ABSTRACT
Views about the nature of sexuality form a significant part of a society’s total complex of cultural constructs relating to the nature of men and women and the right and proper relationship between the genders. However, ascertaining these views is a difficult task for an anthropologist since they are among those intimate areas of life which are verbalized with reluctance to strangers and outsiders. It may also be that most anthropologists, for reasons of tact or personal shyness, have either not pursued this area of inquiry or not written much about it. The paucity of data on this subject in the literature is indicative of the reluctance of both anthropologists and their informants to discuss sex and sexuality. When, as was the case in this particular research, the major thrust of inquiry has been in areas only tangential to that of cultural constructs of sexuality, it is obviously difficult to generalize these constructs at a later date. This chapter, therefore, represents only some tentative thoughts on the nature of Kikuyu views of sexuality. It is an area which would necessitate a thorough, more focused inquiry at a later date. For the moment I am interested in examining one aspect of Kikuyu sexual relations – that of the commercialized sexual relationship – in order to see what the ‘sex for sale’ syndrome can tell us about the more normative sexual relationships between men and women. It is also of interest to see whether a careful consideration of Kikuyu ideas on the commercialized sexual relationship can tell us something more general about gender relations.
