Summary

Dr. Peter Luce, a prominent sexologist from Manhattan, is on an anthropological trip to study the unusual sexual practices of the (fictionalized) Dawat culture. The Dawat culture practices strict gender segregation, male and female live in separate quarters, and males only interact with females for reproduction or to receive domestic service. The culture also practices ritualized fellatio, in which young boys will consume as much semen as possible in order to ensure that they grow up to become men and warriors. Luce believes that he has no right to condemn this practice, since it exists in a different society, whereas it would be abhorrent if it happened in Western cultures.

Luce had received wide acclaim during the late 60’s and early 70’s for his sexological research on intersexuality and gender as a social construct. His theories went against the prominent belief that...