A Critical Look at the Sambia

In order to become a man in Sambia culture one must rid themselves of the pollutants associated with womanhood and take in the fluids that are necessary to becoming a man (Herdt). This rite of passage is based on the idea that women are pollution to men and when a boy becomes a man he must rid himself of the womanhood that has polluted his life so thoroughly (Herdt). Elders take him violently from his …

…have this belief in order to continue the warrior tradition this society has maintained for so long. The rites of passage in the Sambian culture effectively use the women of the culture as tools to create fierce warriors out of the men. The elders continue a tradition of creating misogynistic, sexually frustrated, and traumatized men through the rites of passage in order to make sure that they are aggressive warriors with high thresholds for pain.