The Most Sex-Friendly Cultures

[dr_mabeuse]

Shereads' thread on the Phallic Snake in the Indian Temple video started me thinking about how sex-friendly Indian culture was compared to most other civilizations. They developed Tantric yoga, the Kama Sutra, the erotic scutpures at Khajuraho and treated sex as a part of life.

That started me wondering about just who were the most sexually tolerant and sex-friendly cultures in the history of the planet. The Romans immediately come to mind, the Greeks less so, and then who? Renaissance Italy? Margaret Mead's Trobriand Islanders? Feudal Japan? China? Or are we it?

 

[neonlyte]

Shereads' thread on the Phallic Snake in the Indian Temple video started me thinking about how sex-friendly Indian culture was compared to most other civilizations. They developed Tantric yoga, the Kama Sutra, the erotic scutpures at Khajuraho and treated sex as a part of life.

That started me wondering about just who were the most sexually tolerant and sex-friendly cultures in the history of the planet. The Romans immediately come to mind, the Greeks less so, and then who? Renaissance Italy? Margaret Mead's Trobriand Islanders? Feudal Japan? China? Or are we it?

Judging from behaviour, I'd say it was young Brits on holiday... I try to speak Portuguese when I'm on holiday

 

[JagFarlane]

Judging from behaviour, I'd say it was young Brits on holiday... I try to speak Portuguese when I'm on holiday

Hmmmm yes...the Portuguese ports are quite famous in the Navy as usually in the top 3 best ports to visit [Australia and Rio being the other two]

 

[keeblercrumb]

Rocket? No... just glad to see ya!

Well, just speaking from my own experience, Russia and the Ukraine are pretty friendly places!

-KC

 

[keeblercrumb]

Rocket? No... just glad to see ya!

And while I have no personal knowledge of it, I have heard rumors and innuendo around that Chicago can be rather friendly on occasion.



-KC

 

[impressive]

And while I have no personal knowledge of it, I have heard rumors and innuendo around that Chicago can be rather friendly on occasion.



-KC

BWAH!

 

[cloudy]

Not all tribes/bands were the same, of course, but before contact sex was looked upon as something completely natural, and to be enjoyed. In many, there was no concept of "adultery," and no shame in having sex with whoever you chose.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Before missionaries and other busybodies spoiled it, I understand Hawaii and other parts of Polynesia were very friendly places.

 

[rgraham666]

I'd rather be more than friends with sex, but I'll take what I can get.

 

[impressive]

Actually, I think we all do our part to make culture sex-friendly. Some more than others, obviously.

 

[R. Richard]

The Etruscans.

 

[Guest]

And while I have no personal knowledge of it, I have heard rumors and innuendo around that Chicago can be rather friendly on occasion.



-KC

Well, we do hate to brag.

 

[starrkers]

Hmmmm yes...the Portuguese ports are quite famous in the Navy as usually in the top 3 best ports to visit [Australia and Rio being the other two]

It's usually announced on the news in advance when one of the bigger US ships is arriving, just so we can prepare (note careful use of wording in this sentence ).

 

[3113]

Shereads' thread on the Phallic Snake in the Indian Temple video started me thinking about how sex-friendly Indian culture was compared to most other civilizations. They developed Tantric yoga, the Kama Sutra, the erotic scutpures at Khajuraho and treated sex as a part of life.

There's actually some irony in this because India actually isn't that sex tolerant--at least not in the present. Or don't you recall this from April 2007:

Demonstrators in Mumbai (Bombay) set light to effigies of the Hollywood star, while protesters in other cities shouted "death to Shilpa Shetty". The protesters said Gere insulted Indian culture by kissing the hand and face of the Bollywood actress. Public displays of affection and sex are still largely taboo in India.

In fact, I think modern day India would be one of the last places I would go in hopes of a sex-friendly culture.

 

[shereads]

Denmark and Miami Beach both have Museums of Erotica.

Also, studies rate the Danes as the happiest nation in the world. Coincidence?

