Table 5. Marriage transactions and the value on virginity when maidenhood is short Virginity brides familys contribution contributes Does not contribute ift exchange and indirect dowry (no cases of dowry among these 30 societies) bAll other forms, including absenc ce of transactions ever, we can pose Southeast Asia, known from historical records to have been a region of later marriage(that is, the late teens and early twenties)before Islam became established and, more recently, in areas outside islam s range In the philippines in the 1820s the mean age of a wom an s first marriage was about 20.5; in Hindu Bali in the 1940s, it was 18, as against 14 in Muslim Java( Reid 1988: 158-160). Southeast Asia has also been a region of sexual perr before and beyond Islamic practice, a fact amply documented by observers of all sorts since the 1 6th century. If a girl became pregnant, the couple married; failing that, in some areas infanticide was practiced or the fetus was aborted. Abortion is reported to have been quite common in the 16th-century Philippines, and it is referred to in a 17th-century malay epic as The elite, however, were sexually restrictive even before the advent of islam and in non Islamic countries like Thailand. Speaking of the wealthy urban class, Reid(1988: 157)notes that daughters were guarded"because their marriages involved both property and status. The vast displays of goods in the gift exchanges of the landed and mercantile elite were a far cry from the simple prestations of the peasantry, among whom choice of son-in-law was not a matter of state or commerce. Thus, while the"long maidenhood"explanation holds for Europ does not fit the facts of Southeast Asia, whereas the property and status"explanation applies to both regions. Another explanation for the prescription of virginity, this time one limited to the pastoral belt from North Africa into Central Asia, is grounded in ecological concerns (Schneider 1971) Schneider relates men's control over female sexuality to their general competitiveness in pas- toral regions, where ecological resources are limited and unpredictable, and to the difficulties involved in keeping related men linked to one another in common-interest groups, groups that re vulnerable to fragmentation into self-centered families. In such societies, Schneider asserts women become a kind of resource whose disposal rests with those who dominate them and they are only available to other men through their fathers, brothers, and other male kin. Com mon concern over female kin provides a focus for male kin bonding In many pastoral societies the virginity of daughters and sisters(like the chastity of wives)is marker of the integrity of individual men and of lineages. But whether pastoralism per se is a determining factor in the value on virginity may be questioned. The Standard Sample contains 17 societies for which pastoralism is the major subsistence technique, and we have information on the value on virginity for all but one of them: nine value it, seven do not while the dist irginity practice indirect dowry or gift exchange (Three societies practicing one or mom? bution according to marriage transactions is not significant, seven of the nine societies valuing of these forms do not value virginity. ) These seven societies are all engaged in commercial- as distinct from subsistence--pastoralism, and they inhabit the fringes of the Old High Culture areas of the Mediterranean and East Asia. The societies Schneider discusses may all be pastoral but in my view pastoralism is less instrumental than are characteristics of property relations One important feature of property relations is the disbursement of property; I argue that the consequences of disbursing property through dowry, indirect dowry, or gift exchange are likely make it desirable for parents of daughters to guard their virginity he value on virginityTable 5. Marriage transactions and the value on virginity when maidenhood is short. Transaction according to Virginity bride's family's contribution valued Contributesa Does not contribute' Yes 5 8 No 0 17 aGift exchange and indirect dowry (no cases of dowry among these 30 societies). bAll other forms, including absence of transactions. ever, we can pose Southeast Asia, known from historical records to have been a region of later marriage (that is, the late teens and early twenties) before Islam became established and, more recently, in areas outside Islam's range. In the Philippines in the 1820s, the mean age of a wom￾an's first marriage was about 20.5; in Hindu Bali in the 1940s, itwas 18, as against 14 in Muslim Java (Reid 1988:158-160). Southeast Asia has also been a region of sexual permissiveness, before and beyond Islamic practice, a fact amply documented by observers of all sorts since the 16th century. If a girl became pregnant, the couple married; failing that, in some areas infanticide was practiced or the fetus was aborted. Abortion is reported to have been quite common in the 16th-century Philippines, and it is referred to in a 17th-century Malay epic as a normal occurrence (Reid 1988). The elite, however, were sexually restrictive even before the advent of Islam and in non￾Islamic countries like Thailand. Speaking of the wealthy urban class, Reid (1988:157) notes that daughters were guarded "because their marriages involved both property and status." The vast displays of goods in the gift exchanges of the landed and mercantile elite were a far cry from the simple prestations of the peasantry, among whom choice of son-in-law was not a matter of state or commerce. Thus, while the "long maidenhood" explanation holds for Europe, it does not fit the facts of Southeast Asia, whereas the "property and status" explanation applies to both regions. Another explanation for the prescription of virginity, this time one limited to the pastoral belt from North Africa into Central Asia, is grounded in ecological concerns (Schneider 1971). Schneider relates men's control over female sexuality to their general competitiveness in pas￾toral regions, where ecological resources are limited and unpredictable, and to the difficulties involved in keeping related men linked to one another in common-interest groups, groups that are vulnerable to fragmentation into self-centered families. In such societies, Schneider asserts, women become a kind of resource whose disposal rests with those who dominate them, and they are only available to other men through their fathers, brothers, and other male kin. Com￾mon concern over female kin provides a focus for male kin bonding. In many pastoral societies the virginity of daughters and sisters (like the chastity of wives) is a marker of the integrity of individual men and of lineages. But whether pastoralism per se is a determining factor in the value on virginity may be questioned. The Standard Sample contains 1 7 societies for which pastoralism is the major subsistence technique, and we have information on the value on virginity for all but one of them: nine value it, seven do not. While the distri￾bution according to marriage transactions is not significant, seven of the nine societies valuing virginity practice indirect dowry or gift exchange. (Three societies practicing one or the other of these forms do not value virginity.) These seven societies are all engaged in commercial￾as distinct from subsistence-pastoralism, and they inhabit the fringes of the Old High Culture areas of the Mediterranean and East Asia. The societies Schneider discusses may all be pastoral, but in my view pastoralism is less instrumental than are characteristics of property relations. One important feature of property relations is the disbursement of property; I argue that the consequences of disbursing property through dowry, indirect dowry, or gift exchange are likely to make it desirable for parents of daughters to guard their virginity. the value on virginity 727