Kulina cosmology legitimates the monopoly of the mystical means of reproduction by male shamans and leaders. This control is accompanied by a degree of manipulation of female sexuality and reproduction by shamanic and other means. It is also correlated with a hierarchical division of labour in which men are primary providers, and leaders are paradigmatic providers. This calls into question the commonly angelic or neo-Rousseauist vision of the indigenous societies of the Amazon as egalitarian.