The
social constructionA social construction is any phenomenon 'invented' or 'constructed' by participants in a particular culture or society, existing because people agree to behave as if it exists or follow certain conventional rules. One example of a social construct is social status...
of sexual behavior—its
tabooA taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and forbidden. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society. The term comes from the Tongan language, and appears in many Polynesian cultures...
s,
regulationRegulation is "controlling human or societal behaviour by rules or restrictions." Regulation can take many forms: legal restrictions promulgated by a government authority, self-regulation, social regulation , co-regulation and market regulation. One can consider regulation as actions of conduct...
and
socialSociology is the scientific or systematic study of human societies. It is a branch of social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such...
and
politicalPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
impact—has had a profound effect on the various
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s of the world since
prehistoricPrehistory is a term used to describe the period before recorded history. Paul Tournal originally coined the term Pré-historique in describing the finds he had made in the caves of southern France...
times.
Sources
Sexual speech - and by extension, writing - has been subject to varying standards of decorum since the beginning of history. The resulting self-censorship and euphemistic forms translate today into a dearth of explicit and accurate evidence on which to base a history. There are a number of sources that can be collected across a wide variety of times and cultures, including the following:
- Records of legislation indicating either encouragement or prohibition
- Religious and philosophical
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
texts recommending, condemning or debating the topic
- Literary sources, perhaps unpublished during their authors' lifetimes, including diaries and personal correspondence
- Medical textbooks treating various forms as a pathological condition
- Linguistic developments, particularly in slang.
- More recently, studies of sexuality
Reproduction and cultural gender roles
It appears that even in early historical times, it was not clear that there was any male role in reproduction - there is no immediate correlation between sex and reproduction due to the delay in the obvious signs of pregnancy. However, all civilizations hit upon the concept of male reproduction and, even more importantly, paternity, most likely from the correlation seen during the development of
animal husbandryAnimal husbandry, also called animal science, stockbreeding or simple husbandry, is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock. It has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
. The discovery of paternity led to concepts such as fathership of children, the importance of ensuring
fidelityFidelity is a notion that, at its most abstract level, implies a truthful connection to a source or sources. Its original meaning dealt with loyalty and attentiveness to one's duty to a lord or a king, in a broader sense than the related concept of fealty...
, the role of marriage as
prima faciePrima facie is a Latin expression meaning on its first appearance, or by first instance; at first sight. The literal translation would be "from first face", prima first, facie face, both in the ablative case. It is used in modern legal English to signify that on first examination, a matter appears...
proof of paternity, and holding individual males responsible for the support of their offspring.
Another school of thought (e.g.
Jared DiamondJared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and nonfiction author whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA...
in
Why is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human SexualityWhy is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality is a 1997 book by Jared Diamond dealing with the evolutionary development of human sexuality. Diamond addresses some peculiar aspects of human sexuality...
) holds that the reasons behind the development of these concepts is biological, a result of a variety of unique elements of human sexuality (Sex for pleasure, hidden ovulation, etc.). Natural selection ensures that men that are able to be more certain of the parentage of the children they care for will be more likely to pass on their genes.
This division has shaped many of the gender roles that survive to modern times. As humans have gained increased mastery of the environment, these divisions become less and less relevant, but change, while it is taking place, happens gradually.
Ancient Egypt
The couple Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, now buried in a joint
Fifth-dynastyThe Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Old Kingdom.-Rulers:Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Fifth Dynasty are as follows:...
(2498-2345 BC) era tomb in
SaqqaraSaqqara is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step Pyramid, as well as a number of mastabas...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
, are the oldest recorded same-sex couple in human history. They served as royal manicurists during the reign of the pharaoh
Nyuserre IniNyuserre Ini, also spelt as Neuserre Izi or Niuserre Isi and sometimes Nyuserra , was a Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. He is frequently given a reign of 24 or 25 years and is dated from ca. 2416 BC-2392 BC...
. Their tomb shows a painted mural of the two embracing.
