If aliens really have been watching us from above, it’s only a matter of time before they come down with a million questions about the strangest of all human behaviours: sex. Human sexuality – and the problems it can create – has started wars, toppled governments, promoted a number of technological breakthroughs, driven artists to the edge of madness and is perhaps wholly responsible for the entire genre of Country music. These sex rituals from around the world will illustrate that human sexuality is, simply put, the strangest and most captivating element of human nature.

The Original Cougars

Cougars, women who date and have sex with men markedly younger than them, have gotten a lot of attention lately. Television shows, the media and movies may have led you to believe that Cougars are a new phenomena, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Mangala is a small island in the South Pacific Island. Native inhabitants have developed a keen interest in sex and children there are introduced to sex education very early. Boys are introduced to masturbation around the age of 7 and at 13 they are given a truly “hands on” lesson from an experienced older woman. This older woman teaches them how to have sex with an emphasis on controlling their orgasm and delivering multiple orgasms to their partner.

The Island of Nope

At the other end of the spectrum is the island of Inis Beag, just off the coast of Ireland. A survey in 1966 revealed that the culture there was perhaps the most sexually repressive in the world. Locals didn’t engage in any sort of premarital sex and, once married, sex was conducted with clothes on, the lights off and as quickly as humanly possible. No sex education was ever offered to children and women believed menstruation and menopause could lead to a variety of physical and mental ailments. Although still secluded today, reports are that a bit of fun has crept into the sex lives of Inis Beag natives though they are still thought to be quite conservative.

A Different Take on Sibling Rivalry

The Himalayas are home to several different tribes which practice fraternal polyandry, the practice of one wife being shared among the brothers of one family. The practice was born out of necessity. With land at a premium in the Himalayas, families simply can’t divvy up family farms and give a parcel to each son in order to start a family. Instead, brothers share a single wife who schedules time with each brother.

Ancient Egypt Just Got Weird(er)

Giant pyramids, mummified remains, men who wore more jewellery and make-up than women and a strange cultural obsession with cats has made Ancient Egypt a favourite subject for many. The sex lives of ancient Egyptians has been the focus of many stories and documentaries but the sex life of the Nile? According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, the semen of gods was seen as life giving in the most literal sense of the word.  The god Atum was thought to have masturbated and his ejaculate actually created the entire Universe. The rhythm and flow of the Nile River was seen as being caused directly by Atum’s “original seed” so to speak. Pharos were considered to be gods and so they performed rituals where they masturbated into the river in order to maintain its strong flow.

Move Over James Westfall and Doctor Kenneth Noisewater

Brian Fontana isn’t the only guy who has a name for his genitals – and he wasn’t the first. Sexuality in pre-contact Hawaiian culture was filled with a celebration of sex – and sex organs. Commoners and royalty alike had public names for their genitals and sex organs were a common theme in songs and stories. They even had their own chants, called mele ma’i, which described a person’s sex organs and what they could do with them.

Sometimes it seems as though the world is becoming increasingly sexualized but, as these rituals show, humans have been finding strange ways to get off for centuries. Whether a society chooses to hide sex away or celebrate it in the open, sex is what drives much of our culture, our values and how we see the rest of the world.