Adolescence is the "golden age" of erotic pleasure without responsibility. Parents recognize and silently condone their children's vitality. As pregnancy is thought to result from making love with the same man too often, there are frequent changes of partner with a tremendous increase in sexual knowledge and awareness. In fact, girls usually do not conceive until early adulthood. Pregnancy itself often inspires the couple to marry, unless either set of parents strenuously objects. With pregnancy, marriage, and other adult responsibilities, the "golden age" of sexual freedom ends.
Divorce is rare in Mangaia, and its rarity is perhaps
related to the years of trial and error which precede the wedding.
Infidelity after marriage is uncommon, with two exceptions.
First, the wife may always return to the man who
introduced her to sexual pleasure. This custom is recognized
(if not appreciated) by the husband. Second, a prolonged separation
is expected to result in unfaithfulness, especially on
the part of the husband. This is ascribed to the irresistible
pressures of sex drive.
Yet when a husband or wife returns
after a long journey, neighbors say they will have to "tie a
rope around the house to keep it from being shaken down."
Homosexuality, group sex, orgies, fetishism, bestiality, and
the use of sex devices are unknown.
Poetic terms describe the character and charm of the genitals.
In Mangaia, the penis is beautiful. The clitoris is variously
pictured as sharp, blunt, projecting, erect, or
protruding. The woman with large hips is like a "bed with a
mattress." Undulating thighs rapidly arouse the Mangaian
male who relishes plenty of pelvic action. He dislikes sex
with the relatively inert European woman. When told that
some foreign women cannot climax, he asks, "Will it injure
their health?"
They believe that coitus doesn't weaken or debilitate, but
that it is a sign of intrinsic strength. If the girl becomes thin,
it must be due to frequent sex. Her slimness, which doesn't
connote any loss of strength, becomes a public testimonial to
her mate's virility. It is an insult to tell a man that he is letting
his penis go to waste and "get rusty." The girl anticipates
two or three orgasms to his one, via his protracted thrusting.
She may achieve a "knockout," an orgasm which lasts up to
an hour. She expects foreplay to be brief but skillful. If her
partner prolongs foreplay, she may push him away and call
him "limp penis." If he doesn't promptly initiate intercourse
when they first meet, she assumes she is undesirable or that
he doesn't like her. Intimacy may evolve from intercourse,
but it is never a prerequisite.
Amid this erotic Eden, there exists one sizable sex dysfunction:
impotence. This most likely results from the heavy
burden placed on the male. He must copulate without respite
or his partner will feel slighted. To conquer her, he must provide
her with several orgasms to his one. His climax must be
perfectly synchronized. If his partner looks at other men, his
virility is questioned. Potent males who have had sex with
up to seventy girls are cultural heroes.
They have "won the
race" and may have a phallus tattooed on their thigh or a
vagina on their penis. There are no passive pleasures for the
male and each contact becomes a contest. To be average in
such a society is a catastrophe. A sword for some and a magic
wand for others, the penis remains a captivating symbol
throughout all cultures. The erect but fragile phallus is
man's greatest pride and gravest peril.