Comparative Adolescent Female Sexual Development Western vs. Mosuo Society: Reflection

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Introduction

Of all the Unit 2 readings, the papers by Roberts (2013) and Pearson (2018) interested me the most as they provide a stark contrast of Western female adolescent sexual development to my favorite subject of interest in human sexuality: the sexual framework of the matriarchal Mosuo population in Southwest China near Lugu Lake. Pearson and Roberts taught me that there are two primary ways Western culture understands and sees the sexual development of adolescent females: sociologically and biologically. The feminist argument emerged that many of these Western conversations have victimized or demonized the sexual coming-of-age of young girls, making it an “issue” to be toxically controlled or “solved.” Reading these papers has reinforced to me that social constructs have more influence than biological factors; on the negative end, these constructs can powerfully root sexual autonomy in shame and misinformation and, as a byproduct, make young female sexual development taboo. In contrast, the Mosuo acknowledge adolescent female sexual development as a simple truth of life with no shame.

The Western Context: Scripts and Socialization

In High School Context, Heterosexual Scripts, and Young Women’s Sexual Development, Jennifer Pearson (2018) explains how high school culture cultivates the heterosexual “sexual scripts” of young men and women, influencing their attitudes well into adulthood. One thing mentioned is how boys are indoctrinated to be the initiators and pursuers of sex, while young women are positioned as the passive gatekeepers (Pearson, 2018). In contrast to young men, young women are taught to abstain from sexual exploration with themselves and “too many boys, creating a palpable idea of sex that is baked in shame, guilt, and the prioritization of their male counterparts’ pleasure over their own. The desire in women coming of sexual age and puberty doesn’t disappear, however, so young women are forced to satisfy their natural pubescent desires as covertly as possible or not at all. This also leads to less trust and communication with parents, less sex education sought out, and a higher vulnerability to sexual violence in silence.

In the Roberts (2013) paper, the author explains how sexualization is framed as a “loss of innocence” — a concept very representative of the “virginity loss” philosophy in Western culture (Roberts, 2013). Roberts also critiques theories like the BSD (Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper) model, which attempts to frame early puberty as a biological response to “inadequate” social environments. This reinforces the idea that in America, early pubescent development in young women is viewed as a social risk to be intercepted and tamped down on. Western systems quintessentially call for external social control over the sexual emergence of adolescent women.

The Mosuo Counter-Example: Tisese and Agency

The “walking marriage” is a non-contractual union called tisese, practiced by the Mosuo in which lovers live separately from one another, and in their respective matrilineal households.

Because the women of the Mosuo population inherit property, land, and their own economic capital, they essentially exterminate the economic and social pressures often found in Western nuclear households. While Western adolescent teens are entrenched in heterosexual scripts that shame them and force sexual exploration underground — into cars, hallways, and football fields, under bleachers, an empty home when the parents are away, etc. — Mosuo families treat adolescent sexual exploration as a natural expectation of life. This acceptance is so ingrained that Mosuo parental figures build a “Flower Chamber room” inside the matrilineal house specifically for young women to receive male visitors and have safe privacy(Choo, 2017). With the removal of shame around female sexual development, autonomy for a young woman in a Mosuo community is ushered in right within the safety of the home.

Synthesis and Personal Reflection

Whenever I am out and about in America, there is a proud naïveté and unsupported confidence that its philosophy of sexualization is “universal.” However, when I bring up counter-narratives like the Mosuo, it’s almost as if the individuals I’m debating with, shut down, short circuit, having nowhere for their fragile reality to run. Western education could largely benefit from simply knowing the other options for sexual frameworks. Because of this, I have long-term plans to build robust curriculums on alternative social sexual frameworks and alternative family

systems. I believe that by exposing students to models like the Mosuo, we can begin to dismantle the “one-size-fits-all” script that causes so much harm to individuality.

Conclusion

Many in Western society may argue that western social sexual scripts provide a foundation for young women and boys to follow, but the issue is that many inhabitants begin to believe their way is the only way and shame others into doing it their way. Different individuals have different goals, contexts, and motivations, and the blanket application of Western scripts can lead to shame, guilt, depression, and even suicide for those who don’t fit the mold. If Western society truly cares about the wellbeing of young people as much as it claims, it could start by being more like the Mosuo — seeing female sexual development as a shameless truth that needs to be fostered in a safe, supportive environment.

References

Choo, W. (2017). Kingdom of women: Life, love and death in China’s hidden mountains. I.B.

Tauris.

Pearson, J. (2018). High school context, heterosexual scripts, and young women’s sexual

development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47(7), 1469 — 1485.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0863-0

Roberts, C. (2013). Evolutionary psychology, feminism and early sexual development. Feminist

Theory, 14(3), 295 — 304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700113499849

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