From Margaret Mead's Field Notes: What Counted as “Sex” in Samoa?
- 1 December 1995
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in American Anthropologist
- Vol. 97 (4) , 678-682
- https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1995.97.4.02a00100
Abstract
S: Derek Freeman based his criticism of Margaret Mead's claim of sexual freedom for adolescent girls in Samoa on two premises. The first—that there was a “cult of virginity”—has been disproved by scholars. The second—that the low incidence of premarital pregnancy precluded sexual freedom—has not been adequately addressed. Sexual freedom and a low incidence of pregnancy were not mutually exclusive. The key lies in consideration of what counted as sex in Samoa at the time.Keywords
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