Talk:Bamboo wife

Comments

I've heard this description of a Dutch Wife in Macarthy's novel "First blast of the trumpet...."

"It's called a Dutch Wife because it's plump and lays between your legs without moving" Saxophobia (talk) 20:43, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

I think you should really clarify the use of the tmer Dutch Wife. The article states that it is the eastern version of a Dutch Wife. Searching for Dutch Wife on wiki would lead you to a sex doll, but that's not how this Bamboo wife is used at all from the rest of the article. Perhaps a citation would help? 68.111.73.24 (talk) 04:00, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Agree, the original in Malaysia (and some in Indonesia) isn't like the woven one. I posted this on talk page at bolster a minute ago:

I can only find hearsay blogs online but in Malaysia, a bolster was called a "dutchwife" sounding as one word, stress on the "dutch". Everyone adults and kids had one, a long cotton pillow as in the illustration [at bolster ] – to soak up the sweat & made sleeping easier. The name is not literal or lewd, but using "dutch" the way it's used for "fake" or "substitute" or not real. Examples are "dutch uncle", "dutch treat", "dutch courage" and so on. Ironically, its meaning also implies "bolstering" the missing real thing as in a "dutch uncle" is someone playing the role, an avuncular person, not related. "Dutch courage" is using a stiff drink to bolster lack of strength in a situation. Still can't find an acceptable reference apart from Japanese sex dolls or speculation about wife substitutes, but noted here in case someone can include the Malaysian/Indonesian one with a citation. Manytexts (talk) 05:32, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

The term "Dutch wife" isn't Indonesian; it's Anglo-American, particularly from New England. A Dutch wife was term for a body pillow; it's a disparaging reference to the (assumed) marital coldness and unresponsiveness of Dutch women. My grandmother used to use the term for her body pillow, and she learned it from her mother-in-law, who was from a Boston family dating back to the Great Migration. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.163.247.4 (talk) 18:07, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

East Asia not tropical

The article states that the "Bamboo wife and their variants in other countries have their origin and use in East Asia and Southeast Asia, tropical regions with hot, humid seasons." However, whereas Southeast Asia is tropical (or at least the overwhelming majority of it), East Asia is not tropical, but rather temperate. Southern China and Southern Japan are humid subtropical (think Virginia, Tennessee, or around Venice, Italy), while Northern China, Northern Japan, and Korea are humid continental (think American Midwest).

I've changed it to say that they're regions with hot, humid summers, but considering that SE Asia is hot year-round, another description may be better.

Arumdaum (talk) 08:59, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

Mainland Chinese bamboo wives

I managed to find information about bamboo wives being banned in the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution as a part of their anti-"Four Olds" campaign, but haven't been able to add it. This topic is a lot more deeper than the current article and hopefully a passionate volunteer (or volunteers) will add more information about its history in the future. --Donald Trung (talk) 14:04, 3 July 2021 (UTC)