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The Sexual Life of Savages
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Historical SummaryAn interesting variety of sister equivalence is reported by Lowie. In America the avoidance between brother and sister was never of the extreme form. They could usually at least converse and frequently exhibited a deep sense of responsibility for each other. Among the Hidatsa there was a transfer of this responsibility pattern to the relation of brothers-in-law, each regarding the other as a sister equivalent:
Brothers-in-law love each other. A man will present his sister’s husband with a gun and horses, and on the other hand receives game from his wife’s brother, as well as horses captured on a war expedition. When a man recites his coups, he will say, "I captured a horse and gave it to my brother-in-law."
As already noted, a man may jestingly refer to his wife’s brother as his wife and is in turn called husband. This mode of address is used on the battlefield. If a wounded man catches sight of his sister’s husband, he will say, "Husband, I am getting killed." Then his brother-in-law, if a brave man, will give help or even die with his wife’s brother. Unless he did so, his brother-in-law would jeer at him for his cowardice, saying "My husband is like a woman, he left me alone." A man who has captured a horse will say to his wife’s brother, "My wife, take this horse." Otherwise his brother-in-law will say, "My husband got enemy’s horses but did not give me any, he is bad!" If a man’s wife’s brothers capture horses while he himself does not, he is ashamed because his "wives" are braver than himself. If a man is sent out by his war party to get water of a dark night, his wife’s brother may say, "He calls me ’wife,’ yet he is more afraid than I am." When sent for water by one’s "wife," a man cannot refuse to go.4
4Lowien/an/an/an/an/an/a, "Notes on the . . . Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow Indians," 48–49.
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Chicago: "The Sexual Life of Savages," The Sexual Life of Savages in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed October 1, 2023, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PSI1XS27QVMYST1.
MLA: . "The Sexual Life of Savages." The Sexual Life of Savages, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 1 Oct. 2023. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PSI1XS27QVMYST1.
Harvard: , 'The Sexual Life of Savages' in The Sexual Life of Savages. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 1 October 2023, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PSI1XS27QVMYST1.
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