India
India played a significant role in the history of sex, from writing one of the first literature that treated
sexual intercourseSexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract. The two entities may be of opposite sexes or not, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
as a science, to in modern times being the origin of the philosophical focus of
new-ageThe New Age is a decentralized Western social and spiritual movement that seeks "Universal Truth" and the attainment of the highest individual human potential. It includes aspects of cosmology, astrology, esotericism, alternative medicine, music, collectivism, sustainability, and nature...
groups' attitudes on sex. It may be argued that India pioneered the use of sexual education through art and literature. As in all societies, there was a difference in sexual practices in India between common people and powerful rulers, with people in power often indulging in hedonistic lifestyles that were not representative of common moral attitudes.
The first evidence of attitudes towards sex comes from the ancient texts of
HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
,
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
and
JainismJainism is an ancient dharmic religion from India that prescribes a path of non-violence for all forms of living beings in this world. Its philosophy and practice relies mainly on self-effort in progressing the soul on the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness...
, the first of which are perhaps the oldest surviving literature in the world. These most ancient texts, the Vedas, reveal moral perspectives on sexuality, marriage and fertility prayers. Sex magic featured in a number of Vedic rituals, most significantly in the Asvamedha Yajna, where the ritual culminated with the chief queen lying with the dead horse in a simulated sexual act; clearly a fertility rite intended to safeguard and increase the kingdom's productivity and martial prowess. The epics of ancient India, the
RamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon . The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India, the other being Mahabharata...
and
MahabharataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the . The epic is part of the Hindu itihāsa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
, which may have been first composed as early as 1400 BCE, had a huge effect on the culture of
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
, influencing later
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese,
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
an and South East Asian culture.
These texts support the view that in ancient India, sex was considered a mutual duty between a married couple, where husband and wife pleasured each other equally, but where sex was considered a private affair, at least by followers of the aforementioned Indian religions. It seems that
polygamyThe term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
was allowed during ancient times. In practice, this seems to have only been practiced by rulers, with common people maintaining a monogomous marriage. It is common in many cultures for a ruling class to practice polygamy as a way of preserving dynastic succession.
India as a whole has as diverse a set of sexual 'behaviors' as any other society, such as
adulteryAdultery is referred to as extramarital sex, philandery, or infidelity, but does not include fornication. The term "adultery" for many people carries a moral or religious association, while the term "extramarital sex" is morally or judgmentally neutral....
,
homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
,
transgenderismTransgenderism is a social movement seeking transgender rights and affirming transgender pride.-History:In her 1995 book Apartheid of Sex, biopolitical lawyer and writer Martine Rothblatt describes "transgenderism" as a grassroots social movement seeking transgender rights and affirming transgender...
,
exhibitionismExhibitionism, known variously as flashing, apodysophilia and Lady Godiva syndrome, is the psychological need and pattern of behavior involving the exposure of parts of the body to another person with a tendency toward an extravagant, usually at least partially sexually inspired behavior to...
,
prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
,
sadism/masochismSadism is pleasure in the infliction of pain or humiliation upon another person, while masochism refers to gratification from receiving the same. These practices are often related and are collectively known as sadomasochism as well as S&M or SM...
,
zoophiliaZoophilia, from the Greek ζῷον and φιλία , is the practice of sex between humans and animals , or a preference or fixation on such practice. A person who practices zoophilia is known as a zoophile.Although sex with animals is not outlawed in some countries, it is not explicitly condoned anywhere...
, and
necrophiliaNecrophilia, also called thanatophilia and necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from Ancient Greek: νεκρός and φιλία...
, even though modern India society places greater taboo and emphasis of privacy on sex.
The most publicly known sexual literature of India are the texts of the
sixty-four artsThe Kama Sutra , , is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by the Indian scholar Mallanāga Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sex. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh...
. These texts were written for and kept by the philosopher, warrior and nobility castes, their servants and concubines, and those in certain religious orders. These were people that could also read and write and had instruction and education. The sixty four arts of love-passion-pleasure began in India. There are many different versions of the arts which began in
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
and were translated into other languages, such as Persian or Tibetan. Many of the original texts are missing and the only clue to their existence is in other texts.
Kama SutraThe Kama Sutra , , is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by the Indian scholar Mallanāga Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sex. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh...
, the version by Vatsyayana, is one of the well-known survivors and was first translated into
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
by Sir
Richard BurtonCaptain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and...
and F. F. Arbuthnot. The
Kama SutraThe Kama Sutra , , is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by the Indian scholar Mallanāga Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sex. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh...
is now perhaps the most prolific secular text in the world. It details ways in which partners should pleasure each other within a marital relationship.
