I read a non fiction book about 10 or so years ago that claimed that in some tribes in 0 AD Britain it was common for mothers to introduce their male children to sex by having the first encounter with them. They then went on to marry and reproduce as normal.
My questions, is this recorded or accepted widely by scholars of the time? if so what evidence is there for this? Secondly anyone know the title of the book I read? I lost it many years ago, the title was something like “Britain Zero Ad” but google searches come up with naught except for references to Khmer Rouge Year Zero.
Rule 34 applies, always. But I was hoping for a somewhat serious answer on this. The book I read which claimed this was a pop history non fiction on ancient british culture, not a wacko pseudo history.
Ok minor issue, year zero, not BC or AD but the title of the book was something about the year either naught or zero and it was a popularised version of the archeological evidence of what was known about society in Britain in that era. Someone must have seen it or know what I’m talking about?
This being GQ, let’s try to provide a serious answer to the question before making joking responses. No warning issued, but if you can’t provide useful information there’s no reason to respond.
In a similar vein, but a very different historical era: something I read once claimed that nannies and nursemaids in (I believe) the 18th century would often masturbate the young boys under their care, in order to help them get to sleep.
In any event, when we’re talking about a general period of time spanning many decades instead of any single year, the meaning of “0 AD” is clear enough.
In a college Cultural Anthropology class, we learned about a society in which the father was the first to introduced the daughter to sex, at the age of puberty. This supposedly was done in a very loving manner, and was considered totally normal and benevolent. I don’t recall when/where this society existed (the class was over 50 years ago).
We don’t know a lot about Britain ±50, but we do know quite a bit about Celtic laws and kinship systems. There is zero reason to think that mother-son sex was anything other than taboo.
Right, well it was the book “The Year Zero” by Kleinman, Matthew; Davies, Nicholas. I don’t have a copy of this book now but it does claim that this practise was carried out at least in some tribes. Anyone got a copy and know what their source for claiming this was?
I also vaguely remember reading similar things years ago about some African tribes from the 1800s. I found it hard to believe, since I thought the incest taboo was one of the few human universals. Granted, what counts as incest may vary (e.g. cousins), but parent/offspring is about as obvious as it gets.
Another problem is that these societies probably wouldn’t have access to reliable birth control, would they? Do many tribes use condoms made out of animal intestine, for example? Do they pull out? Even if it’s done once as an initiation ceremony I’d think there’d be a lot of unplanned pregnancies. And you thought your Thanksgiving was awkward…
If it was done “once as an initiation ceremony” “at the age of puberty” then there would never be any unplanned pregnancies. There is a considerable gap between the start of puberty and the onset of menarche when a woman can become pregnant. In our society that gap is about 3 years. In some pre-industrial societies it was probably shorter, but still well in excess of 6 months.
Except the book claimed it was the mother having sex with the son. The father did not do the same with his daughters, the idea was the man needed to know how to perform. It wasn’t necessary for the daughter to know. And yes it was stated that this was a once off thing on the man first entering puberty.