 

[shereads]

The Netherlands, by reputation, is a highly tolerant culture. I'm not sure if the presence of legal prostitution (Amsterdam's Red Light district) is a plus on the side of sexual tolerance, or evidence of a tragedy comparable to the lives of America's urban streetwalkers or Thailand's infamous child-brothels.

Someone needs to report back.

While you're at it, please stop by Denmark and tell us about that Museum of Erotica. I need to know: is it like a Field Museum of Natural History for dildos, or what?

 

[shereads]

There's actually some irony in this because India actually isn't that sex tolerant--at least not in the present. Or don't you recall this from April 2007

I remember the Forbidden TV Deep-Kiss. It caused a furor reminiscent of Janet Jackson's shocking Wardrobe Malfunction during the Superbowl.

Getting my Bollywood fix the night before last, I noticed that in the best videos (the ones with traditonal music and dancing) there's a lot of erotic tension but little male-female touching - and no kissing. I'm not sure if that's typical of the culture Bollywood represents or just coincidental to the videos I've seen.

In that, they remind me of romantic movies from Hollywood's golden age: nothing so overtly sexual that it might justify a protest, but sexual tension galore.

The erotic temples that Dr. M referred to fascinate me, and not just for the obvious reason. They represent a religion that seemed to celebrate sex - public sex, kinky sex, not just procreative sex - as something holy. What happened to that?

 

[cantdog]

Miami?

Are you serious, she?

 

[shereads]

Khajuraho, India:

http://thumb17.webshots.net/t/57/157/8/2/64/2454802640025577117DoHiso_th.jpg


http://travel.webshots.com/album/550589950BEBxtD

http://www.anthroarcheart.org/tbln19.htm

http://www.anthroarcheart.org/tbln16.htm



Indonesia:

http://weecheng.com/indonesia/candisukuh.htm

 

[cantdog]

I saw Zoot's concept as a culture whose attitude toward sex is frank and free. Polynesia before contact, for instance.

I don't know a place very much like that, these days. Anyone can get laid in the Philippines or the Dominican Republic, but the relationship is an exploitative one. I was told that Scandinavian countries were very open, in my youth; but then, we were very open then. We had the Pill, all of a sudden, and no AIDS-- plus the counterculture. None of that atmosphere obtains, now.

 

[shereads]

Miami?

Are you serious, she?

I swear. I saw the ad for our new Museum of Erotica on a taxicab topper just last week.

Remember, Anita Bryant doesn't live here anymore.

 

[shereads]

and no AIDS-- plus the counterculture. None of that atmosphere obtains, now.

AIDS probably did a lot to re-empower the USA's puritanical streak. For what it's worth, I just read last week that AIDS is on the rise again, particularly in Miami. The effectiveness of new treatments have made the illness less visible, and caused a dangerous complacency.

[/semi-threadjack]

 

[shereads]

I was told that Scandinavian countries were very open, in my youth; but then, we were very open then.

"Museum Erotica {Copenhagen} was founded in 1992 and opened in May 1994 and is close to having entertained one million guests, half of them women. All age groups are represented, from teenagers to 80-year olds."

(Imagine something like this in, say, Orlando. Even Miami Beach's erotica museum will probably never feel fee to invite "all age groups." - sr)

"This exclusive exhibition has been reviewed by all the worlds television, newspapers, magazines and a few Encyclopaedias. Sex, eroticism and pornography is a voluminous phenomenon in " the public space" in Denmark." (my boldface - sr)

http://www.museum-erotica.dk/uk/index.htm

I think I'd like Denmark. When I was a kid, all I got to see was Tivoli Gardens.

 

[Guest]

Remember, Anita Bryant doesn't live here anymore.

Did you take her down with one of those poisonous toads?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I hate to pop anyone's Polynesian fantasies but it has been rather conclusively proven that Margaret Mead was the subject of a really sad prank on the part of the Samoan girls she interviewed. Coming of Age in Samoa is a joke reported by one who simply didn't get it. If that part of the world was so sex-friendly before the "oppressive missionaries" showed up, why wasn't the birthrate higher? The girls even admitted, 40 years later, that they'd been pulling Maggie's leg.