Earth Walker
March 25th, 2001, 04:12 PM
:) The liberated ladies of the Mosuo are about to pay
for their freedom.
The tiny, remote matriarchal society in Southern
China, where women regularly choose and just as regularly change their sexual partners, is under threat from tourists hoping to cash in on its apparent
promiscuity.
The isolation of the Mosuo people, who have lived in the remote lower reaches of the Tibetan plateau for more than 1,500 years, has enabled them to preserve a
way of life once common in Tibet.
Most of the rest of China believes that "it is better to have a dog than a daughter," and women are treated, at best, as second-class citizens.
But Mosuo women are free from such attitudes. Indeed, female and male roles are almost reversed.
Women run the households, hold the purse strings and--
to the fascination of their Chinese neighbors--choose
their nightly sexual partners, often by shining a lamp
on them while they're sleeping.
Relationships among the Mosuo can last for a night, a
decade or a lifetime. From the age of 18, women court
the local men.
After a coming-of-age ceremony, the woman moves from
sleeping near the hearth at the front of the house to her own room at the back where she may receive her lovers.
Local men, who have accepted their passive role, hang
around waiting to be picked as a mate.
Others aren't so self-effacing.
A road now links the southern shore of Lake Lugu to the tourist town of Lijiang, and thousands of tourists,
mostly Chinese nouveaux riche, arrive each year.
Few are interested in the remote beauty of the area.
Most travel in the wide-eyed hope that a Mosuo maiden
will shine a light in their direction.
To date, Mosuo women have shown nothing but disdain for the visitors and the synthetic delights of the
tourist restaurants, karaoke(scary-oke) parlors and
hotels built by outsiders on the approach to the lake.
I am on a disability pension, so I will accept any/all
donations for airfare, etc.....;) :bigredgri :sunny:
for their freedom.
The tiny, remote matriarchal society in Southern
China, where women regularly choose and just as regularly change their sexual partners, is under threat from tourists hoping to cash in on its apparent
promiscuity.
The isolation of the Mosuo people, who have lived in the remote lower reaches of the Tibetan plateau for more than 1,500 years, has enabled them to preserve a
way of life once common in Tibet.
Most of the rest of China believes that "it is better to have a dog than a daughter," and women are treated, at best, as second-class citizens.
But Mosuo women are free from such attitudes. Indeed, female and male roles are almost reversed.
Women run the households, hold the purse strings and--
to the fascination of their Chinese neighbors--choose
their nightly sexual partners, often by shining a lamp
on them while they're sleeping.
Relationships among the Mosuo can last for a night, a
decade or a lifetime. From the age of 18, women court
the local men.
After a coming-of-age ceremony, the woman moves from
sleeping near the hearth at the front of the house to her own room at the back where she may receive her lovers.
Local men, who have accepted their passive role, hang
around waiting to be picked as a mate.
Others aren't so self-effacing.
A road now links the southern shore of Lake Lugu to the tourist town of Lijiang, and thousands of tourists,
mostly Chinese nouveaux riche, arrive each year.
Few are interested in the remote beauty of the area.
Most travel in the wide-eyed hope that a Mosuo maiden
will shine a light in their direction.
To date, Mosuo women have shown nothing but disdain for the visitors and the synthetic delights of the
tourist restaurants, karaoke(scary-oke) parlors and
hotels built by outsiders on the approach to the lake.
I am on a disability pension, so I will accept any/all
donations for airfare, etc.....;) :bigredgri :sunny: