Secret Ceremonies in the Forest
In precolonial Papua New Guinea, the Kaluli people held ceremonies called bau a every few years. Inside a dark, secluded house, older men engaged in anal intercourse with boys and younger men across a wide age range. To the participants, this was not a hidden crime; it was a community‑sanctioned rite.
The Kaluli believed that semen transferred through anal sex helped boys grow strong and mature. Disobedient boys who resisted could be sent home, but the secrecy was tightly policed. Women were kept entirely in the dark, and men used a special coded language to conceal the details of these rituals.
Boy-Wives in the Desert
On the other side of the world, some Australian Aboriginal groups, including the Warlpiri, also wove anal sex into their systems of initiation and marriage. Boys, typically initiated between ages 9 and 12, were designated as "boy‑wives" of their future fathers‑in‑law.
Within this arrangement, a boy’s anus was symbolically equated to a girl’s vagina in terms of sexual importance. Anal intercourse formed part of the ritualized relationship, embedding same‑sex penetration squarely within the social fabric rather than at its margins.
Growth, Power, and Silence
In both systems, anal sex functioned as more than physical gratification. It was framed as a transfer of power, strength, and adult status. Older men were gatekeepers of masculinity, while boys’ bodies became sites where culture inscribed its harshest lessons about hierarchy and obedience.
The secrecy around these practices—especially the exclusion of women and the use of coded speech—shows how deeply sexuality can be entangled with power. Who is allowed to know, speak, or even imagine certain acts becomes as political as the acts themselves.
Rethinking "Natural" Sexuality
These traditions challenge modern assumptions that certain sexual behaviors are universally considered private, taboo, or exclusively about personal pleasure. In Kaluli and Warlpiri worlds, anal sex could be duty, medicine, or initiation before it was ever framed as orientation.
Takeaway
By casting boys as "wives" and semen as fuel for growth, these societies turned anal intercourse into a ritual tool for shaping men. However one judges these practices today, they reveal how profoundly culture can redefine the meaning of sex—sometimes in ways that leave lasting marks on both bodies and communities.