Masculine Sexuality, Violence and Sexual Exploitation in Micronesia

This article concerns aspects of masculine sexuality, violence and sexual exploitation in Micronesia, with particular attention to Chuukese and Pohnpeian gender ideology and gender relations. Above all, masculine sexuality and sexual exploitation is discussed in the context of Micronesian concepts of ownership and exchange, reciprocity ('sharing') and power differences between men, women, kin and non-kin. Despite the presence of alternate and, in some areas, competing value systems stemming from Christianity, or an Americanised constitution and legal system, core traditional values related to male sexuality from the pre-Christian, pre-colonial times still show their presence in masculine (and feminine) thought and practice more than one might expect.