Re: Can anyone suggest anthropological works on sadomasochistic practice?
Gerold Firl (geroldf@sdd.hp.com)
15 Oct 1996 19:29:04 GMT
In article <53m2hd$3eu@er6.rutgers.edu>, td@eden.rutgers.edu (Jeff Mach) writes:
|> Hello! My name is Jeff Mach, and I am studying anthropology
|> at Rutgers University. I'm currently researching various practices of
|> of sadomasochism and consensual sexual dominance and submission
|> (obviously, "consensual" is hardly a clear-cut term, particularly in
|> terms of cultural gender/age/etc. dichotomies...so that aspect is
|> pretty broad),
|> I was wondering if anyone could suggest any works on the
|> subject.
The reference to chagnon and the yanomamo is the best that I know of.
I can't think of any better analogs to western S&M; new female members
of the village are welcomed with a gang rape, and wives who are not
beaten by their husbands tend to feel some anxiety about it.
One other possibility that comes to mind is the study of sinhalese
culture by obeyeskere, where chili peppers are used as a common threat
by husbands; they are very painful when inserted into the vagina.
Whether this can be viewed within the context of sexual paraphilia, or
merely as an expression of a basic antagonism between the sexes, is
unclear to me. For example, a very common term used by women as an
insult can be translated as "dumb dick"; the correlation to western
S&M seems questionable.
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