When the Islamic and
VictorianVictorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria in particular, and to the moral climate of Great Britain throughout the 19th century in general that were in stark contrast to the morality of the previous Georgian period...
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
culture arrived in India, they generally had an adverse impact on sexual liberalism in India. Within the context of the Indian religions, or dharmas, such as
HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
,
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
,
JainismJainism is an ancient dharmic religion from India that prescribes a path of non-violence for all forms of living beings in this world. Its philosophy and practice relies mainly on self-effort in progressing the soul on the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness...
and
SikhismSikhism, founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and ten successive Sikh Gurus in fifteenth century Punjab, is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world. This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat or the Sikh Dharma...
, sex is generally either seen as a moral duty of each partner in a long term marriage relationship to the other, or is seen as a desire which hinders spiritual detachment, and so must be renounced. In modern India, a renaissance of sexual liberalism has occurred amongst the well educated urban population, but there is still discrimination and forced marriage incidents amongst the poor.
Within certain schools of Indian philosophy, such as
TantraTantra , or tantram is a religious philosophy according to which Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva...
, the emphasis in sex as a sacred duty, or even a path to spiritual enlightenment or yogic balance is greatly emphasized. Actual sexual intercourse is not a part of every form of tantric practice, but it is the definitive feature of left-hand Tantra. Contrary to popular belief, "Tantric sex" is not always slow and sustained, and may end in orgasm. For example, the Yoni Tantra states: "there should be vigorous copulation". However, all tantra states that there were certain groups of personalities who were not fit for certain practices. Tantra was personality specific and insisted that those with pashu-bhava (animal disposition), which are people of dishonest, promiscuous, greedy or violent natures who ate meat and indulged in intoxication, would only incur bad karma by following Tantric paths without the aid of a Guru who could instruct them on the correct path. In Buddhist tantra, actual ejaculation is very much a taboo, as the main goal of the sexual practice is to use the sexual energy towards achieving full enlightenment, rather than ordinary pleasure. Tantric sex is considered to be a pleasurable experience in Tantra philosophy.
Mesopotamia
MatriarchyMatriarchy refers to a gynecocentric form of society, in which the leading role is taken by the women and especially by the mothers of a community....
was practiced in the earlier period of
MesopotamiaMesopotamia "land between the rivers" is a name for the Tigris–Euphrates region in the eastern Mediterranean, largely corresponding to Iraq, as well as northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khūzestān Province of southwestern...
n civilization., the southern area of
BabyloniaBabylonia was a civilization in Lower Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when Hammurabi created an empire out of the territories of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad...
between the
TigrisThe Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates. The river flows from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
and
EuphratesThe Euphrates is the longest and historically one of the most important rivers of Southwest Asia. Together with the Tigris, the Euphrates is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
rivers to
AssyriaAssyria was a civilization centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, the northern part of Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian society practiced sexual openness.
In ancient Mesopotamia,
IshtarIshtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:Ishtar is a goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex...
was the primary Goddess of life, men and women, nature and fertility, sex, sexual power and birth. Ishtar was also the goddess of war and weapons and any victory was celebrated in her temples with offerings of produce and money as well as through a feast and orgy of sex and fornication with holy temple prostitutes. Every woman was required, at least once in her lifetime, usually after she was married, to go to the Temple of Ishtar. She waited there till any stranger came and threw silver in her lap. Then she left the temple and had sex with the stranger, after which she could return home. She was not allowed to refuse the first stranger. To quote the Greek historian
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
:
- "The worst Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land once in her life to sit in the temple of love and have... intercourse with some stranger... the men pass and make their choice"
With the changing time, the shift from matriarchy to patriarchy occurred.. With this shift, Ishtar lost some of her status and glory, and several male gods surfaced. Temples of Ishtar became abode to sacred prostitutes or priestesses known as
Ishtaru or Joy-Maidens and places for exchange of sexual services for a price. This was in no way considered a shameful profession and laws were passed making it serious offence to talk badly about the holy prostitutes.
