Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-ErotismEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
Man says that the Andamanese in modesty and self-respect compare
favorably with many classes among civilized peoples. "Women are
so modest that they will not renew their leaf-aprons in the
presence of one another, but retire to a secluded spot for this
purpose; even when parting with one of their _bod_ appendages
[tails of leaves suspended from back of girdle] to a female
friend, the delicacy they manifest for the feelings of the
bystanders in their mode of removing it amounts to prudishness;
yet they wear no clothing in the ordinary sense." (_Journal of
the Anthropological Institute_, 1883, pp. 94 and 331.)
Of the Garo women of Bengal Dalton says: "Their sole garment is a
piece of cloth less than a foot in width that just meets around
the loins, and in order that it may not restrain the limbs it is
only fastened where it meets under the hip at the upper corners.
The girls are thus greatly restricted in the positions they may
modestly assume, but decorum is, in their opinion, sufficiently
preserved if they only keep their legs well together when they
sit or kneel." (E.T. Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, 1872, p. 66.)
Of the Naga women of Assam it is said: "Of clothing there was not
much to see; but in spite of this I doubt whether we could excel
them in true decency and modesty. Ibn Muhammed Wali had already
remarked in his history of the conquest of Assam (1662-63), that
the Naga women only cover their breasts. They declare that it is
absurd to cover those parts of the body which everyone has been
able to see from their births, but that it is different with the
breasts, which appeared later, and are, therefore, to be covered.
Dalton (_Journal of the Asiatic Society_, Bengal, 41, 1, 84) adds
that in the presence of strangers Naga women simply cross their
arms over their breasts, without caring much what other charms
they may reveal to the observer. As regards some clans of the
naked Nagas, to whom the Banpara belong, this may still hold
good." (K. Klemm, "Peal's Ausflug nach Banpara," _Zeitschrift für
Ethnologie_, 1898, Heft 5, p. 334.)
"In Ceylon, a woman always bathes in public streams, but she
never removes all her clothes. She washes under the cloth, bit by
bit, and then slips on the dry, new cloth, and pulls out the wet
one from underneath (much in the same sliding way as servant
girls and young women in England). This is the common custom in
India and the Malay States. The breasts are always bare in their
own houses, but in the public roads are covered whenever a
European passes. The vulva is never exposed. They say that a
devil, imagined as a white and hairy being, might have
intercourse with them." (Private communication.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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