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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



(gonorrhea). After several months of marriage, 

 or after the birth of the first child, relations 

 take place two or three times a week. Many 

 women rather grudgingly give themselves to 

 their husbands, feeling that the latter are too 

 demanding, but that it is better to satisfy them 

 than to give them an excuse to seek other women. 

 The sexual act, which normally takes place in 

 the prone position with man superior, is done 

 primarily for the satisfaction of the man. Ap- 

 parently very few husbands try to see that their 

 wives get maximum satisfaction out of the re- 

 lation, and in many cases cohabitation leaves 

 the woman unsatisfied. Thus, from the very 

 beginning the relationship of the husband as 

 the dominant marriage partner is emphasized. 



Fidelity is expected on the part of a wife, 

 but the husband is free to seek other women if 

 he so desires. Although there are probably some 

 cases of mutual faithfulness over long periods 

 of years, most men at one time or another seek 

 other companions. Muleteers are said, without 

 exception, to visit houses of prostitution in Palz- 

 cuaro, Ario, Tacambaro, and other towns visit- 

 ed in the course of their travels. In Tzintzun- 

 tzan itself there are no prostitutes in the sense 

 of women who can be visited by any man with 

 ready money. But informants named about 10 

 local women who were felt to be rather lax in 

 their morals, and about 8 more who formerly 

 had been so but who had now settled down. 

 Surprisingly, and contradicting other data, some 

 in this latter group are among the most respect- 

 ed and happily married of all women. Perhaps 

 such talk is just gossip; in such matters one 

 never can be sure. All informants insisted that 

 girls of doubtful virtue had affairs with men 

 simply por cariho — for affection^and that they 

 would be scandalized at the thought of accept- 

 ing compensation. Lack of formal houses of 

 prostitution is probably more a function of the 

 small size of Tzintzuntzan than of any innate 

 moral quality in the men of the town. 



Figures for illegitimacy are surprisingly low. 

 Legally, an illegitimate child is one born to 

 parents who are not married civilly. Practical- 

 ly, they are those born to parents not also mar- 

 ried by the Church. Though it is impossible to 

 tell about intentional abortion to avoid illegiti- 

 mate births, Tzintzuntzan records during the 

 period 1931-44 show from three to six illegiti- 

 mate births annually, or 5.7 percent of all reg- 



istered births. A half or more of these were 

 born to couples who had formed permanent 

 unions, but who, because of Church prohibition 

 and the practical problems connected with di- 

 vorce, were unable legally to dissolve the union 

 with first spouses. This low illegitimacy figure 

 indicates that basic sexual morality of women 

 within the village is amazingly good. I suspect 

 that the ratio of illegitimacy for Tzintzuntzan is 

 considerably lower than that of Mexico as a 

 whole, and far lower than that of the large 

 cities. 



Illegitimate children are for the most part 

 little handicapped, at least as far as social ac- 

 ceptance is concerned. Indirectly they may suf- 

 fer somewhat in that, for their parents' indis- 

 cretion, they may be accused of coming from a 

 low-class family. By and large, however, it is 

 recognized that an accident of birth is not their 

 fault, and that they should not be stigmatized. 



The success of marriages is difficult to esti- 

 mate. Most seem to result in stable unions, 

 though few are without rather serious tensions. 

 I have never seen Nati and Vicente angry with 

 each other, nor have Faustino and Pachita quar- 

 reled seriously, to the best of my knowledge. 

 Carlota P., on the other hand, has been less 

 fortunate. She was married at the age of 15 

 and her first two children died, one a late 

 miscarriage and the other a stillbirth. Gildar- 

 do M., her husband, felt this to be a personal 

 offense to him, and beat her unmercifully, say- 

 ing that it was all her fault. Often she went 

 home weeping, and several times he was called 

 to court to explain his actions. When a live 

 child was born and continued to thrive his at- 

 titude softened, and he is now, as the father of 

 three children, much less tyrannical. Neverthe- 

 less, he continues to be very stingy with money, 

 and Carlota usually does not have enough cloth- 

 ing. Once her mother gave her money to buy a 

 ready-made dress in Patzcuaro, but Gildardo 

 beat her badly afterward, saying that people 

 would talk, that they would accuse him of not 

 providing for his wife — which was absolutely 

 true. To a considerable extent, though docu- 

 mentation is difficult, domestic tranquillity seems 

 to run in families from one generation to the 

 next. Sons of wife-beaters are apt to be wife- 

 beaters, and sons of non-wife-beaters will like- 

 wise follow the father's example. 



