Acali

The Acali expedition (or Acali experiment or the Sex Raft) was a 1973 social experiment that aimed to investigate interpersonal relationships in conditions of limited space and social isolation. The experiment was organized by Mexican anthropologist Santiago Genovés, who had previously been a crew member of Thor Heyerdahl's Ra expedition. The raft had a complement of eleven people: five men and six women. Genovés believed that making difference in sexual count increases the possible outcome for the experiment's aim. Genovés believed that the crew members would turn to violence and aggression, but during the experiment the participants showed a restraint towards aggression. This frustrated Genovés and led him to start to try to create conflict, and at one point he took command of the float. Despite these attempts, the group remained peaceful. The raft left Las Palmas, Spain, on 12 May 1973 and took 101 days to drift across the Atlantic Ocean and reach Cozumel, Mexico, with a single stopover in Barbados. Frequently dubbed the "Sex Raft" by the media, it was the subject of a 2018 documentary film The Raft, by Marcus Lindeen. The expression 'sex raft' came from the newspapers, as well as focus on sexual activities on the raft. This angered Genovés, and he was especially hurt by some of his long-time colleagues saying the publicity of the raft is hurting the university.