The society dating back all the way to the 17th century was a very different time. The Europeans came and they met with the aboriginals for the first time. The European school of through at the time was that women had to follow in the footsteps of their husbands, be a virgin before marriage, and not have a voice about many things. Whereas, with the aboriginals in this time period, it was very socially acceptable to have premarital sex, women had their own voice, and women had their own place in society, contributing to their economy. In comparison, their views and social norms were very different and the Europeans were appalled when they saw how women were “allowed” to behave.
Furthermore, the way western society is now, has a lot of similarities and differences to back in the day between the Europeans and the aboriginals. In a lot of countries still to this day, women are treated the way that the Europeans treated their women. But in Canada, views differ. It is becoming an increasingly normal way of life to have premarital intercourse before even ever considering marriage, women can have any job they choose, women do have a voice and women can be as sexually promiscuous as we want. But, even though this is the case, doesn’t mean that everyone thinks that way. Many people in Canada still believe that sex should be kept for marriage and have a lot more conservative views.
The aspects of indigenous culture that struck me the most is the fact that back in the 17th century and beyond, having sex before marriage, with many partners, and not only for procreation, but for pleasure was acceptable. I had never thought of it that way and it is interesting. We can learn a lot from the indigenous peoples and the way their society was run. We can learn and understand that women weren’t always treated inferior and instead valued and equally encorporated into the society, unlike the Europeans.
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