The Point of Men’s Cults - Facts So Romantic
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Men’s cults are not universal, but they recur throughout history and across cultures. Does their pervasiveness tell us something important about evolution and human behavior?From The Cassowary’s Revenge (1997) by Donald TuzinOne surprising thing about secret societies is how visible they are. In the ethnographic record, they can be found almost everywhere. They’re particularly well documented across Melanesia,1 the Amazon,2 and West Africa.3 There are mixed-sex,4 and all female,5 secret societies, but the ones that physically coerce, ritually deceive, and violently punish outsiders and taboo-violators are often entirely made up of males.6,7 These all-male secret societies are best described as “men’s cults,” because of their exclusionary nature and strong connection to male sex roles. They can be (...)