Deverciix] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 439 



another woman, and could even engage in physical combat with her 

 rival (Case 105). Moreover, apparently only female shamans (Case 

 49) and one female transvestite shaman (Case 105) ever tried to be- 

 witch the spouse or lover who rejected or deserted them. In brief, 

 only Mohave women appear to have reacted to emotional frustration 

 with overt (real or magical) aggression. This more or less tolerated 

 aggressive reaction to an emotional loss was so closely identified with 

 femininity that even male transvestites were permitted to fight their 

 (female) rivals (Devereux, 1937 b). In brief, it was the Mohave 

 woman's privilege to give free rein to her jealousy and resentment 

 when a beloved person deserted her. Hence, unlike men, she was 

 poorly prepared to react to the death of a beloved person with stoical 

 resignation. Given this — definitely Mohave — conception of a "typi- 

 cally" feminine reaction to an irreversible emotional loss, it was inevi- 

 table that funeral suicide should be thought of as a typically feminine 

 reaction pattern. It is, in fact, quite probable that even if men at- 

 tempting funeral suicide had actually outnumbered women 10 to 1, the 

 Mohave would nonetheless have continued to define funeral suicide as a 

 characterologically feminine reaction. 



The last point to be made in this context is that Mohave attempts 

 to commit funeral suicide seem to be largely dramatic, i.e., more or 

 less hysterical, gestures. Since hysteria is nearly everywhere more 

 common among women than among men, given a ritual opportunity 

 for a grand, and perfectly safe, hysterical gesture, women rather than 

 men would be tempted to make the most of it. This may explain why, 

 in most societies, including even the Mohave, whose women are not 

 noted for their loyalty, the principal — i.e., the most ostentatious and 

 noisy — mourners are usually the women.^^ The one fact which best 

 highlights the validity of these conclusions is that the most serious 

 bums were sustained by a woman, whose subjective reasons, if any, 

 for wishing to leap on her husband's funeral pyre were incompre- 

 hensible even to the Mohave (Case 109), although members of this 

 tribe are often startlingly perceptive (pt. 8, pp. 485-504). 



Subjective motivation^ related to understandable current conflicts, 

 was mentioned only in the case of Anyanyemarm (Case 111). While 

 not even the most innocuous cultural mandates can be implemented 

 behaviorally without at least some subjective motivation (pt. 7, pp. 

 371-431), it is extremely probable that the failure of all remembered 

 attempts to commit funeral suicide is directly attributable to the 

 lack of an effective subjective motivation. In fact, funeral suicide 

 may have so completely deteriorated into a hollow ritual gesture that 

 it is not even suitable any more for the implementation of genuine 



" Needless to say, there are many other reasons, in addition to those just mentioned, 

 why women tend to react to such losses more violently than men. However, an enumera- 

 tion of these additional reasons Is not necessary in the present context. 



