The curious sexual ethics of the Yaps

Title

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XVII (Issue No.8) August 1965

Year

1965

Subject

Conduct of life

Ethics

Sexual ethics

Yanks--

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

The case of the natives of Yap shows that morality is sometimes dependent on the customs and conditions of a people

Fulltext

■ The case of the natives of Yap shows that mo rality is sometimes dependent on the customs and conditions of a people. THE CURIOUS SEXUAL ETHICS OF THE YAPS The Yanks on Yap are having a hard time trying to decide what to do about Yap morals. Yap is one of the Pacific islands formerly ruled by Japan and now a United State “trusteeship” supervis ed by the Navy. Young naval officers sta tioned on Yap are having woman trouble. Quite im personally, that is. The ques tion is, should the “scanda lous” ethics of this PolynesianMelanesian people be allow ed to continue under the American flag? Or would it be a mistake to impose American morals upon is landers whose traditions and training make them content with a system which, though it seems outrageous to us, is to them highly moral and proper? Take a concrete case. Should premarital sexual re lations be banned? In Yap, a young man does not think of becoming engaged to a girl until she has demonstrat ed conclusively her ability to bear children. She, for her part, will not enter into a compact with a man until he has proved his power to make her pregnant. Child less marriages, therefore, are avoided. The Yaps believe they have good reason for this custom. Forty per cent of Yap women are unable to bear children. This grim fact pro foundly influences Yap mo rality. The man who wants a family wishes to be sure that his mate can give him children. And she wants to be sure about him. Thus promiscuity before marriage is encouraged. The usual fear of society that such promiscuity will result in a large and uncared14 PANORAMA for illegitimate population does not apply in Yap, for the Yap people have been a dying race. The population has decreased steadily during Spanish, German and Japan ese occupation of the sparse ly inhabited isle. A dying race frantically uses any methods or means which may increase the crop of babies. Sages in Yap coun cil chambers instruct young men that their chief duty is to bring into existence a new generation. Both the Japanese and their German predecessors tried to teach continence. But they were suspected of ulterior motives. “They wanted to see us disappear,” an old chief told me. “They wanted the is lands for themselves. And so they got righteous and talked 'morality’ to us." Yap boys and girls begin testing each other before they have reached their teens. For the health of the girl, it is necessary that there should be a pause in this process while she is making the ad justments of puberty. To protect her during this pe riod the girl is sent to the dopal. The dopal is the Women’s House. It is a retreat, a place of refuge, a sort of prison. The men cannot get in and the women cannot get out. Every girl at the beginning of puberty must remain for six or eight months in the dopal until she has reached full womanhood. During this time she must not stir from the vicinity of the do pal. She is a prisoner and an exile. The dopal is merely a dark, damp, poorly-construct ed thatch hut in some for lorn spot. Since men are not allowed near, it depends for repairs upon the women and suffers in consequence, for the women are not house builders. That is man’s work, as woman’s is taro-potato digging. One dopal I saw was on a boggy islet in the midst of a mangrove swamp. I looked at it across a hundred feet of shallow water in which, at intervals, upright pegs were placed. These were to sup port planks to serve as a bridge. But these planks, like the drawbridge of an August 1965 15 ancient castle, were to be laid down only when some one desired to enter who had a right to do so. The women were supposed to stay in the house. If one came out, perhaps to shout an entreaty that some food be sent, she would hide her face behind a screen made of woven palm leaves. Of course, food could be brought in only by women. When the girl has become a woman the mara-fau (neck lace of lemon hibiscus) is placed oh her neck. It is a black knotted cord which hangs down both in front and behind. This marks her as marriageable and she may now return to mixed society. But she is not done with the dopal. Every month she must flee the male and con fine herself for five days or so in the dopal. Of course, the monthly departure of a married woman disrupts the household. During that pe riod, and then only, custom permits the man to cook his own food. But he may not cook for his children. If they are too young to do for them selves, they must go to the dopal where their mother will prepare their food. The man must never, even during his wife's absence, dig taro potato. Such woman’s work would forever disgrace him. He must have some other woman obtain it for him, or go without potatoes until his wife returns. Engagement rarely takes place until relations have been carried on long enough to prove mutually satisfac tory. Even after engagement the girl takes it for granted that her husband-to-be will continue to associate with her girl-friends, and she sees no cause for jealousy in this fact. She exercises equal free dom. Even after marriage, Yap ideas of courtesy require that she should give herself to other men when they re quest it. The philosophy, right or wrong, behind such practices is that any means of increas ing the population are war ranted. Children born out of wed lock are no problem because there are always homes of re latives or friends open to them. The question of their economic support does not arise in a land where cloth 16 Panorama ing and shelter are simple matters, fruit hangs from the trees, and the sea is full of fish. Thus do circumstances alter morals. How geography affects morals is seen in the change that has come over Yap dur ing the last hundred years. In the old days mating was made difficult by a stiff mar riage ceremony. The island was overpopulated and no more children were wanted; every additional mouth meant one more step toward starvation for the tribe. Therefore the moral leaders of the community, the medi cine men, counseled absti nence. Now the picture has changed and “morality” along with it. Marriage has been simplified and consists merely of taking a girl home. The marriage age is usually fourteen or fifteen. If