Sexual pollution in the New Guinea Highlands

Summary Like members of other societies in the New Guinea Highlands, the Kamano of the Eastern Highlands believe that a man's health can be seriously undermined by the polluting power of female sexuality and that, though not directly fatal, this power can permanently stunt the growth of a youth and so weaken an adult that he becomes vulnerable to the sorcery and arrows of an enemy. In expounding their views, men and women emphasise the impact of female sexuality on males. They say that the harmful effects are automatic and that it is rare for a woman to employ her power deliberately against a man. The example most frequently offered is that of a man becoming thin and weak after eating food given to him by a woman who is menstruating or has recently had sexual intercourse with someone else. Yet this is by no means the whole of the matter, for not only do men regard certain women as more dangerous than others, but they also believe the health of women and children can be damaged by the sexual activities of men and women. We are concerned not simply with an automatic, one‐way transmission of sexual pollution but with an area of life which carries danger of different degrees to individuals in various relationships. I shall show in this paper that, while certain aspects of female sexuality are harmful in themselves, fear of sexual pollution is most likely to be felt where a person is intimate with someone who is, or may be, hostile and alien, and that this applies to women, and even children, as well as men. I shall suggest that the variation in the degree of danger apprehended is associated with the opportunities a wife has for establishing herself as a full member of her husband's village.