In some temples of Ishtar, even male prostitutes (for the use of other men) were found. They were referred to as men "...whose manhood Ishtar has changed into womanhood." At a later stage of Babylonian culture, the attitude had changed: the Middle Assyrian Law Tablets, dating back to 12th century BC make it clear that some kinds of homosexuality could lead to castration. As in most civilizations, incest of any kind was strictly forbidden and was considered a capital crime.
China
In the
I ChingThe I Ching , “Yì Jīng” , Classic of Changes or Book of Changes; also called Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. The book contains a divination system comparable to Western geomancy or the West African Ifá system...
(The
Book of Changes, a Chinese classic text dealing with what would be in the West termed metaphysics), sexual intercourse is one of two fundamental models used to explain the world. With neither embarrassment nor circumlocution, Heaven is described as having sexual intercourse with Earth. Similarly, with no sense of prurient interest the male lovers of early Chinese men of great political power are mentioned in one of the earliest great works of philosophy and literature, the
Zhuang Zi (or
Chuang Tzu, as it is written in the old system of romanization).
China has had a long history of sexism, with even moral leaders such as Confucius giving extremely pejorative accounts of the innate characteristics of women. From early times, the
virginityA virgin is, originally, a woman who has never had sexual intercourse. Virginity is the state of being a virgin. It is derived from the Latin virgo, which means "sexually inexperienced woman", used typically of adolescents, but also of older women, and even goddesses.As in Latin, the English word...
of women was rigidly enforced by family and community and linked to the monetary value of women as a kind of commodity (the "sale" of women involving the delivery of a
bride priceBride price, also known as bride wealth, is an amount of money or property or wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom...
). Men were protected in their own sexual adventures by a transparent double standard. While the first wife of a man with any kind of social status in traditional society was almost certainly chosen for him by his father and/or grandfather, the same man might later secure for himself more desirable sexual partners with the status of concubines. In addition, bondservants in his possession could also be sexually available to him. Naturally, not all men had the financial resources to so greatly indulge themselves.
Chinese literature displays a long history of interest in affection, marital bliss, unabashed sexuality, romance, amorous dalliances, homosexual alliances -- in short all of the aspects of behavior that are affiliated with sexuality in the West. Besides the previously mentioned
Zhuang Zi passages, sexuality is exhibited in other fine works of literature such as the Tang dynasty
Yingying zhuan (
Biography of Cui Yingying), the Qing dynasty
Fu sheng liu ji (
Six Chapters of a Floating Life), the delightfully and intentionally salacious
Jin Ping MeiJin Ping Mei or The Plum in the Golden Vase is a Chinese naturalistic novel composed in the vernacular during the late Ming Dynasty. The author was Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, a clear pseudonym. Earliest versions of the novel exist only in handwritten scripts; the first block-printed book was...
, and the incredibly multi-faceted and insightful
Hong lou meng (
Dream of the Red ChamberDream of the Red Chamber , originally The Story of the Stone , is a masterpiece of Chinese vernacular literature and one of China's Four Great Classical Novels...
, also called
Story of the Stone). Of the above, only the story of Yingying and her de-facto husband Zhang fail to describe homosexual as well as heterosexual interactions. The novel entitled
Rou bu tuan (
Prayer mat of flesh) even describes cross-species organ transplants for the sake of enhanced sexual performance. Among Chinese literature are the Taoist classical texts.
http://www.bigeye.com/sexeducation/ancientchina.html This philosophical tradition of China has developed
Taoist Sexual PracticesTaoist sexual practices literally "Joining Energy" or "The Joining of the Essences", is the way some Taoists practiced sex...
which have three main goals: health, longevity, and spiritual development.
The desire for respectability and the belief that all aspects of human behavior might be brought under government control has until recently mandated to official Chinese spokesmen that they maintain the fiction of sexual fidelity in marriage, absence of any great frequency of premarital sexual intercourse, and total absence in China of the so-called "decadent capitalist phenomenon" of homosexuality. The result of the ideological demands preventing objective examination of sexual behavior in China has, until very recently, made it extremely difficult for the government to take effective action against sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS. At the same time, large migrations to the cities coupled with significant amounts of unemployment have led to resurgence of prostitution in unregulated venues, a prominent accelerant of the propagation of STDs to many ordinary members of society.
