Bronislaw Malinowski

The Sexual Life of Savages: In North-Western Melanesia Bronislaw Malinowski

1929. An ethnographic account of courtship, marriage and family life among the natives of the Trobriand Islands, British New Guinea. From the Preface: The sexual life of savages has long awaited its natural historian. Owing to sex taboos, that weigh at least as much on the civilized as on the savage mind, this subject has always been veiled in mystery. The mystery has been fascinating or somber according to the general attitude to savagery that happened to prevail. Contents: The Relations Between the Sexes in Tribal Life; The Status of Woman in Native Society; Prenuptial Intercourse; The Avenues to Marriage; Marriage; Divorce and the Dissolution of Marriage by Death; Procreation and Pregnancy in Native Belief and Custom; Pregnancy and Childbirth; Customary Forms of License; Love-Making and the Psychology of Erotic Life; The Magic of Love and Beauty; Erotic Dreams and Fantasies; Morals and Manners; and A Savage Myth of Incest.