Men of the Mosuo society, who live around Lugu Lake on the border between Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, China, do help to raise kids—just not their own, with whom the men typically have only limited relationships. Instead the men help look after all the children born to their own sisters, aunts, and other women of the family.
The unusual parenting arrangement makes genetic sense, in terms of extending the family line—and many Mosuo men actually think of it that way, “If you [father] a child with another woman, you can never be absolutely sure that the child really shares your genes,” he said. “But if your sister has a child, you can be 100 percent sure that the kid shares some of your genes.”
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