In recent decades the power of the family over individuals has weakened, making it increasingly possible for young men and women to find their own sexual and/or marriage partners.
Japan
In what is perhaps the very earliest novel in the world, the
Genji Monogatari (
Tale of Genji), which dates back to around the eighth century AD, eroticism is treated as a central part of the aesthetic life of members of the nobility. The sexual interactions of Prince Genji, the central figure in this extremely long story, are described in great detail, in an objective tone of voice, and in a way that indicates that sexuality was as much a valued aesthetic component of cultured life as would be music or any other of the arts. While most of his erotic interactions involve women, there is one telling episode in which Genji travels a fairly long distance to visit one of the women with whom he occasionally consorts but finds her away from home for an extended period. It being late, and intercourse already being on the menu of the day, Genji takes pleasure in the availability of the lady's younger brother who, he reports, is equally satisfactory as an erotic partner.
From that time down at least as far as the Meiji Reformation, there is no indication that sexuality is treated in a pejorative way. While homosexuality was driven out of sight for some time, it seems to have continued unabated for it reemerged in the wake of the sexual revolution in the West with seemingly little if any need for a period of acceleration. Likewise, prostitution was practiced more discreetly but did not disappear.
In Japan, sexuality was governed by many of the same social forces that make the culture of Japan considerably different from the culture of Western nations, and also different from the culture of China. In Japanese society, the primary method used to secure social control is the threat (and, occasionally, the actuality) of ostracism. Japanese society is a
shame societyA shame society is one in which the primary device for gaining control over children and maintaining control over adults is the inculcation of shame and the complementary threat of ostracism....
. Therefore, more attention is paid to what is appropriate to expose to the view of other people than is paid to what behaviors would make a person "guilty." Also important is the strong tendency of people in Japanese society to group in terms of "in group" individuals and "out group" individuals. What may be open to knowledge by one's in group may be different from what is open to knowledge by one's out group, and, what may be avoided because of pressure by one's in group may be of little or no consequence in one's relationships to one's out group.
A frequent locus of misconceptions in regard to Japanese sexuality is the institution of the
geisha, or are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...
. Rather than being a prostitute, a geisha was a woman trained in arts such as music and cultured conversation, and who was available for non-sexual interactions with her male clientele. These women differed from the wives that their patrons probably had at home because, except for the geisha, women were ordinarily not expected to be prepared for anything other than the fulfillment of household duties. This limitation imposed by the normal social role of the majority of women in traditional society produced a diminution in the pursuits that those women could enjoy, but also a limitation in the ways that a man could enjoy the company of his wife. The geisha fulfilled the non-sexual social roles that ordinary women were prevented from fulfilling, and for this service they were well paid. That being said, the geisha were not deprived of opportunities to express themselves sexually and in other erotic ways. A geisha might have a patron with whom she enjoyed sexual intimacy, but this sexual role was not part of her role or responsibility as a geisha.
As a superficial level, in traditional Japanese society women were expected to be highly subservient to men and especially to their husbands. So, in a socionormal description of their roles, they were little more than housekeepers and faithful sexual partners to their husbands. Their husbands, on the other hand, might consort sexually with whomever they chose outside of the family, and a major part of male social behavior involves after-work forays to places of entertainment in the company of male cohorts from the workplace -- places that might easily offer possibilities of sexual satisfaction outside the family. In the postwar period this side of Japanese society has seen some liberalization in regard to the norms imposed on women as well as an expansion of the de facto powers of women in the family and in the community that existed unacknowledged in traditional society.
In the years since people first became aware of the AIDS epidemic, Japan has not suffered the high rates of disease and death that characterize, for example, some nations in Africa, some nations in Southeast Asia, etc. In 1992, the government of Japan justified its continued refusal to allow oral contraceptives to be distributed in Japan on the fear that it would lead to reduced condom use, and thus increase transmission of AIDS. As of 2004, condoms accounted for 80% of birth control use in Japan, and this may explain Japan's comparably lower rates of AIDS.
Greece
In ancient
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
, the
phallusPhallus can refer to a penis, or to an object shaped like a penis. The word comes from Late Latin "phallus", from Ancient Greek "φαλλός" phallos, penis.-In art:...
