In the deep region of Ratanakiri in northeastern Cambodia lie the Kreung people. This community is invested in agriculture, with food, shelter and love as their principal needs.
Unlike cultures where smoking and drinking is not allowed, teenage boys and girls have free will to. Also, in the areas of love, there is the belief that finding the right man requires a deep search through sęx in the “love huts”.
Once a girl clocks 13, her father builds a hut where a girl can sexually experiment with any boy she likes.
Boys in Kreung are taught to be respectful towards girls. Because their respect for girls will determine if they will continue to maintain the number of livestock they have, they are at the liberty of responding politely to sleeping with her or just talking when they get invited to the hut.
Owing to this cultural uniqueness, the Kreung people forbid divorce. The community encourages girls to have as many boyfriends as she wants and can invite them at the same time into the hut. Jealousy and rape are unheard of.
Once she no longer finds him attractive, she can leave him for another. Despite these relations, they cannot be seen in the public with their lover unless they are engaged or married.
On the cases of pregnancy, the girl chooses who she feels will be best to raise the unborn child.
Despite the existence of this culture, HIV/AIDS was not detected in the country until 1991. From then until 2003, Cambodia had one of the highest HIV/AIDS occurrences in Asia.
However, because of modernisation and the rigorous attempt by the Royal Government of Cambodia to educate her people on the dangers of STDs, this culture is no longer as rampant as before.
