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7/9/2025, 4:09:59 AM
>But while here same-sex activity, although practiced by all, takes place in secret (at night on a common sleeping mat or in the day in the deserted bush), the basic picture changes when one comes to the Gangellas [possibly the Ovagandjera, an Ambo group], in the area east of the Wawihé. Katumua k’ame means literally, “My girl,” but is also applied to the lover and is regarded as a public designation. The eponji of the Wawihé is called among the Ovigangellas m’uzonj’ame and has a similar meaning as katumua.
>Katumua, like m’uzonj’ame, are usually acquired in the following manner. A young, unmarried, circumcised male, around eighteen years old, sees a boy of about twelve years that pleases him. He goes to the father and asks if he could receive the boy for a katumua. In return for a present—a cow, a piece of cloth, or about 40.50$00 [sic]—the father agrees, and the boy draws his older friend into his hut. They are now recognized as being in that “relation.” If the older one later marries this changes nothing in his relation to his katumua; he merely sleeps alternately with his wife and his boyfriend, until finally the boyfriend, growing up, wants to marry. Then the older one brings the younger one back to his father and pays the agreed price. The younger now, for his part, takes a boyfriend, while the older looks for a new katumua. So it comes to be that almost every man without exception, whether single or married, has his lover.
>Whereas podicatio is regarded disdainfully by the Wawihé, the podicator even being punished with beatings, here the podicator, called m’ndumbi, as well as podication prompts only a slight smirk and is not at all punishable. [...]
>The term kuzunda refers to a manner of mutual masturbation in which the glans are rubbed against each other. Solitary masturbation is so unfamiliar among them that not a single word exists for it; in any case, I can offer no example of one.
>Katumua, like m’uzonj’ame, are usually acquired in the following manner. A young, unmarried, circumcised male, around eighteen years old, sees a boy of about twelve years that pleases him. He goes to the father and asks if he could receive the boy for a katumua. In return for a present—a cow, a piece of cloth, or about 40.50$00 [sic]—the father agrees, and the boy draws his older friend into his hut. They are now recognized as being in that “relation.” If the older one later marries this changes nothing in his relation to his katumua; he merely sleeps alternately with his wife and his boyfriend, until finally the boyfriend, growing up, wants to marry. Then the older one brings the younger one back to his father and pays the agreed price. The younger now, for his part, takes a boyfriend, while the older looks for a new katumua. So it comes to be that almost every man without exception, whether single or married, has his lover.
>Whereas podicatio is regarded disdainfully by the Wawihé, the podicator even being punished with beatings, here the podicator, called m’ndumbi, as well as podication prompts only a slight smirk and is not at all punishable. [...]
>The term kuzunda refers to a manner of mutual masturbation in which the glans are rubbed against each other. Solitary masturbation is so unfamiliar among them that not a single word exists for it; in any case, I can offer no example of one.
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