Girls warned playing didgeridoo could cause infertility

Australian girls were warned yesterday that playing the Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo could lead to infertility as a consequence of messing with "men's business".

Debate about whether women should play the didgeridoo has been sparked by the publication of the Australian edition of "The Daring Book for Girls" which includes instructions on playing the long, tubular instrument.

The Victorian Aboriginal Education Association said instructing girls on how to play the instrument was an extreme cultural indiscretion and has called for the book to be pulped.



The section on the didgeridoo was "part of a general ignorance that mainstream Australia has about Aboriginal culture," the association's general manager Mark Rose said.

"We know very clearly that there's a range of consequences for a female touching a didgeridoo - infertility would be the start of it, ranging to other consequences," he said, adding: "I won't even let my daughter touch one."

Rose said the didgeridoo, an integral part of many Aboriginal rituals, was "definitely a men's business ceremonial tool".