, often in the form of a
hermaA Herma, herm or herme is a sculpture with a head, and perhaps a torso, above a plain, usually squared lower section, on which male genitals may also be carved at the appropriate height...
, was an object of worship as a symbol of fertility. This finds expression in
GreekAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
sculptureSculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard and/or plastic material, sound, and/or text and or light, commonly stone , metal, glass, or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by finding or carving; others are assembled, built together and fired, welded, molded,...
and other artworks. One ancient Greek male idea of female sexuality was that women envied penises of males. Wives were considered as commodity and instruments for bearing legitimate children. They had to compete sexually with eromenoi,
hetaeraIn ancient Greece, hetaerae were courtesans, that is to say, sophisticated companions and prostitutes.- Overview :...
s and slaves in their own homes.
HomosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
, in the form of
pederastyGreek pederasty, as idealised by the Greeks from archaic times onward, was a relationship and bond between an adult man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. It was seen by the Greeks as an essential element in their culture from the time of Homer onwards...
, was a social institution in ancient Greece, and was integral to education, art, religion, and politics. Relationships between adults were not unknown but they were disfavored.
LesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
relations were also of a pederastic nature.
Ancient Greek men believed that refined
prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
was necessary for pleasure and different classes of prostitutes were available. Hetaera, educated and intelligent companions, were for intellectual as well as physical pleasure,
PeripateticThe Peripatetics were members of a school of philosophy in ancient Greece. Their teachings derived from their founder, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, and Peripatetic is a name given to his followers. The name refers to the act of walking, and as an adjective, "peripatetic" is often used to mean...
prostitutes solicited business on the streets, whereas temple or consecrated prostitutes charged a higher price. In
CorinthCorinth, or Korinth Corinth, or Korinth Corinth, or Korinth (Greek Κόρινθος, Kórinthos is a city in Greece. In antiquity it was a city-state, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. To the west of the isthmus lies the Gulf of...
, a port city, on the
Aegean SeaThe Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
, the temple held a thousand consecrated prostitutes.
RapeRape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or without sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
- usually in the context of warfare - was common and was seen by men as a “right of domination”. Rape in the sense of "abduction" followed by consensual lovemaking was represented even in religion:
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
was said to have ravished many women:
Leda- Places :* Leda , tributary of the Ems in Germany* Leda, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia* Leda, Burkina Faso- Astronomy :* Leda , a moon of Jupiter* 38 Leda, an asteroid...
in the form of a swan,
DanaëIn Greek mythology, Danaë was a daughter of King Acrisius of Argos and Eurydice . She was the mother of Perseus by Zeus. She was sometimes credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium....
disguised as a golden rain, Alkmene disguised as her own husband. Zeus also ravished a boy,
GanymedeIn Greek mythology, Ganymede, or Ganymedes is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. He was a Trojan prince, son of the eponymous Tros of Dardania, and of Callirrhoe, and brother of Ilus and Assaracus...
, a myth that paralleled
CretanThe Cretans, a Dorian people described by Plutarch as renowned for their moderation and conservative ways, practiced an archaic form of pederasty in which an adult aristocrat enacted a ritual kidnapping known as the harpagmos, or "seizing" of a noble boy of his choosing, with the consent of the...
custom.
Etruria
The ancient Etruscans had very different views on sexuality, when compared with the other European ancient peoples, most of whom had inherited the Indo-European traditions and views on the gender roles.
Greek writers, such as
TheopompusTheopompus was a Greek historian and rhetorician, born on Chios about 380 BC.- Biography :In early youth he seems to have spent some time at Athens, along with his father, who had been exiled on account of his Laconian sympathies...
and
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
named the Etruscan 'immoral' and from their descriptions we find out that the women commonly had sex with men who were not their husbands and that in their society, children were not labelled "illegitimate" just because they did not know who the father was. Theopompus also described orgiastic rituals, but it is not clear whether they were a common custom or only a minor ritual dedicated to a certain deity.
French Polynesia
The Islands have been noted for their sexual culture. Many sexual activities seen as taboo in western cultures were viewed as appropriate by the native culture. Contact with Western societies has changed many of these customs, so research into their pre-Western social history has to be done by reading antique writings.
