"Whenever you see a group of Balinese men squatting idly in the council shed or along the road in their hips down, shoulders forward, knees up fashion, half or more of them will have a rooster in his hands, holding it between his thighs, bouncing it gently up and down to strengthen its legs, ruffling its feathers with abstract sensuality, pushing it out against a neighbor's rooster to rouse its spirit, withdrawing it toward his loins to calm it again. Now and then, to get a feel for another bird, a man will fiddle this way with someone else's cock for a while, but usually by moving around to squat in place behind it, rather than just having it passed across to him as though it were merely and animal."
To me this whole passage seems to be suggesting that there is some kind of perversion existing between these Balinese men and their birds. I also thought it was funny that Geertz refers to the birds as "cocks" throughout the entire work, except in this quote. Nice job dodging that bullet Geertz.
"a man will fiddle this way with someone else's cock for awhile"
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad someone pointed out to the humorous passages like this one.