New Ways for Old in the Treatment of Adolescent African Girls

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Abstract
Opening Paragraph: The custom of shutting young girls up at puberty is not uncommon among Bantu tribes, the period varying from the duration of the first menstruation to a matter of months and even years. In the first case she is merely removed from normal social contacts during a short period of crisis, when certain rites must be performed for her own safety and fertility, and possibly the well-being of society generally, and certain lessons regarding personal conduct, not necessarily heard then for the first time, must be finally driven home in a manner and in an emotional atmosphere calculated to impress them deeply in her consciousness. In the latter cases the idea is that, in addition to undergoing the safeguarding ritual, the girl should afterwards remain in absolute seclusion until the negotiations regarding her marriage are complete and a substantial part of the bride-wealth has been handed over. I am here concerned with the latter.

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