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Old 18th June 2007, 01:58 AM   #100
Wolfman
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Here's a website which is a very good example of the kind of misinformation about the Mosuo that we're always seeking to address. As is unfortunately common with such things, it is on a website that deals with issues of women's rights and sexism, so it is understandable why they might prefer this kind of article; but what is worse is that it apparently comes from ABC.com. A few excerpts:
Quote:
The Mosuo people perform their courtship dance, when women traditionally choose a male companion for the night or a year or a lifetime — and the men have no say in the matter.
There aren't really "courtship dances"...the Mosuo simply enjoy dancing and singing, and will use it as an opportunity to pair up with someone else. But someone who does not seek a partner will still dance; and there are many other ways to choose a partner than in these dances.

But worse, is the statement that "the men have no say in the matter". That's just complete rubbish. First, the men can say, "No." Second, as I've described elsewhere, there are many ways for a man to take the initiative and indicate interest in a woman. The one way in which this is partly true is that only the women have private bedrooms (men sleep in communal areas), so while both sides have equal rights to say no, and both sides can initiate an encounter, only the woman can actually provide a place to meet...so she does retain greater control in that way.
Quote:
It may sound bizarre to a Western visitor, but anthropologists say because the men have no power, control no land, and play subservient sexual roles, they have nothing to fight over — making this one of the most harmonious societies on the planet. The Mosuo people, estimated to number around 50,000, have no word for war, no murders, no rapes, no jails.
THIS is the claim that really gets my dander up. What complete and utter bollocks. I know of no reputable anthropologists who make these claims -- only those amateurs who come in with their own agenda, spend a few days/weeks, and then leave with their predetermined conclusions still firmly in place.

It is true that men don't control the land...but they certainly have power, and an equal voice in family issues. In fact, the oldest male in the house usually enjoys the second position of power (second to the matriarch), and will be closely involved in all family decisions. That they play "subservient sexual roles" is an absolutely ridiculous claim, and plays more to the Amazonian Warrior myth than to anything reflecting reality.

And they have nothing to fight over? No words for war? I was only with the Mosuo for three days before they told me stories of past wars they've had...wars with other minorities, wars with the Tibetans, etc. In fact, they took me to a large valley that they say nobody will live in because they slaughtered more than 1000 Tibetan soldiers there in a battle some 500 years ago, and the ghosts still haunt it. And I've already discussed the rest (no murder, no rape, etc.) above.
Quote:
During the height of Mao Tse-tung's communist rule in the 1960s and '70s, China's hard-liners forced the Mosuo people to abandon their practice of "tisese" and adopt the practice of monogamy. But when China relaxed its tight social controls during the post-Mao era, the Mosuo people reverted back to their traditional sexual practices.
Partly true...partly not. The Chinese gov't most definitely made efforts to stop the practice of walking marriages, and declared it illegal for quite some time. And they outlawed the training of new Daba priests. But they did not make the matriarchal system illegal, and Mosuo women continued to hold considerable power throughout this period. Today, the laws regarding walking marriages and not training Daba priests have been struck down, and these are no longer major issues (although some of the damage from these past policies still exists).

But this article fails entirely to mention what I discussed previously, that there was also a patriarchal noble class among the Mosuo; and that it was the Chinese gov't's abolition of landlords, and the entire feudal system, that effectively destroyed the patriarchal aspect of the Mosuo, and left them an almost entirely matriarchal culture.

Other information in the article -- particularly that about the developing sex industry, and the dangers it poses -- is pretty accurate. But if you go to Google, and type in "Mosuo", the link to this article will appear in the very first page of results. Fortunately, the link to our organization appears before it; and the link to the Wikipedia article (which was also written by me, and links to our site) is number one. So, hopefully, we will gradually be able to deal with this misinformation, and help people get a more accurate understanding of the Mosuo culture.
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