Pollute

Quote

A woman’s maternal or procreative role is clearly separated from her conjugal, sexual one, with the intimate physical relationship a woman has with her husband, on the one hand, and her children, on the other, being demarcated by ritual restrictions (kimisiro). Thus if a man becomes seriously ill or incontinent a wife cannot nurse him for only a woman related as ‘mother’ can wash and clean his anus and genitals. In a like manner, a man may never touch or suck his wife’s breasts for these ‘belong to the children’ and any injury here is an offence which pollutes the couple and requires ritual annulment and compensation.

• Source: Heald, Suzette. Controlling anger: the sociology of Gisu violence. Manchester: Manchester University Press, for the International African Institute, London, 1989.
• Culture: Bagisu
• Location: Africa