Ancient Sexual Rituals Still Performed

A recent National Geographic magazine featured worldwide religious and cultural rituals, showing what was involved in becoming a man and becoming a woman in lesser-known tribes. I was rather disgusted to find that nearly all the rituals involve the boy and sometimes the girl having sexual relations with the leader, and some form of genital mutilation is performed - piercings, cutting, or sewing. For the boys, it was a test of manhood to take the pain without any change of expression.

We can see some of these sexual infatuations in our religious customs, with very different treatment based on gender. And since the leaders of the primitive tribes are nearly always male and the boys are made to perform acts on them, it seems too similar to what we have learned about Catholic priests to be ignored.

It brought home just how primitive we still are as a species. 

One of the main reasons I think so many cultures perform such ridiculous rituals is that in ancient times there were not that many activities – no cell phones, no piano lessons, movies or restaurants - so the focus was on the body. We still perform the bodily rituals of the ancient tribes as if they are important.