Children slept in the same room as their parents and were able to witness their parents while they had sex. Intercourse simulation became real penetration as soon as boys were physically able. Adults found simulation of sex by children to be funny. As children approached 11 attitudes shifted toward girls.
Premarital sex was not encouraged but was allowed in general, restrictions on adolescent sexuality were incest, exogamy regulations, and firstborn daughters of high-ranking lineage. After their firstborn child, high-ranking women were permitted extramarital affairs.
Adam Johann von KrusensternAdam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern was an Imperial Russian, Baltic German admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth...
in his book about the same expedition as Yuri's, reports that a father brought a 10-12 year old girl on his ship, and she had sex with the crew.According to the book of
Charles Pierre Claret de FleurieuCharles Pierre Claret, comte de Fleurieu was a French explorer, hydrographer and politician. He was Minister of the Navy under Louis XVI, and a member of the Institut de France, as well as the brother of the botanist Marc Antoine Louis Claret de la Tourette.-Ancien Regime:Fleurieu was born in Lyon...
and Étienne Marchand, 8 year old girls had sex and performed other unnatural acts in public.
Rome
The sexual atmosphere in the earlier stages of Roman civilization included celebrations associated with human reproductive organs. Over time there emerged institutionalization of voluntary sex as well as prostitution. This resulted in a virtual sexual caste system in Roman civilization – different grades and degrees of sexual relationships. Apart from the legally wedded spouses, a number of males used to have
DelicatueDelicatue, literal meaning “kept mistresses” – belonged to highest category of women prostitutes in ancient Rome. They were kept as mistresses by men. Delicatue belonged to the highest category of prostitutes in ancient Rome, followed by several other categories of women prostitutes, including...
, the kept mistresses of wealthy and prominent men. The next were the Famosae (literal meaning: soiled doves from respectable family), mostly the daughters and even wives of the wealthy families who enjoyed sex for its own sake. Then, there was another class known as
LupaeLupa can refer to:* a female wolf* the Greek goddess Artemis, in her "wolf form"; see the story of Romulus and Remus...
, who were willing to have sexual union with anyone for a price. Copae (literal meaning: bar maids) were the serving girls in the taverns and inns and who did not mind being hired as bedmates for the night by travelers. Handsome adolescent menservants known as concubini would serve their master in bed, until they matured and fell into disfavor.
The sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a substantial change in sexual morality and sexual behaviour throughout the West in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One factor in the change of values pertaining to sexual activities was the improvement of the technologies used for the control of fertility. Prime among them, at that time, was the first birth control pill.
Psychology and sex
Especially before the development of dependable methods of contraception, the control of sexual behavior was of extreme practical importance to parents in some societies. The methodologies employed by parents to try to prevent their children from prematurely becoming parents themselves could have a profound effect on the minds of those children. In some societies, guilt was inculcated in an attempt to prevent premarital sexual activity, and the guilt could contaminate the entire self image of the individuals who, after all, were biologically predetermined to have the "guilty" sexual impulses that their families (and, usually, their religions) were trying to head off. In other societies, shaming was done with the same goals and with similar psychological damage possible.
The ability to function sexually depends a great deal on activities that occur not in the sexual organs but in the brain. When the individual has been psychologically traumatized by abusive practices intended to control premarital sexual activities, he or she may be unable to perform well even after marriage has presumably legitimized sexual intercourse. Dysfunctions for males may include: inability to achieve an erection, penile insensitivity,
premature ejaculationPremature ejaculation is a condition where a man ejaculates earlier than he or his partner would like him to. Premature ejaculation is also known as rapid ejaculation, rapid climax, premature climax, or early ejaculation....
, etc. For the female they may include: inability to achieve orgasm,
vaginismusVaginismus, sometimes anglicized vaginism, is the German name for a condition which affects a woman's ability to engage in any form of vaginal penetration, including sexual intercourse, insertion of tampons, and the penetration involved in gynecological examinations...
, etc. These problems may lead to secondary problems if, for instance, affected individuals self medicate with
alcoholAn alcoholic beverage is a drink that contains ethanol . Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits....
,
marijuanaCannabisalso known as marijuana or marihuana, and ganja , among many other namesrefers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug...
