Todos pertenecen a todos

“Todos pertenecen a todos” is the defining maxim of the Muria sexual ethic described to Emmanuelle. It means that no child may claim another child as private property: desire is communal, relationships are deliberately prevented from becoming exclusive, and the community treats jealousy—not sexual transgression—as its gravest danger. The expression therefore names an entire social discipline rather than an invitation to undirected license.

Definition and Social Order

The principle appears within the Gothul, the Muria communal institution in which sexual education and social regulation are inseparable. Quentin explains that the sexual “practical work” assigned to every child results from an elaborate and rigorous rule, not from relaxed customs or an inherited moral blindness. The system has an ethical structure: elders are responsible for the younger members, and the law strictly forbids any stable relation between a boy and a girl.

The rule is enforced through limits on repetition. No one may say that a particular girl belongs to him, and a boy is punished if he spends more than three successive nights with the same girl. These restrictions are designed to prevent intense relationships from lasting too long and, above all, to eliminate jealousy. “Todos pertenecen a todos” thus converts sexual plurality into an organized communal principle, setting a collective prohibition against possession at the center of personal conduct.

Jealousy and Communal Correction

The principle becomes most severe when a child reveals an instinct for exclusivity. If a boy’s face becomes distorted when he sees the girl he loves having sex with someone else, the community does not treat his distress as a private emotion deserving protection. Instead, it intervenes to bring him back into conformity by helping him submit his possessive nature.

The correction is deliberately participatory. The jealous boy must assist in giving the girl he loves to all the other boys, guiding the virility of his companions into her with his own hand. The purpose is not merely to expose him to the situation he resists, but to make him learn first not to suffer and then to desire and enjoy the act. Under this code, emotional exclusivity is the central disorder, while communal participation is presented as the remedy.

This hierarchy reverses the moral expectations familiar to Emmanuelle. Among the Murias, rape and murder do not exist in the account, but jealousy is described as the worst crime. The maxim therefore defines a boundary between acceptable and unacceptable harm that differs radically from the conventions of her civilization: possession, rather than plurality, is treated as the threat requiring collective suppression.

Contrast with Emmanuelle’s World

The expression acquires force because it collides with Emmanuelle’s unease about propriety, marriage, and public exposure. When she first arrives among the women, she insists that during her entire time in France she has never deceived her husband. The statement produces silence, and the women assess its implications; the countess looks at the newcomer with displeasure and wonders whether she is a prude. Emmanuelle’s swimsuit seems to contradict that judgment, but the scene establishes the social pressure surrounding her: she is expected to prove that her reserve is not moral rigidity.

Ariane intensifies that pressure by declaring that Emmanuelle has temperament and is not the supposedly dull, innocently modest woman she pretends to be. Emmanuelle remains defensive, more irritated than flattered, because she dislikes having her sincerity questioned. When Ariane asks whether she wants to have fun, Emmanuelle answers yes despite recognizing that she is entering a dangerous path; the fear of being labeled virtuous is stronger than her fear of the consequences.

The same conflict appears in physical form when Ariane leaves the sports grounds with a towel thrown over her shoulders but not crossed over her breasts. She carries tennis rackets and a colorful canvas bag, takes Emmanuelle by the hand, and cheerfully returns greetings from groups they pass, exposing even more of her breasts. Emmanuelle suddenly feels that everyone is watching them. What she experiences is modesty and alarm, together with an urgent desire to escape Ariane and never see her again. The contrast clarifies the pressure against which the Muria maxim is set: Emmanuelle’s world makes visibility, reputation, and marital respectability instruments of self-restraint.

The Maxim in the Book’s Erotic Philosophy

The broader erotic philosophy surrounding the expression also distinguishes freedom from mere indulgence. Mario argues that eroticism is a courageous passion, one that requires youth and freedom of spirit, love of truth, and a purity unrelated to conventional morals. He presents erotic invention as a victory over what is called natural impossibility: sex between women is described as biologically absurd, and sex among five people as unnatural, yet eroticism turns such imagined challenges into realities. In that framework, “Todos pertenecen a todos” exemplifies the deliberate construction of an alternative order rather than passive surrender to instinct.

The principle also echoes the claim that a person’s erotic capacity may be a rare gift. In conversation with Christopher, a woman explains that what conquered her was her husband’s carnal genius: he loves making love more than anyone she knows and does it exceptionally well. Christopher finds such confidence distasteful but wants to know more, while warning that others might recognize the husband’s gift, feel tempted, and try to take him away. The fear of being deprived of a desirable person stands opposite to the Muria rejection of ownership; one system imagines erotic value as something others may steal, while the other attempts to make sharing the condition of belonging.

The maxim is likewise tested by the legal and social prohibitions surrounding the characters. Emmanuelle asks whether smoking opium is forbidden, and Mario answers that it is, just as making love outside marriage is forbidden. When she asks what would happen if the police arrived, he replies that they would go to prison. Their conversation places communal or illicit pleasure under the shadow of state law, even as Mario’s circle treats legality as another convention that can be challenged. The expression therefore belongs to a field of competing codes: marriage, police authority, public decorum, and the Muria law each define permissible intimacy differently.

Religious and Cultural Reversal

The same reversal appears in the temple scene, where Emmanuelle sees strange fruits hanging from a huge tree covered with roots and adventitious vines. As she approaches, she realizes that the fruits are phalluses. Some are votive offerings; others are presented to obtain sexual potency or fertility, and their size depends either on the worshipper’s wealth or on the urgency of the prayer. Mario explains that they are in a temple.

The sacred setting does not erase embarrassment. The sight reminds Emmanuelle of the indecency of her clothing, and she imagines the reaction if a priest found her dressed that way. The scene places the Muria principle beside another institution that regulates sexuality, but with an openly phallic symbolism: fertility and potency are materialized as offerings, while Emmanuelle remains conscious of being seen and judged. Across these encounters, “Todos pertenecen a todos” functions as a provocative counter-law, exposing how supposedly natural or decorous sexual rules are produced by communities and enforced through shame, desire, and surveillance.