There Are Some Human Societies Without Homosexuality ...

[endure]

I must admit I find their premise that the Aka don't wank a little bizarre. After all what else were teenage boys created for if not to wank themselves senseless?

[isanbirder]

I went to college with a guy from Kenya who told us that there were no homosexuals at all in Kenya - not a single one.

I've heard a senior Hong Kong Chinese official make the same claim about China... believe it or not.

[LeCharivari]

I must admit I find their premise that the Aka don't wank a little bizarre. After all what else were teenage boys created for if not to wank themselves senseless?

If you're an Aka teenage boy, to have sex and make babies, preferably four or five times a day.

[Jingthing]

I must admit I find their premise that the Aka don't wank a little bizarre. After all what else were teenage boys created for if not to wank themselves senseless?

If you're an Aka teenage boy, to have sex and make babies, preferably four or five times a day.

That's my idea of HELL.

[isanbirder]

I must admit I find their premise that the Aka don't wank a little bizarre. After all what else were teenage boys created for if not to wank themselves senseless?

If you're an Aka teenage boy, to have sex and make babies, preferably four or five times a day.

That's my idea of HELL.

Sorry to hear you don't like having sex, JT. Making babies... well, I'm with you there.

[mca]

The absence of homosexuality in the Aka and Ngandu is hard enough to fathom, yet consider their unfamiliarity with another “natural” sexual behavior, masturbation. “Like homosexuality,” explain the Hewletts, “it was difficult to explain self-stimulation to the Aka. They found it unusual and said it may happen far away in Congo, but they did not know it.” People from other ethnic groups, too, are deeply confused about this mysterious principle of self-induced orgasm. The anthropologists mention a colleague of theirs who was tracking fertility among the Lese people in the Ituri forest of central Africa, and found it extremely difficult to instruct men how to collect their own semen samples by masturbating. Even with rather explicit instructions, nearly all of the samples that were brought back to him were mixed with vaginal secretions! The only reasonable assumption to make here is that such frequent copulation, at least among married Aka adults, has obviated the need for self-gratification. Still, one would think that masturbation would occur in adolescents and that, like riding a bike, adults would remember the general motor pattern. But alas, no luck.

In a world where nothing is certain I'm certain of one thing - I'm definitely not a descendent of the Aka, Ngandu or Lese tribes.

[yumidesign]

This is yet another of those threads where seem so concerned (or perhaps, in IJWT and LeC's cases, unconcerned) about defining our sexuality. As Zzaa would surely tell us, this is just one of those ways in which the thought-patterns of the East are more flexible. Couldn't we perhaps learn from them?

Charitably, I'd say the fact that we're all here is one sign that 'we' are learning from 'them', or more engagingly, that all of us here together are participating in a mutual construction of social and sexual meaning, which does happen to include a minority element of foreigners. Less charitably, I'd say that the element of foreigners who are dealing with the real construction of local values, as opposed to a commercial distortion of them towards the singular interests of the foreigners, is far too much of a minority.

I would say that as a result of the absence of roles which are rather too fixed in my own country (in my view), I have had types of social relationships here with 'straight' men and with gays that would not have been socially realisable in most English speaking countries.

You construct long sentences. Please bear with us non-native speakers.. :jap:

I understand you are saying that "we" (the expats) learn from "them" (the Thais), but go on to participate in building up a gay community. I think learning would mean that we get away from the getthoisation and instead mix, and in fact blurr the difference between gay and staight. I too have more straight than gay friends, and they sometime come to have a beer with me in our area - Silom Soi 4 - whereas I usually go with them to their area. For Thai friends, there is no such seperation, we used to go to RCA (but that was more than 10 years ago, when I was younger).

As I said in another thread, there is Thai word for "gay". Because it really doesn't matter.

is there a "not" word missing in the last sentence? whats this western obsession with naming everything so to judge in many countries there is no word for 'gay'

[taiwanatoa]

I couldn't waste any more time on this ,so I just skimmed through.Its amazing how stupid or naive people are about "homosexuality".As one of you said:the word did not even exist until less than about 2 centuries ago.In any case ,it does not matter what anyone "thinks",or says or believes.The only thing that does matter is :Fact,Truth,Reality.And that is :sex between males has always existed everywhere.It is completely normal.The only reason it has not been so openly displayed or accepted is because of fear of it spreading since it is so appealing and convenient.And especially because of blatant stupidity or at least ignorance due to religious beliefs.There is really nothing to discuss.Enough said.

[Jingthing]

I couldn't waste any more time on this ,so I just skimmed through.Its amazing how stupid or naive people are about "homosexuality".As one of you said:the word did not even exist until less than about 2 centuries ago.In any case ,it does not matter what anyone "thinks",or says or believes.The only thing that does matter is :Fact,Truth,Reality.And that is :sex between males has always existed everywhere.It is completely normal.The only reason it has not been so openly displayed or accepted is because of fear of it spreading since it is so appealing and convenient.And especially because of blatant stupidity or at least ignorance due to religious beliefs.There is really nothing to discuss.Enough said.

The article referred to in the OP is rather clearly in agreement with you in general, except that it mentions a few possible very unusual exceptions of very small closed tribal societies where the social setup actually makes MSM more inconvenient and unlikely.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Jingthing