Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEXstudied with scientific care, the Trobrianders of NewGuinea, as represented in Malinowski's Sexual Life ofSavages. Children in the Trobriand Islands possess afreedom and independencewhich extends to sexual matters.No special precautionsare taken, or would easilybe possible, to prevent children seeing their parents insexual intercourse or from hearing discussion of sexualmatters, though their elders think highly of children whodo not repeat what they may thus hear or see. On fishingexpeditions, when girls follow their fathers, it is usual forthe men to remove the pubic fig-leaf, so that the shapeof the male body is never a mystery for the girls. Bothboys and girls receive instruction in sexual matters fromslightly older companions, and from an early age playat sex games, which enable them to gain some knowledgeof these matters and to gratifynatural curiosity, evento obtain a certain amount o pleasure; the hand and themouth are commonly used for genital manipulations inthese games. Little girls usually begin to play at sex atfour or five years, and real sex life may begin from betweenthe age of six or eight, while for the boys it beginsbetween ten and twelve. The ordinary round gamesplayed by boys and girls in the center of the village haveat times a strong flavor of sex. The grown-ups regard allthese manifestations as natural, and see no reason to scoldor interfere. No harm comes of it, not even illegitimatechildren, though how this is prevented remains a mystery.The young Trobrianders palliate crude sexuality by thehelp of a poetic instinct, and show indeed, Malinowskiremarks, "a great sense of the singular and the romanticin their games.' 'There are, however, widely different attitudes towardssex even in the same part of the world and among peoplenot very widely separated in culture and race. Margaret[102]