by wildbill » Wed Dec 22, 2021 8:33 am
shadylady: I think the language you use could be a little imprecise. You say "having sex" and in the minds of different people that could mean a lot of things ranging from anal or oral sex, to mutual masturbation, to group masturbation, or possibly a few other things on top of that. Also Native American cultures were quite diverse, although the consensus is that most were quite promiscuous by European (post-Christian as opposed to Pagan) standards and even Europeans didn't have the same age restrictions which exist in our current culture. It was common for Europeans to marry at a young age and child brides were not unheard of. However, homosexuality was condemned by the European settlers, and Native American cultures, for the most part, didn't have those boundaries in place and some even believed in a "third sex" which was neither male or female. There are various ways of interpreting that, but the point is that Native American patterns of sexuality were quite different from European patterns of sexuality and Europeans were EXTREMELY intolerant of any form of sex which did not stay well within the boundaries of what they considered to be normal. There is little doubt that Native American children sent to boarding schools were severely punished for any sexual behavior which was considered deviant and at a boys only (or girls only) facility, basically any sexual behavior would be seen as deviant. Those running said institutions probably considered the death of a deviant a small price to pay for the overall betterment of society as they saw it. It's difficult to imagine the extreme evil and vile nature of placing children in a single sex institution and then punishing them for behaviors which they considered normal according to their cultural standards. In other words, "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."