Talk:Kadiwéu

Self-abortion, male transvestites etc
I read in a Lonely Planet guidebook, of all places, that "as a result of being nomadic people in a region without abundant food, the Guaicuru women performed self-abortions, refusing to have children until they were near menopause. On longer journeys, when the women stayed behind, the Guaicuru men took male transvestites with them as sexual partners. Both women and men could divorce easily, and often did, several times a year."

I think these claims are worth following up, finding reliable sources to support or disprove them and include in this article.  Claret Ash  00:27, 15 January 2012 (UTC)


 * More information on the above was included in one of John Hemming's books (Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians), I think. Sorry I no longer have my copy, but I think that book might be a useful reference for the above. In the context of Hemmings' book, self-abortion was a practice for nomadic peoples to to the rigours of constantly moving from place to place, and to maintain population numbers. The transvestism was linked to raiding parties that set out on horseback for weeks at a time, and were men-only. Apparently, some male members of other tribes (Guato or Terena?) were taken along on those raids to perform the duties that would normally be allocated to females. This could potentially be read to be sexual partners, or could potentially also refer to food preparation and other traditionally female roles. Its been a long time since I read the book, so I couldn't say to be sure. Anyone with access to Hemmings' might be able to verify and suggest an acceptable edit.
 * Bald white guy (talk) 08:25, 3 January 2013 (UTC)