Sexual Behavior of Adultery Among the Aymara
The Aymara are people found all over the semiarid lowlands surrounding Lake Titicaca in southern Peru and northwest Bolivia. In contrast to the romantic and passionate interactions, their adultery is an entirely different type of meeting. There is adultery without the accompanying rhetoric of love.
Regarding sexuality, the Andes is not a place of significant importance or free exploration. In this society, sexuality is not as prominent as in the contemporary US. No doubt they engage in this behavior and likely take pleasure in it.
However, this does not necessarily make them overly cautious. There is no shame in admitting that something occurs; hence, it is not discussed openly. If one’s parents and oneself share a bedroom, the offspring will be exposed to the sounds of sexual activity from an early age. They occur quietly and in secret.
Having sex is not associated with disrobing. Nakedness is taboo, and sex is devalued to the level of a mere physical act (Patiño). Conventional wisdom holds that prospective spouses should engage in numerous sexual encounters before tying the knot. However, once the pair is “together,” they must commit to one another (Patiño). On the whole, they have a negative outlook on adultery and equate it with insanity.
Sexual Behavior of Adultery in the US
In the United States, not only is adultery stigmatized, but the severity of this stigma varies depending on the person’s gender. Women have long been subject to a double standard when it comes to sex and sexuality. Multiple sexual partners are evaluated more harshly on a woman’s part than on a man’s, according to studies (Endendijk et al.).
Gender influences male opinions on the morality of adultery less than they do among women. A majority of males (53%) and a sizable minority of women believe that having an affair is always immoral on the part of a woman (Endendijk et al.). Clearly, women and men in the United States are held to distinct norms of sexual conduct. Some states’ laws prohibiting adultery remain on the books, but others have been repealed or declared unconstitutional over time. Criminal penalties for adultery are rarely carried out at the state level.
Works Cited
Endendijk, Joyce J., et al. “He is a stud, she is a slut! A meta-analysis on the continued existence of sexual double standards.” Personality and Social Psychology Review, vol. 24, no. 2, SAGE Publications. 2019, pp. 163–90. Web.
Patiño, Jacqueline. “Aymara sexuality:‘Jumanquiri’(the person who is always yours) means Spouse.” World Pulse, 2015.