The function of menstrual taboos among the dogon |
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Authors: | Beverly I Strassmann |
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Institution: | (1) Reproductive Sciences Program, University of Michigan, 300 N. Ingalls Bldg., 11th Floor, 48109-0404 Ann Arbor, MI |
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Abstract: | Menstrual taboos are nearly ubiquitous and assume parallel forms in geographically distant populations, yet their function
has baffled researchers for decades. This paper proposes that menstrual taboos are anticuckoldry tactics. By signaling menstruation,
they may advertise female reproductive status to husbands, affines, and other observers. Females may therefore have difficulty
in obfuscating the timing of the onset of pregnancy. This may have three consequences: (a) males are better able to assess their probabilities of paternity and to direct their parental investment toward genetic
offspring; (b) adulterous pregnancies are more easily detected and penalized, enhancing sexual fidelity; and (c) males avoid marrying pregnant females by relying on menstruation as evidence of nonpregnancy. This hypothesis is tested
with 29 months of field data on menstrual taboos among the Dogon of Mali. Key results include the following: (a) cuckoldry is a major Dogon concern, (b) menstrual huts advertise female reproductive status, (c) husbands impose the taboos upon their wives, (d) female defiance of the taboos is undetectable and probably rare, and (e) informants think that the taboos help husbands and patrilineages to avoid cuckoldry. Thus the anti-cuckoldry hypothesis
provides helpful insight into the menstrual taboos of the Dogon and should be tested among other populations.
This research was supported by The Evolution and Human Behavior Program at the University of Michigan (through Dick Alexander),
the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, and the National Science Foundation (BNS-8612291).
Beverly Strassmann is a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at the Reproductive Sciences Program, University
of Michigan. Her primary research interest is human evolutionary ecology, with recent emphasis on menstruation in natural
fertility populations, the effect of polygyny on female fitness, and reproductive endocrinology. |
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Keywords: | Menstrual taboo Cuckoldry Confidence of paternity Mate guarding Paternity assurance Menstruation Dogon |
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