Post #712447 by christiki295 on Sat, Mar 29, 2014 11:22 AM

On 2014-03-29 10:26, TikiTacky wrote:
Here's a very interesting article on sexual practices in pre-contact Hawaii: http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/2000to2004/2004-sexual-behavior-in-pre-contact-hawaii.html

Good post.

I thought this discussion of nudity being non sexual was interesting:

In traditional Hawai‘i, nudity was not seen primarily as being sexual. Warm climate often dictates less clothing. The basic dress was a malo (loin cloth) for adult males and a leaf or tapa (bark) skirt for adult females. The female breasts were not covered. Very young children went uncovered. A young male was permitted to wear a malo only after he began to live in the hale mua (“men’s house”), usually between the ages of 4 and 6 (Handy and Pukui, 1958, P. 9). Once the pubic hair began to grow, the genitals were covered, reportedly out of respect for the piko ma‘i (genitals) and to protect the organs that gave progeny. A tapa robe might be added for protection against the cold or sun (Handy, 1930, P. 10), not for modesty.