If I had wrote this I would have been banned.
Some Aborigines 'Don't Understand Abuse'
- Thread starter Willy
- Start date
Do you believe cultures are homogeneous in pigmentation?
So places that are heterogeneous are devoid of culture?
What does sexual shame have to do with sexual abuse? Art thou maintaining that there is some correlation?
Depends on the impact of the heterogeneity and the sustainability of the so-called culture. Some cultures apparently vanish/degrade even in majority populations, while others appear to have tremendous impact even in decimal amounts.
What "cultures" are you speaking of?
I'm suprised when "someone from a different culture does not understand our notion of what constitutes sexual abuse".
Are you claiming that the abundance of sexual abuse amoung Aborigines does not surprise you?
I got a infraction for thinking that way.
Willy said:
You know, there was a fairly substantive discussion earlier in the topic that you did not see fit to contribute to. I would ask you to revisit the early portions of the topic. In fact, I think the very post you've cited provides at least one example.
Are you at all familiar with the old "National Pornographic" joke? How generations of American boys often got their first jollies looking at pictures of tribal women documented in the pages of National Geographic?
Americans, at least, and it seems the larger portion of Western culture, assign shame to our bodies. The lovely young woman in National Geographic I recall from my own boyhood certainly was not embarrassed of her nudity, and I sincerely doubt her parents were upset that she was walking around so exposed. The reality is that we in the West are sublimated perverts. Our prudishness is actually just a form of sexual expression. De-sexualize breasts, genitals, and butts, and you're halfway there.
So, are you going to be able to tell us what other cultures you think simply view sexual shame differently, or should I just give up now?
There are many around the world, Willy. That's why I provided you the link. The Kikuyu (Kenya) were the ones I was thinking of at the time. And various South American tribes whose names I don't recall. After you've seen enough--say, by age 12--the naked girls in National Geographic just don't hold the same sexual mystique.
Your small amout of honesty is refreshing, but I must ask:
Do you also see the Aborigines as a culture that also simply views shame differently; and sexual shame is not necessarily so close to the center of Aborigines culture's mythology?
Their culture is not the cause of their current problems.
Loss of their culture through forced indoctrination, loss of their homelands, and extreme poverty is.
They are probably the oldest surviving peoples on earth
60,000 years old by some accounts.
By no means primitive, these people had their own art, music, theology etc.
http://www.didjshop.com/shop1/AbCulturecart.html
The current situation is dire.
The Australian Government under John Howard is bringing in these Draconian measures in an attempt to gain control over the chaos. Some people think that there is a racist agenda, that it is a populist anti-black operation. Others, prominent aborigines among them, think it is necessary.
The business with the abuse is not even their worst problem.
It was chosen because it is an emotive subject which would justify the measures to follow.
No-one is of the opinion that this abuse is a traditional part of aborigine culture, any more than knife crime or alcoholism is.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2113167,00.html
In any case it is brushing out all the crap from under the carpet where it has been brushed for generations.
Read this about the shantytown outside Alice Springs.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1614371.htm
Loss of their culture through forced indoctrination, loss of their homelands, and extreme poverty is.
They are probably the oldest surviving peoples on earth
60,000 years old by some accounts.
By no means primitive, these people had their own art, music, theology etc.
http://www.didjshop.com/shop1/AbCulturecart.html
The current situation is dire.
The Australian Government under John Howard is bringing in these Draconian measures in an attempt to gain control over the chaos. Some people think that there is a racist agenda, that it is a populist anti-black operation. Others, prominent aborigines among them, think it is necessary.
The business with the abuse is not even their worst problem.
It was chosen because it is an emotive subject which would justify the measures to follow.
No-one is of the opinion that this abuse is a traditional part of aborigine culture, any more than knife crime or alcoholism is.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2113167,00.html
In any case it is brushing out all the crap from under the carpet where it has been brushed for generations.
Read this about the shantytown outside Alice Springs.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1614371.htm
Last edited:
Willy said:
Yeah ... I'd say that the various tribes tend to view sexual shame differently than we do in the U.S., and I'm guessing it's a bit different, as well, from Euro-Australia. I feel pretty confident about that guess. In fact, I'm damn sure.