That old feeling
Peter Ackroyd
Sex And Superstition G. L. Simons (Abelard-Schumann £2.50) Sceptics might say that the only connection between sex and superstition is one of human weakness — with superstition one fools one self, and with sex one fools others. But sceptics are notoriously chaste and irrational men, and the tone of Mr Simons's book is very different. Sex and Superstition takes as. its theme the perversion and destruction of the sexual instincts by superstitious beliefs and practices. Simons's earlier book, with the engagingly twin title of Pornography and Prejudice,, was directed against the Longford Report and Mr Simons is a very modern and enlightened writer. That is, in this book he is strictly against superstition and definitely for sex. But he is, according to the blurb, an information consultant by training, and it is to be hoped that he would ignore his personal feelings in this matter. Certainly his account is documented with the thoroughness and detail one would expect from a consultant, but the final effect of the book is one that is patchy and simplistic. Sex is to Mr Simons what horses were to Mr Gradgrind. He wants facts, and his book is stuffed with them. He starts with the Aztecs and ends with a thesis entitled 'A Pilot Study Of The Peripheral Behaviour Of Sexual Mate Swappers,' and there is no time to draw breath in between. The first chapter, for example, attempts a definition of superstition with an electicism and range of cultural reference that would make even Levi-Strauss blush. But Simons merely adds example upon example, and never suggests a particular definition. Superstition is simply that which is irrational, and what is irrational is superstitious. It is this kind of argument which prepares us for statements like, "People learn, i.e. they soak up their cultures." And if we soak up Mr Simons's brand of anthropology, our sex lives will be less soggy.
But this is to anticipate his moral. The earlier chapters of the book deal with sexual superstition in primitive societies' and ' early civilisations.' After reading about the ' irrational ' and quite unnecessary behaviour of the natives, one is supposed to feel grateful that one is neither primitive nor early. According to Mr Simons. But there is a problem here. Since he has never defined the context of 'superstition,' his account ranges over a variety of different activities. Their common factor presumably resides in the fact that they are, on the surface, apparently unmotivated by the conventional laws of causality. But Mr Simons does not describe the formal and structural role of tribal rituals and habits, which he describes with a twentieth-century noblesse oblige, nor does he suggest their social function within the tribe. He does not dis tinguish between magic and other forms of religious ritual, nor between natural and reli gious explanation. The sex life of the natives seems for him to consist of a number of salacious details, and the customs of the tribes are grouped together for their meatiness. If the book were entititled, 'What An Intelligent Woman Of Forty Should Know About Primitive Sex,' its point would be adequately made.
When the cloves are poor in Amboyna, for example the men go naked to the plantation at night. And there proceed to ejaculate upon the trees to fertilise them. At the same time they call out for "More cloves" Perhaps the technologists could try this for North Sea gas. Another intriguing ceremony is found among the Bisayo tribe of the Philippine Islands. At a time of poor harvest, it seems, the young virgins of the tribes are systematically violated by the elder government officials. This invigorates the crops. One can see the men at the Treasury during a
'the intrinsic interest of these details is sluBmupt
dampened by the solemn and moralistic use to which they are put. It is not that Mr Si mons is backward or straight-laced about these things, but simply that he is against any kind of behaviour which does not seem to him entirely rational and modern. His third chapter, for example, dismisses an entire religious tradition for being traditional: In short, the author sees Judaeo-Christian philosophy as a vast superstition, with irrational consequences in law, education and morality.
Just how vast 'superstition ' can spread is indicated by the fact that Mr Simons can equate in this context Judaic forms of phallic worship with the banning of miniskirts from St Peter's Cathedral, Now I may be being ir rational about this, but these don't seem to me to be compatible within the same enquiry. It is only within the weakest definition that the emblems of symbolic history can be confused with the vagaries of contemporary fashion. Mr Simons has his card-index confused. A the description of superstition grows wider and wider, history becomes a night mare. Even that meek and civilised man, the scientist, is not spared. Did you know that the Japanese could lengthen the penis by a process that seems very much like that for the preparation of kippers: The washing is for enlarging, the smoking for toughening, and the pulling is for lengthening.
This is not an imprtant detail in itself, but all of Mr Simons's examples are chosen with this mixture of prurience and superiority. One gets the impression that, for him, whatever has been now disproved must have always been foolish and laughable. And, not to labour the point, superstitious. But the burden of Mr Simons' moralising falls upon our present time. 'Modern Super stition 'is the title of the final chapter, and we realise the advantagE of Mr Simons's wide definitions and inexact descriptions. For his argument becomes much simpler to make. His whole history of primitive tomfoolery has been to prepare us for the shock that we our selves are not wholly enlightened. Mr Simons condemns as superstitious the Catholic prohibition of contraception, the concern over sex education in the schools, the concern over ve nereal disease and the prohibition of four-letter words from the media. Complete freedom is the rational way for Mr Simons, and it does not occur to him that there may be an emotional and social logic behind decisions such as these which surpass the scope of the poor reason. But since he has never defined ' reason,' we are not quite sure what its scope might be. For him, seg should be treated as a rational activity and should he under no restraints or taboos; it is simply division and multiplication, and the lowest common factor. He says, for example that
A persistent superstition in most societies is the absolute sanctity of the marriage bond.
And we old and young fogies who care about each other are being irrational. Perfectly true, of course, and thank God for it. I suddenly feel a, distinct sympathy for the primitive and the early; these modern superstitions are too much for me.
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