
The Sexual Life of Savages (2006) - monort
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/savagesex
======
paulddraper
It's very hard to believe that generation after generation after generation,
they didn't connect intercourse with pregnancy. I understand the explanations;
it still seems unlikely that no circumstances, human it otherwise, would have
ever convincingly demonstrated it. Like eating and defecating.

The associate theorized they were stupid. I sincerely don't know what to
think.

~~~
dTal
Sounds to me like there's too much cultural inertia. They're not stupid, but
admitting that sex causes pregnancy means admitting that Bob's wife cheated on
him; it means some poor desperate soul really did shag Ugly Betty; it means
accepting responsibility for life-changing events that it's much more
convenient to write off as "acts of god".

The clincher is the fact that they've been informed of the link now, and still
won't accept it. That's not stupidity, it's denial.

~~~
paulddraper
That sounds plausible. Some people might believe the correlation, but not
enough to disagree with sun-revolves-around-the-earth prevailing wisdom.

------
cooper12
One reason I think everyone should go to college is to gain exposure to
cultures completely different from theirs and lose their sheltered and
ethnocentric mindset. (the best place to start is on the Nacirema [0]) It's no
surprise that the most homogenous and least educated populations are more
prevalently racist. (I'm not saying the educated elite are above it though and
it was often the most educated who thought they knew best with beliefs like
eugenics)

One interesting culture [1] we studied in one of my classes practiced ritual
cannibalism of their dead. It was highly formalized regarding which relatives
eat and had rules for the method of eating. (the meat is cooked so disease
isn't much of an issue) After the Brazilian government's FUNAI [2] stopped the
practice, one woman described feeling haunted by her deceased kin and not
knowing whether their spirit was put to rest. The ritual held huge spiritual
significance to the people and provided catharsis after death, yet the
government stopped it because it was against their own moral code. This has
parallels in how Christian Americans impose their own views on women and
others (Manifest Destiny anyone?) who should have autonomy.

Another group we studied was male sex workers in (I think) the Dominican
Republic. Western men would go there to receive sex from them. The interesting
thing is that the workers did not view themselves as homosexual, despite
living in such a macho culture, as long as they were the ones not being
penetrated. This is contrary to the Western view where any sexual attraction
with men means you are gay, while in reality sexuality isn't so binary and
clear-cut.

Lastly we learned about a Bedouin [3] tribe in which speech is highly
restrictive, yet women were afforded more free expression through the medium
of poetry. Their culture of modesty actually empowered their women and the
narrative is in contrast to that of Western nations which view Middle Eastern
women as oppressed and in need of rescuing. (the author, Lila Abu-Lughod,
actually has another book titled "Do Muslim Women Need Saving?")

The point I'm trying to make with these three groups isn't that their
perspectives are the right ones or that we should completely ignore what other
groups do in order to let them preserve their culture (many immigrants still
believe in beating their children and spouses for example), but rather that we
should question our assumptions and preconceived notions and we cannot do that
if we stay safely in our own bubbles and hold stubbornly to our believes
because "that's the way it always was" or that "it's our heritage".

[0]:
[http://www.ohio.edu/people/thompsoc/Body.html](http://www.ohio.edu/people/thompsoc/Body.html)

[1]:
[https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/povo/wari/865](https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/povo/wari/865)

[2]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funda%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Nacional_do...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funda%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Nacional_do_%C3%8Dndio)

[3]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedouin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedouin)

~~~
dilemma
>One reason I think everyone should go to college is to gain exposure to
cultures completely different from theirs and lose their sheltered and
ethnocentric mindset.

This doesn't happen in college but through actually living away from home in
another culture. The worst bigots and racists I've met have university
degrees.

~~~
cooper12
Let's be real though, those who need it the most won't go live in another
culture exactly because they're so attached to their own. Education is a
cheaper way to get the necessary exposure. Regarding your second point, I did
make a disclaimer that educated people aren't above this, but in my experience
at least higher education encourages more independent thinking, reasoned
inquiry, and study than is done in high school or by the uneducated. Opposing
opinions are encouraged and healthy debate is pretty common, even with the
professor.

~~~
dilemma
Opposing opinions are never welcome within any social group or system such as
the academy, and discussion is always kept between narrow bounds.

>but in my experience at least higher education encourages more independent
thinking, reasoned inquiry, and study than is done in high school or by the
uneducated.

Case in point: bigot with a degree.

