly books. They think it’s a big joke on the white man)...

[little jeremiah]

What a fascinating article.

Will ping out perhaps tomorrow or tonight.

[DTogo]

Now the term “gettin’ busy” means so much more.

So does being "sore in the mornin'" after all that "work of the night."

[Mrs. Don-o]

I wonder about all this, too. Recent research seems to indicate that vaginal sex while pregnant tends to protect against pregnancy-related hypertension and pre-eclampsia They "say" oral sex might be protective too: seems to be a matter of absorbing proteins from the husband's semen which modify the immune response to the baby in a good way, though it seems doubtful to me in terms of oral: would such proteins get past the digestive process? Really ???

As for breastfeeding, if you do it on-demand and especially at night by co-sleeping with the baby, isn't that supposed to keep the mother anovulatory for 18 months+? If the nursing moms are as anovulatory as they ought to be, sex in any form shouldn't matter, because the lactational effect will prevent too-closely-spaced pregnancies. The #1 priority would be to keep the moms well-nourished and well-hydrated so the lactation benefit is optimal. Or so it seems to me.

But you're the doc. What do you think?

[ro_dreaming]

That was my point - and I agree. For years it’s been a rallying cry “we’re born this way”, “we were made this way”, “God made us this way”. But it’s bull poop. You may be influenced by your environment, but it’s a choice - period.

[ro_dreaming]

Yup. Unfortunately American women (at least) tend to withhold sex from their husbands as a retaliation, as a weapon, or just for “fun”. I’m dealing with that now; even through multiple lessons from our pastor. It just makes one hyper-masculine, and frankly, extremely frustrated.

[LadyDoc]

those studies are a bunch of nonsense, usually based on tiny samples that don’t represent the majority of patients.

They also assume that eclampsia/preeclampsia is purely an immune problem, but the syndrome has several variations...and is more common in areas where people are malnourished or high risk: women having first babies have a higher rate, as do women with high blood pressure or with twins.

[LadyDoc]

homosexuality is a continuum, and nearly every culture has one to two percent of “gays” and a lot of bisexuals who could go either way.

In many African tribes, homosexuality is taboo, so no one will admit it.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I am not familiar enough with the research to offer a very informed opinion. Eclampsia/preeclampsia may have several causes or contributing risk-factors: this is true of very many diseases.

But I had read that one of the reasons why women having ther first babies suffer from it at an higher rate, is that they have not had much exposure to their husband's semen before their pregnancy. (For instance, I had a C-section for PIH, and I had gotted pregnant just 6 weeks after our wedding.) Women who use condoms as a contraceptive before they become pregnant, also have a higher rate of preeclampsia, and possibly for the same reason: the condom prevents contact with their husband's semen, and thus they have not had the frequent exposure which is protective by lessening the risk of a preeclampsia immune reaction.

Or so they say.

OTOH, I was also told (this was 24 years ago) that not getting enough protein during pregnancy was a risk factor, and I was encouraged to try for 100 g protein daily. Man, that's a lot of protein! --- and, as I mentioned, I still developed PIH, resulting in the doctor's recommendation of a C-section (and he was a conservative, as-natural-as-possible OBGYN who had a reputation for resisting C-sections unless there was a clear indication.)

[LadyDoc]

it can't be just the sperm, since although we see it in first time moms, we also see it in older ladies...link.

that part about blood flow to the uterus could explain why it is more common in first babies (where the uterus has never been "stretched" before) and in moms with twins.

When I was in medical school, it was most common with Southern women, and this was felt to be due to lack of protein in the diet.

Whenever the paper has a "new" theory, I am always skeptical.

I am happy your doc insisted on giving you a Caesarian. The way to keep pre eclampsia from going into the full eclampsia (seizures) is to deliver as quickly as possible, and usually this means a C section.

If you follow "Downton Abby", one of the girls dies of eclampsia and the BBC series "Call the Midwife" also had a eclampsia death.

[21twelve]

“but no word existed for it”

Just like it used to be here:
“The love that dare not speak its name.”
.
.
.
.
.
(Now they won’t shut the hell up about it!)

[Mrs. Don-o]

For real. C-section in my case resulted in healthy baby, healthy me!

[Brown Deer]

Aka or Ngandu tribe?*