Abstemious Dani

They do not make love during the first two years of marriage, and they abstain completely for four to six years after the birth of a child. Premarital and extramarital sex are virtually unknown, and there is apparently no homosexuality or other sexual outlet. What is more, no one seems to show any signs of unhappiness or stress.

Superhumans? Subhumans? Figments of a science-fiction writer's imagination? In fact, the Dani are living quite nicely, thank you, in the Grand Valley of West Irian (formerly West New Guinea), where they were studied for 2 1/2 years by Karl Heider, an anthropologist from the University of South Carolina. Heider, who has taught at Harvard, Brown and Stanford, describes the abstemious sexual behavior of the 5,000-member tribe in the current issue of Man, the journal of Britain's Royal Anthropological Institute. He reports finding no strong sanctions against sexual activity or any other ready explanation for the undernourished libidos of the Dani. Under questioning, tribesmen said violation of the post partum abstinence would cause trouble with the tribe's ghosts. Yet the Dani are notably blase about their ghosts, and Heider concludes that their observance of this supernatural sanction "must be understood as fairly casual, pro forma."

Raising Pigs. The Dani simply do not seem to have much drive, sexual or otherwise. There are few intense emotions, little artistic achievement and few fights. Instead of expressing anger, a Dani tribesman usually moves away from an offending situation. Wars, according to Heider, have the emotional content of deer hunts in America. The warriors chat for a long while, fight for an hour, then fall back for more conversation. Revenge and anger rarely play a role--the Dani simply want to placate their ghosts and end the fighting as quickly as possible. Their only real interest seems to be in raising pigs and growing yams.

Heider has no idea why the Dani energy level is so low. The tribe seems to have a low infant-mortality rate, an adequate diet and no serious diseases. While a hidden genetic or biological factor may be responsible, Heider prefers to believe the Dani "low-energy system" is simply cultural. If so, Western theories about the innate power of the sexual drive--mostly derived from Freud--may need some adjustment.

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