the child bearing ability of the wife has not been proved in advance, or if it fails after marriage, wives may be exchanged, perma nently or temporarily, among relatives or friends in the hope that offspring will re sult from the new combina tion Polygamy is rare. But a man whose brothers die in herits their wives. Thus if there are five brothers and all die but one, he finds him self with five wives. He is expected to keep up a high degree of pregnancy among them. If he loses power, some or all of them are trans ferred to other men. Union between parent and child is forbidden. Also be tween brother and sister; and it is to prevent such union that the young man is ex pected to live in the All Men House, a sort of men’s club, until marriage. However, there are chiefs who favor consanguineous marriage as an aid in repo pulating the island. They point to its success on Eauripik, a small isolated island east of Yap. There, they say, it worked. So alien is this to most human experience, even among wild tribes, that I reserved a doubt on it until I could consult a recognized authority on these islands, an old and respected trader, During Spanish and German August 1965 17 as well as Japanese times he had lived in the islands and is the only foreigner to have made his home for a year on Eauripik. ‘‘I don’t attempt to explain it,” he said, “but it’s true. The people of Eauripik are usually big, strong, healthy people. They almost never become sick. Yet the entire population of 190 people is one family descended from one couple. All marriages are within the family. There is no mixture from the out side. Foreigners do not visit the island. It is off the usual trade routes. All the people look alike. Closest relatives marry. And yet the popula tion is increasing slightly.” Of course, there are many other factors besides consan guinity to be considered. The hardihood of the origi nal stock, the climate, the food supply, possible social restraints, and especially the absence of the white man whose liquors and diseases have brought an unhappy ending to the idyll of many South Sea peoples ... all these things may have offset the effects of bloodrelation ship. One can understand the disquiet of some chiefs who wonder whether dying Yap is wise in keeping this apparently successful method of increase under taboo. There is also taboo upon color-crossing. Marriage with a white man may be consi dered an honor by a Tahi tian maiden. The Yap maiden would consider it a disgrace. “’Black to blhck, white to white, red to red,” so runs the Yap observed proverb. Although sex taboos are lacking where they are most expected, they appear in odd places. The man who is about to go fishing must have nothing to do with his wife for at least twenty-four hours previous. The man who is going to another island (that is, outside the reef which en closes the Yap group) must not co-habit with his wife or anyone else for a month before he leaves, during his absence, or for a month after his return. Violation of this custom is supposed to bring disease and death. Recently three kings of Yap were taken on a visit to Japan. It was assumed that, in common with other tired 18 PANORAMA businessmen, they might un bend their taboos a bit when away from home. But the gay districts of Tokyo and Osaka were viewed by the three kings much as they might have been examined by a deputation of professors of sociology. They were of academic interest only. Pregnancy is the particular object of anxious supersti tion, because the pregnant woman is the potential savior of the race. Not only is she hedged about with rules and rites, but her husband is also. A neighboring chief re fused our offer of some choice bananas. ‘‘I cannot eat them,” he said. “My wife is going to have a child.” “Will what you eat affect your wife?” “Of course. That is old wisdom among the Kanakas.” I asked what foods were forbidden nourishment to an expectant father. ‘‘He must eat little of any thing. Nothing to make un happy stomach. And no ba nanas. No tortoise. No co conuts that have fallen from the tree. And if he, or wife, eats fish1 of many colors, very bad! Baby will be spotted, many colors.” If the child is stillborn, it is the man’s fault. He has somehow broken the routine prescribed for him. He is severely censured, perhaps before the council, for Yap cannot afford to lose babies. There is no prostitution among the Kanakas of Yap. They are scandalized by the practice in the “civilized” world. They say that such things should be matters of free will, not compulsion. The future of Yap morality is in doubt. Will contact with foreign ways bring in “civilized” prostitution? Or will the schools and hospitals of the Navy and the churches of missionaries succeed in tightening up the principles of family morality? Should strict regulations governing domestic affairs be establish ed and enforced? So far the Navy boys have been inclined to take a leaf from the book of other rulers in the South Seas far more experienced than the Ameri cans. It has been the practice of the British, Dutch, and French not to interfere too drastically with native ways. August 1965 19 Where sudden changes in na tive mores have been impos ed the result has too often been the destruction of the native people. There is reason to believe that the situation on Yap will change as time goes on. The education and health programs of the Navy are having their effect. Infant mortality is decreasing and adults live to a greater age. The result is that the popu lation, for the first time in half a century, is growing. If this continues, the wise men of the tribes may change their counsel. In the meantime, this cu rious example of the effect of geography and population upon morals is a phenome non that can be studied to advantage by sociologists, theologians and others con cerned with the motivations of human behavior. — By Willard Price, from Every body’s Digest. WEDDING GIFT The story is being told of a harassed husband how never seemed to be able to please his complain ing wife. On their wedding anniversary she bought him two ties, one green, the other yellow. He thank ed her profusely, but she sighed: “Well, I guess you don’t like my gift.” . . “But, darling, I do. I’m mad about them. As a matter of fact, I’ll prove it to you right now.” He removed the tie he was wearing, put on the yelloyr tie and beamed: “There.’* His wife looked at him sadly and sighed: “Don’t like the green, eh?” — Leonard Lyons. 20 Panorama

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