Spectrum of Acceptance Within Female Promiscuity

The idea of a woman having numerous sexual partners seems to be too abstract and farfetched for most of today’s modern world; in fact, female polygamy is found in less than 1% of the world´s cultures (McIntosh, Anth 1a lecture, 9/22/2010). Within American culture, females who engage in sexual freedoms are perceived inferiorly by their surrounding society. Both males and females in the United States use derogatory terms to refer to promiscuous women, even though this attitude is not reciprocated towards promiscuous men. Contrarily, among a few non-western cultures, not only does the term female promiscuity not exist, but women are expected to have various sexual partners in their lifetime. Among the Barí tribe of Venezuela and among some villages in the northwest of Tibet, polyandry is a widely practiced and accepted ritual. Women are not only encouraged to have many sexual partners, but they are expected to do so. This drastic difference in attitudes with regards to the cultural phenomenon of female promiscuity provides an insight to the basic necessities and values that varying cultures advocate. While American culture does not accept female promiscuity, women still engage in this behavior because it asserts the value of gender equality; however, in non western cultures people engage in polyandry because the values being asserted are those of reproduction and financial security. The Barí Indians living in the border between Colombia and Venezuela endorse female polyandry as an essential element for the survival of their culture. The Barí believe that a “fetus is built up over time with repeated washes of sperm which means, of course, that more than one man can contribute to the endeavor” (Small 2003: 111). Thus, the Barí accept the idea that the natural creation of a child happens by means of one female and various males. In this manner a woman must sleep with multiple men in order to conceive a healthy child. Furthermore the Barí have observed that