“Sex Stead” is an experiment of an anthropologist who wanted to prove the cruelty of people, but could not

What will happen if you place 5 young men and 6 women unfamiliar with each other on a small raft, and send them to swimming on 101 days? Such a strange experiment was conducted by the Mexican anthropologist Santiago Genovés in the early 70s. Participants in this bold project had to cross the Atlantic Ocean on the Acali raft 12 by 7 meters. The scientist called the experiment “the project of the world”, but the journalists immediately gave him another name-“sex carpet”.

The goal of Henovex was to study the behavior of people who were in an extreme situation. Participants broke off relations with the world and went to meet with people who were unknown in the company whom they had not yet known before. During the navigation, they had to take what was happening to the movie cameras, keep diaries and fill out tests on various topics – from personal relationships (who you like and who is not) to masturbation.

To the question of journalists why it is impossible to conduct an experiment by simply isolating the participants from the outside world, for example, in the forest, Santiago Henvest answered:

“You cannot conduct such an experiment on land because people can escape. We want to see how much a person is really able to endure. ”

The insidious plan of the anthropologist

The scientist posted announcements of the competition for applicants. Suddenly, thousands of people responded to them. But Henovew had strict requirements for future navigators. They had to marry and agreed to leave their family for a while. The age of the participants is 25-40 years and they should have been sexually attractive. And the most important requirement is diversity. Men and women were picked up from different races and layers of society.

And the anthropologist also had an insidious plan. He wanted to put at the head of a small team of women. So that it was impossible to do without them. He did everything. The Swede Maria Byornstam, the only doctor, became the captain – a woman from Israel, and the third important expert is the French scuba diver.

An attractive priest from Angola, a Japanese photographer and a woman from the United States, who wanted to escape from cruelty in relations, were still on the raft. The rest of the participants were also very different. The eleventh in the team was the scientist himself. The insidious Santiago created special conditions on the raft, under which it was almost impossible to retire.

To go to the toilet, I had to climb onto the structure hanging above the water, and send natural needs in front of the other participants in the experiment. Moreover, there were no books on board, and the scientist categorically banned reading. Men and women had no choice but to engage in all kinds of everyday marine affairs. In their free time, which was more than enough, they had to communicate with each other and pour complaints about life in diaries.

“The madness of the crowd” and dreams in reality

Later, journalist Stewart Jeffris from Guardian noted that Henoves had made maximum efforts so that conflicts arose on board every now and then. In such difficult conditions, a company of 11 people had to sail from the Spanish city of Las Palmas de Gran-Canarius and reach the Mexican Peninsula of Yukatan. Tentatively, the journey was supposed to take 101 days.

Before the experiment with the raft of Santiago, he was engaged in the study of primates aggression for many years. Actually, he expected that very soon the participants in the experiment would begin to conflict with each other, and the raft would become a place where cruelty and debauchery reign. However, people quite peacefully communicated with each other and quickly became friends.

The anthropologist expected aggression during the experiment and seemed to see her where she was not. When the expedition participants caught a shark, he made the following record:

“The madness of the crowd! They act as part of a dangerous team! ”

However, if you look impartially at the frames of the video chronicle, which was removed by travelers during that fishing, you will not notice any madness. People just cut a shark to cook their food.

For all participants, the trip was a difficult test. But experience was perceived in different ways. One of the women, African American Fe Seymour, told in the later documentary film about strange thoughts about slave ships:

“I sat on the right side and looked at the water. I began to hear their voices arrive from there … Suddenly I heard my ancestors call me. They could feel how I was steaming over their bodies and tragedies. This was one of the best things that happened to me. “

Yes, piquant moments, because of which the experiment was called the “sex carpet” for the eyes, was also enough. People really had sex with each other, but rather did it out of boredom, without any violent emotions. Obviously, the scientist was counting on a much greater intensity of passions.

The collapse of Dr. Henovec's hopes

The experiment was seriously. Henvest deliberately initiated conflicts, inventing for the participants a task with different scenarios. He tried to put the team in such a situation that she would take up arms against one person and ignored him. Once in an attempt to steal people, the scientist began to publicly read questionnaires that were filled for him during swimming. He chose provocative and awkward details in his opinion to cause a conflict. This surprised the participants, but even then they did not quarrel.

From time to time, travelers brought equipment. The ship gave a leak twice, the compass broke, and the radio communications disappeared several times and was absent for weeks. After three months, rescuers from Mexico were found in the ocean into the sea. They towed him to the port on August 20, 1973.

The team of the raft after years

Based on the results of the experiment, no intelligible conclusions of scientific significance were made. It is not surprising that Santiago Henvest was dissatisfied. Despite all the difficulties and intrigues of the scientist, the team behaved quite united. They not only did not fight each other, but did not even make friends with brothers in the raft. The only person to whom everyone experienced a persistent hostility was the author of the project himself.

Many years later, after the death of Henovewa, the journalists managed to gather the Sex Sent team together. A documentary was shot about a difficult journey in which middle -aged participants shared their impressions. To arouse memories in them, a pavilion resembling their ship was built for the film.

Interviews with eyewitnesses were complemented by shots taken on board the raft on a 16-mm movie camera. The film, which is called-“Sex Stew”, turned out to be interesting and forcing the viewer to think.

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It remains to add that not only this case has proved that people who are in a close society in extreme conditions begin to quarrel and divide power. The story of 6 teenagers who have lived for more than a year on a desert island in the ocean is another great example of the cooperation and mutual assistance of people.

See also-why the American Biosphere-2 experiment failed, which could change the world