Women from the Mosuo tribe do not marry, take as many lovers as they wish and have no word for "father" or "husband". 

From the age of 13, after being initiated, females may choose to take lovers from men within the tribe, having as many or as few as they please over their lifetime. Male companions are known as axias and spend their days carrying out jobs such as fishing and animal rearing, and visit the women's homes at night, often secretly; any resulting children are raised by the woman's family. The father and all adult men are known as "uncles" – there is no stigma attached to not knowing who a child's father is.

To me this sounds somewhat resonant to single mothers in the west who rely on help from family networks to raise their children with minimal or even nonexistent involvement from the father.

"Their way of life is slowly changing, but there is a real sense of pride in the way they live," he says. "Men and women are very much equals, but the women are just a little more in charge."