TROBIAND ISLAND-Tribe engage in sexual acts from age 6
It is the general customs of the Trobiand Island 'If a girl gets pregnant, her family keeps the baby, because, according to the local custom, men just help to open up the woman to pregnancy - the real father is a Baloma or spirit.' Premarital sex is so rampant and unprotected to the extent of innocent girls are contacting sexual transmitted diseases. Discovered by the West in 1793, the islands were named after Denis de Trobriand, a lieutenant on the French ship, Espérance, but remained untouched until a Methodist missionary moved in in 1894.
Now part
of Papua New Guinea, the Trobrianders continue to live much as they
always have, using yams as currency and operating a matriarchal system
that sees children become part of their mother's clan rather than the
other way around.
They
also settle scores and disputes by playing cricket, which was
introduced by colonial authorities after they banned tribes from going
to war with each other.
'A
cricket game is always the occasion for mocking remarks and challenges
between villages. It is played with much whistle blowing, singing and
dancing,' explains Lafforgue.
'Girls
also take part in these "battles" and dance topless, only wearing grass
skirts and flowers. They also adopt very suggestive poses, which would
probably come as a shock to the authorities who introduced it.
'Dances
always take place after lengthy reconciliation ceremonies, with those
taking part putting a mixture of coconut oil, mint and lemongrass on
their bodies.'
He
adds: 'I was invited to join the circle of dancers who then took a
sadistic pleasure in making fun of my hairy legs. I had no hope with the
girls here because they don’t like white skin and hair — it's something
they see as a sign of ugliness and scruffiness. The dim dim (the white
man) is not their beauty ideal.'