1. Nhung Ho, Aniqa Bhuiyan, Margaret Jupe
Marriage and Sex
Nhung Ho, Aniqa Bhuiyan, Margaret Jupe

2. Table of Contents Control of sexual relationship
Rules of sexual access
The incest taboo
Endogamy and exogamy
The distinction between marriage and mating
Common law marriages & same sex marriage

3. Control of Sexual Relations
· Humans engage in sexual relations when it suits them or when it seems appropriate by cultural mores
· Many times the controls and restrictions involve adolescence as they mature biologically enabling them to participate in sexual relations
· Trobiand Islanders and Ju/’hoansi acknowledges and accepts sexual discovery and experimentation among adolescents
· In such cultures, adolescents are married soon after they reach their biological maturity
· In contrast, other cultures like in the Middle East strictly control sexual behavior ( mostly among adolescent females)
· Virginity of young girls is highly prized
· This results to young females being secluded/protected from the outside world

4. Control of Sexual Relations
· Control of gay and lesbian sexuality varies from cultures
· Permissive cultures tend to view same-sex relationships with more tolerance than restrictive cultures
· But even then gay relationships between men are more accepted than lesbians
· study by Clellans Ford and Frank A. Beach of homosexuality in 76 cultures around the world found that 64% recognized male homosexuality as normal and socially acceptable as it was in ancient Greece and Rome
· However, Christianity had a great influence worldwide making the rejection of homosexuality more common

5. Controls of Sexual Relations
· Aside from societal controls, humans have few limitations on their sexual behavior
· Unlike primates, human females display no visible sign of ovulation and can engage in intercourse any time in her cycle or even when she is pregnant
· Some human cultures believe that intercourse during pregnancy promotes growth of fetus
· Exp. Trobriand Islanders believe a child’s identity comes from mothers but fathers are to build up and nurture the child which beings before birth with frequent intercourse with the mother while she is pregnant

6. Control of Sexual Relations
· Social scientists in Western societies have noticed 2 trends
Ø People are increasingly developing sexual relationships outside marriage
Ø Women are gaining greater control over their sexual lives
· Just like the way culture tells people what, when and, how to eat, it also tells them where how and with whom they should have intercourse

7. Rules of Sexual Access
· People develop rules regarding acceptable sexual behavior that serves to control sexual relations to some extent
· In North America, the official ideology has been that all sexual activity outside wedlock is taboo
· Individuals are expected to establish a family through marriage
Marriage: A relationship between one or more men (male or female) and one or more women (female or male) recognized by society as having a continuing claim to the right of sexual access to one another.
· However, places like America is becoming less restrictive and only about 5% of societies prohibit sexual involvement outside of marriage

8. Rules of Sexual Access
· The Nayar traditional marriage system is different from North American practices
· Nayar constituted a land owning warrior caste from Southwest India ( hereditary social classes)
· The estates were held by kinsmen in the female line
· The kinsmen lived together in a large house hold called ‘Taravad’
· The Nayar marriage system consisted of 3 transactions

9. Rule of Sexual Access
· The first transaction was ‘tali-tying’ ceremony that was held shortly before a girl experiences her menstrual cycle
· This ceremony joined together a temporary union of a girl with a young man
· The union may or may not have involved sexual relations which would last for a few days and then break up
· Neither individual had any further obligations although, the women and her future children would mourn for the men when he would die
· This transaction established the girls eligibilities for sexual activity with a men approved by the household
· This ceremony was when a girl would officially become an adult women

10. Rule of Sexual Access
· The second transaction was ‘Sambandham’ which occurred when the women entered into a continuing sexual liaison with an approved man
· This formal relationship required the man to present her gifts 3 times a year until the relationship ended
· In return, the man would spend the night with her.
· The man had no obligations to support his sex partner economically
· Her home was not considered his home
· She may have had a relationship with more than one man at the same time
· This transaction specified who had sexual rights to whom to avoid conflict
· This system demonstrates that marriage doesn’t need to be related to starting a family or establishing a cooperative economic relationship between people of opposite gender

11. Rules of Sexual Access
· The third transaction is when the woman is pregnant and some men would have to acknowledge paternity
· Men do this by making gifts to the women and the midwife
· He has no further obligations towards the child’s education or support as that is the responsibility of the child’s mother’s brothers
· The transactions establish the child’s legitimacy
· In Western Societies generally the father is suppose to be the mother’s husband but he doesn’t have to be
· Exp. Pueblo Peoples ( Hopi) of North America the father is irrelevant to the child’s legitimacy. Legitimacy automatically comes from the mother.

12. Rules of Sexual Access
· The Nayar Marriage system ended in late 19th century
· When the British gained control over the region, they had gotten rid of the warrior caste
· The disappearance of this marriage system was due to moral criticism from the British and change of legislation of inheritance and prohibiting polygyny
· Today the Nayar follow a monogamous marriage system
· The household of Nayar is much different from North American household
· The group that forms household does not include affinal kin ( relative by marriage) or individual conjugal bonds ( The bond between a man and a women who are married)
· Only composed of consanguineal kins ( Relatives by birth- that is, “blood” relatives) and sexual relations with those who are not consanguineal kins

13. The Incest Taboo Many cultures have a incest taboo Human Nature
Doesn’t account for common violations
Psychoanalytical explanations
Freud
Prevent young pregnancies
Natural selection
Animals like humans have an aversion to mating with family
There are LOTS of outliers.
Ancient Rome preferred incestuous marriage

14. Endogamy & Exogamy Endogamy = marriage within a particular group
Exogamy can be practiced on one level while endogamy is practiced on a different one
Depending on how the group is defined, endogamy may be discouraged
Illegal in some places
Preferred spouses in other cultures
Exogamy = marriage outside a particular group
Cooperation explanation
Forced contact with other groups
Encouraged trade
Distinction from earlier hominids
An incest taboo requires exogamy

15. The Distinction Between Marriage and Mating
All animals mate
some for life, some not
some with an individual for life, some with several
Mates
secured through individual efforts
Marriage
right society grants
In NA, monogamy is the only acceptable form of marriage
Marriage is cultural while mating is biological

16. Common Law Marriages
Common-law marriage/partnership: The relationship two people who are cohabiting (living together and having a sexual relation
Common-law marriages/partnerships are legal after the couple have been living together for a year
Couples enjoy all the rights and responsibilities of husbands and wives such as:
pension plans
old age
security
taxations

17. Same Sex Marriage
May be seen as normal if the “man” may actually be female and the “woman” male
Ex: The Nandi of Western Kenya
Practises polygyny
Property is divided among the wives for their sons
Wives without sons can take a young wife and take up the role of a male
This solve the problem of those women who have no sons and those young women who have premarital pregnancy
Example of a socially sanctioned practise
Same sex marriage is different in NA
Struggle for equality