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Asexual rite of passage is a ceremonial event that marks the passage of a young person to sexual maturity and adulthood, or a widow from the married state to widowhood, and involves some form of sexual activity.
It is thought that the motivation to force daughters into requiring sexual experience with men is to make them more appealing as marriage prospects in poverty stricken areas where raising daughters, who have less economic prospects, is seen as a burden.[1]
A ceremony ofritual purification known in some places askusasa fumbi (lit. 'brushing off the dust') is performed where girls havesexual intercourse followingmenarche.[2] This is seen in some regions ofMalawi (mainlyChikwawa,Nsanje, andSalima Districts).[3][4][5] Such sexual cleansing is also practiced in parts ofNamibia,[6]Angola,Congo,Ivory Coast,Mozambique,Tanzania,Uganda, andZambia.[7]
Prepubescent girls (as young as seven years old[8] to as old as 17 years old) are sent to a training camp where women known asanamkungwi, 'key leaders', teach them how tocook,clean, and have sexual intercourse in order to be good wives.[9] At the training camp the girls are told that they should sleep with a man in order to get rid of child 'dust' or else their body will become diseased.[10] After the training, a man holding the traditional position ofhyena (not to be confused with theanimal) performs the three-day cleansing ritual for a sum of money ($4-7 per girl in 2016).[2][9][11] Sometimes girls are required to perform thechisamba, a bare-breasted dance at the end of her initiation in front of the whole community.[7]
The practice can place young girls at risk ofHIV infection, since thehyena has sexual intercourse with all the girls without wearingcondoms, as the ritual requires the exchange of sexual fluids.[3][4] Traditionalist Malawians claim that the rite prevents disease;hyenas are usually selected for their reputed goodmoral character and are often erroneously believed to be incapable of being infected with diseases such asHIV/AIDS,[2] though HIV-positive men have been documented to perform the duties of ahyena.[12]
This ceremony may also be performed after anabortion.[citation needed]
Chinamwali is a three-month ritual performed inEastern Province, Zambia. Female initiators known asalangizi teach sexual practices to girls as young as twelve years old. Afterwards, they are sent to an older man from the community who 'tests' their sexual skills and decide whether they need to go back for more training. The practice is likelyunderreported, as those who undergo it are sworn to secrecy.[13]
Sexual initiation rites of pre-pubescent boys as young as seven years old are or were practiced in many cultures and usually involves sexual acts with older males. For example, in theNew Guinea Highlands, among theBaruya andEtoro,fellatio and the ingestion ofsemen was performed. TheKaluli practicedanal sex to 'deliver' semen to the boy.[citation needed] The Etoro reviled these Kaluli practices, finding them disgusting. The practices continued at least up till the early 80s. TheSambia use to, but have abandoned the practice. These rites are often based on the belief that women represent cosmic disorder.[14][15][16] Similar rites of ‘boy insemination’ used to be practiced by societies ofindigenous Australians, inancient Greece, and inJapan during theEdo (Tokugawa) period.[17]
The sexual cleansing of widows is a tradition that requires widowed women to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification. It is practiced in parts of Angola, Congo, Ivory Coast, Malawi (where it is known askulowa kufa),[18] Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. It has been suggested that the practice might be based on the idea that a man might die as a result of witchcraft performed by his wife.[19][20]
The three- to seven-day ritual can be performed by the deceased husband's brother or other male relative,[19] or even asex worker. Typically, after intercourse, the widow burns her clothes and the man who had performed the purificationshaves her head. This is often done outside so that the neighborhood can witness that the widow is now cleansed. Finally, achicken is slaughtered.
The ritual is often forced upon a widow by the family of her deceased husband and the wider community, who may physically harm the uncompliant woman and her children. Widow cleansing was outlawed in Kenya by a 2015 bill againstdomestic violence.[21]
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