Is there a story in this?

[Shendude]

So, I was recently shown this article. For those of you unwilling to read it it, the upshot is that a pair of anthropologists have published a study of two separate and very different African tribes, the Aka and the Ngandu, in which A: married couples regularly have sex three or four times every night and B: they have no conception of masturbation and homosexuality.

I couldn't help but wonder if there was some way a story could be derived from this.

 

[MatthewVett]

Definitely a story in this; it all depends on how you want to go about it.

Is it the naive, white anthropology graduate student who goes abroad for her studies and ends up discovering the joys of multiple bouts of sex a night?

Or does a gay man visit and introduce foreign homosexuality to the tribe, which discovers the delights of pregnancy-free sex? After all, they say the Greeks introduced sodomy to the Persians, and I've always wondered how that must have happened...

I like the idea of "anthropological" erotica, but I have yet to write my own...

 

[Shendude]

Or does a gay man visit and introduce foreign homosexuality to the tribe, which discovers the delights of pregnancy-free sex?

Interestingly, according to the article, the reason the tribes have so much sex and have no concept of homosex or masturbation is because...

In both cultures, men and women view sexual intercourse as a kind of "work of the night." The purpose of this work is the production of children -- a critical matter in an area with a very high infant mortality rate. Semen is understood by the Aka and Ngandu to be necessary not only to conception, but also to fetal development. A woman who is already pregnant will see having intercourse as contributing to the health of her fetus.

The Aka and Ngandu speak of sex as "searching for children." That's not to say they don't enjoy having sex. Clearly they do. The Hewletts relay a song a group of children invented after stealthily watching two lovers having sex. In the song, the man asks, "How do you want it?" and the woman answers, "Oh, I want it big." The man asks again, and the woman answers, "Oh, I want it long." The song then enters a refrain with the man thrusting and asking his partner, "Did you come?"

But while the individuals the Hewletts interviewed -- like the song -- made it clear that sex is pleasurable for these folks, and something that brings couples closer, they also made clear that babies are the goal of sex. Said one Aka woman, "It is fun to have sex, but it is to look for a child."

 

[Sean Renaud]

Short answer being that a society with a high infant mortality rate has no need or even desire for pregnancy free sex. Pregnancy is the entire point.

It think there might be a story but I'm not sure that I see it. The naive girl who shows up and gets lot of sex might very well not happen. Nothing in the story mentions out of wedlock sex or polygamy or or the such. I'm not sold that a society that views sex as "the work of the night" would wast time on what would essentially be charity work from their point of view.

It might make for an interesting Voyuer story.