ABSTRACT
Marriage in Tikopia involves a great change for both man and woman. On the part of the woman it means abandoning all sexual freedom, committing herself to bearing children, obeying in many things the dictates of her husband and his relatives, and leaving her father’s house to take up residence in another’s. On the other hand it means having a house of which she is entitled to call herself the mistress, a man on whom she can depend for economic co-operation, and a safe and legalized sexual cohabitation. Marriage is looked upon as emancipation, because it enables a woman to exercise authority in a sphere of her own. Since there is mutual deference between husband and wife, marriage by explicit social custom means freedom not servitude for her. Young women in song sometimes assert their intention of scorning marriage, but there is in Tikopia no other career which offers any real social advantages. The type of spirit medium-ship which obtains does not sufficiently differentiate its practitioners from the general body of people to provide women with any great inducement to pursue it as their sole vocation.
