essay
Sexuality and social control among the Garifuna (Belize)
In her prime : a new view of middle-aged women • S. Hadley, Mass. • Published In 1985 • Pages: 86-98
By: Kerns, Virginia.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article, Kerns examines how middle-aged women, who are past their childbearing years, control the sexual behavior of young women by enforcing rules around the reproductive cycle. Although women are free to engage in premarital sex and do not need any kin's consent to marry, some restrictive rules do apply. For example, a menstruating woman should stay close to home. Also, a pregnant woman must stay in the home, avoid contact with strangers, and remain faithful during pregnancy. “Playing around” creates uncertainty about paternity, which can deny the child a full set of kin. In general, the rules promote female fidelity and limit contact between men and young women.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Age stratification
- Ethnophysiology
- Sex
- Reproduction
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Garifuna
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2005
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central America
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnographer
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2003
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1974-1976
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1974-1976
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Belize
- NotesAdditional notes
- Virginia Kerns
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 98)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 84014671
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Garifuna (Caribbean people)