thesexuneducated:

While young people are being taught to simply be “abstinent” here in the good ole’ US of A, there is a small village in Cambodia doing it right.

The only thing I find most magazines good for is cutting up for collages. I am not a fan of the negative body image they impose and the paper they waist on unrealistic advertisements. However, I found an old Marie Claire that I decided to flip through for any thought provoking images. As if the sex-education-angels sprinkled awesome dust on the mag, I opened to a short article on the Kreung tribe in Cambodia.

The Kreung people build “Love Huts” not far from their own houses in preparation for the sexual explorations of their daughters. Once a girl hits an appropriate age, she moves into the hut and is allowed to have as many boys over as she pleases. In this small village, women are respected and wield much of the power.

Journalist, Fiona Macgregor, travelled to Kreung to interview these fascinating young girls. Nang Chen, who was 17 at the time, elloquently stated that ”the huts give us independence and are the best way to figure out which boys we really like.” She continues, “when a boy comes to stay the night, if I don’t want him to touch me, he won’t. We’ll just talk and sleep. But if I have a special boyfriend and we’re in love, then I’ll be intimate with him.”

The young people talk of the importance of the huts to their independence. Since the huts are only given to female members of the family, it provides an even displacement of gender power within their community. The Kreung women are not objectified but respected.

 

I was happy to read that non-government groups have begun to supply the Kreung people with condoms which, according to those interviewed, are readily used. The villagers did complain of western influences though. Television has brought new cultural influences to the perception of women. Cell phones have also made their way into the village, allowing the young men to download porn. Because of this, the women no longer feel comfortable being topless. Despite the negative influences, most of the girls in the article continue to plan on building the love huts for their own daughters.

Could you imagine such a thing taking place in your hometown? How different would your sexual development have been if you had a love hut? How different would women be perceived if we had the cultural rite of a love hut? I imagine an entirely different country.

Although love huts will never be built in the United States, the Kreung people are a leading example of how beneficial open sexuality and sex education can be to developing adults.

But if you could, would you build a love hut for your child?

ask questions. wear a condom. don’t be stupid.

2:49 pm  •  23 February 2012  •  34 notes