Mead wrote COMING OF AGE IN SAMOA, where she was fooled by the native girl's Tall Tales, and reported, with a completely straight face, that the Samoan girls have sex with anyone they wish whenever they wish, but simply do not get pregnant until they are married, at which time, their previous fornications having caused no imaginable hardship or stress, they marry and settle down and raise kids, all without jealousy or friction. Mead used this to portray a Rousseau-like picture of the beauties of uncivilized living, especially their sexual liberation.
In reality, the native girl, now an old lady, has come clean, and expressed embarrassment and surprise that anyone, even a writer from the White Man's World, could be so dim as not to know where babies come from. The Somoans of course have rather chaste traditions, and punish fornication severely, as do all primitive tribes.
The whole intellectual world was stood on its ear by Mead's findings, and she was the darling and star from that day to this, because it was widely believed that she proved chastity is an unnecessary cultural taboo, without basis in biology or logic.
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Mead was very influential voice for Sex Lib
Date: 2006-08-11 09:54 pm (UTC)In reality, the native girl, now an old lady, has come clean, and expressed embarrassment and surprise that anyone, even a writer from the White Man's World, could be so dim as not to know where babies come from. The Somoans of course have rather chaste traditions, and punish fornication severely, as do all primitive tribes.
The whole intellectual world was stood on its ear by Mead's findings, and she was the darling and star from that day to this, because it was widely believed that she proved chastity is an unnecessary cultural taboo, without basis in biology or logic.