wildrose wrote:Most primitive cultures do nothing to hide sexual behavior from children. In modern America some children grow up with no clue about sexual matters until they enter their teenage years. We call that their period of "innocence." Some children become aware of sexual matters during early childhood for a number of possible reasons. We call that "losing their innocence" or in some cases being "robbed of their innocence." In primitive cultures sex was just part of life and young children were likely to engage in sex play basically from infancy onward. Adults might even engage in such play with children. However, in most modern societies this sort of behavior is strictly forbidden and considered shameful. From a pragmatic point of view such cultural restrictions help reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancy, the spread of STDs and diseases such as leprosy, and they greatly reduce incestuous sexual relations which are linked to increased incidence of birth defects. All of these things still occur, but at a much lower rate than would be the case if not for cultural restrictions. There is no doubt that Native Americans suffered greatly as a result of the revulsion European settlers experienced when they became aware of some of the sexual norms of Native Americans, and looking back it is an unfortunate and unpleasant, but completely predictable reaction which lead to what might be called genocide. However, it's easy to look at the past through the lens of the present and to unfairly judge past behaviors. European settlers had Sodom and Gomorrah in their heads and they feared the wrath of their Almighty God and believed they had the duty to rid the world of sexual misbehavior. Sodomy and homosexuality were considered to be "mortal sins" and early Americans would have seen it as their duty to eliminate such behavior. We have advanced beyond that now, but much of what happened in the past is quite understandable if we take the effort to see the world through the eyes of those who lived during that time. That's not always the case, but often it is and we should always strive to understand as fully as possible, rather than to simply condemn without careful consideration of the perceived reality of those who actually experienced the events we now consider to be history.
It takes a lot of intelligence and maturity to view history from different cultural perspectives. Such a mental task is far beyond the capacity of a large percentage of the population and then there are those who are intellectual cowards who shy away from such an undertaking even when they have the necessary raw intelligence. Looking at culturally sensitive issues requires a certain degree of detachment and ruthlessness. One cannot give into the urge to protect the feelings of others. Intellectual integrity is impossible when emotions are allowed to get in the way of cold, hard analytic scrutiny.