Table of Contents

Introduction to the Paperback Edition 

Editor's Preface 
1 Gilbert H. Herdt 
  Ritualized Homosexual Behavior in the Male Cults of Melanesia, 1862-1983: An Introduction
2 Michael R. Allen 
  Homosexuality, Male Power, and Political Organization in North Vanuatu: A Comparative Analysis
3 J. Van Baal 
  The Dialectics of Sex in Marind-anim Culture
4 Gilbert H. Herdt 
  Semen Transactions in Sambia Culture
5 Kenneth E. Read 
  The Nama Cult Recalled
6 Eric Schwimmer 
  Male Couples in New Guinea
7 Laurent Serpenti 
  The Ritual Meaning of Homosexuality and Pedophilia among the Kimam-Papuans of South Irian Jaya
8 Arve S0rum 
  Growth and Decay: Bedamini Notions of Sexuality
9 Shirley Lindenbaum 
  Variations on a Sociosexual Theme in Melanesia
  
Bibliography 
Contributors 
Index 
Maps
1 New Guinea and adjacent islands
2 Vanuatu (New Hebrides)
3 Southwest New Guinea (lrian Jaya)
Map of Melanesia
frontispiece

About the Author

Gilbert H. Herdt is Professor of Human Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University.

Reviews

"Must reading for serious investigators of sex and gender. . . . This documentation of several societies where homosexual relations among men are both universal and obligatory challenges a number of medical, biological, and psychological theories of homosexuality."--Barry D. Adam, "American Journal of Sociology