Patterns of Sexual Behavior: The Athabascans of Interior Alaska

Abstract

Discusses the relationships between personality, sociocultural phenomena, and sexual behavior among the Athabascans. Field observations and projective test protocols were collected from individuals in 4 Athabascan villages and in Fairbanks, Alaska. It is noted that sexual activities are a source of fear and anxiety for both male and female Athabascans, and that sexual intercourse is often accompanied by intoxication and violence. Childhood in Athabascan society was found to be characterized by recurrent threats of hunger, frequent death of siblings, and perception of the mother as sad and distant. It is suggested that these conditions create an Athabascan personality structure based on deeply repressed anger, suppression of affect, and feelings of essential badness. It is concluded that present Athabascan sexual patterns are due to a combination of traditional child-rearing conditions and loosening of previous social controls over aberrant sexual expression. (3 p ref) (PsycInfo Databa