(in the case of premature ejaculation), or even more dangerous drugs.
The treatment of sexual dysfunctions and the problems of low self esteem, guilt, self-destructive impulses, etc., has been one of the main activities of helping professions such as psychiatry, clinical psychology, etc.
Same-sex relations
Historiographic considerations
Interestingly, while the reverse is often not true, much of the history of different-gender sexuality and romance may be read from the history of same-sex sexuality and romance. The term "homosexuality" was invented in the 19th century, with the term "heterosexuality" invented later in the same century to contrast with the earlier term. The term "bisexuality" was invented in the 20th century as sexual identities became defined by the predominate sex to which people are attracted and thus a label was needed for those who are not predominantly attracted to one sex. This points out that the history of sexuality is not solely the history of different-sex sexuality plus the history of same-sex sexuality, but a broader conception viewing of historical events in light of our modern concept or concepts of sexuality taken at its most broad and/or literal definitions.
Historical personalities are often described using modern sexual identity terms such as
straight,
bisexualBisexuality is sexual behavior with or physical attraction to both sexes , or a bisexual orientation. People who have a bisexual orientation "can experience sexual, emotional, and affectional attraction to both their own sex and the opposite sex"; "it also refers to an individual’s sense of...
,
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
or
queerQueer has traditionally meant odd or unusual, though modern use often pertains to LGBT people....
. Those who favour the practice say that this can highlight such issues as discriminatory historiography by, for example, putting into relief the extent to which same-sex sexual experiences are excluded from biographies of noted figures, or to which sensibilities resulting from same-sex attraction are excluded from literary and artistic consideration of important works, and so on. As well as that, an opposite situation is possible in the modern society: some LGBT-supportive researchers stick to the homosexual theories, excluding other possibilities.
However, many, especially in the academic world, regard the use of modern labels as problematic, owing to differences in the ways that different societies constructed sexual orientation identities and to the connotations of modern words like "queer." For example, in many societies same-sex sex acts were expected, or completely ignored, and no identity was constructed on their basis at all. Academic works usually specify which words will be used and in which context. Readers are cautioned to avoid making assumptions about the identity of historical figures based on the use of the terms mentioned above.
Ancient Egypt
Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum are considered by many to be the first male couple in recorded history. They shared the title of Overseer of the Manicurists in the Palace of King Niussere during the Fifth Dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs, and are listed as "royal confidantes" in their joint tomb.
Ancient Greece
Greek men had great latitude in their sexual expression, while their wives were severely restricted and could hardly move about the town unsupervised. It was said that a woman could travel about town freely only if she was old enough that people would ask not whose wife she was, but whose mother.
Unmarried adult women had more freedom, but often had to sell their favors to survive. Besides the common prostitutes there was a class of highly educated and paid entertainers known as
hetairasIn ancient Greece, hetaerae were courtesans, that is to say, sophisticated companions and prostitutes.- Overview :...
who frequented men's
symposiaSymposium originally referred to a drinking party but has since come to refer to any academic conference, or a style of university class characterized by an openly discursive format, rather than a lecture and question–answer format...
, drank with them, debated politics and philosophy with them, and slept with them.
Men could also seek adolescent boys as partners as shown by some of the earliest documents concerning same-sex
pederasticPederasty or paederasty is a relationship between an older man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family...
relationships, which come from
Ancient GreeceAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
. Often they were favored over women. One ancient saying claimed that "Women are for business, boys are for pleasure." Though slave boys could be bought, free boys had to be courted, and ancient materials suggest that the father also had to consent to the relationship. Such relationships did not replace marriage between man and woman, but occurred before and concurrent with it. A mature man would usually not have a mature male mate, though there frequent exceptions (among whom
Alexander the GreatAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
) but he would be the
erastes (lover) to a young
eromenos (loved one). Dover suggests that it was considered improper for the eromenos to feel desire, as that would not be masculine. Driven by desire and admiration, the erastes would devote himself unselfishly to providing all the education his eromenos required to thrive in society. In recent times, Dover's theory has been questioned in light of massive evidence of ancient art and love poetry that suggests a more emotional connection than earlier researchers liked to acknowledge. Some research has shown that ancient Greeks believed semen to be the source of knowledge, and that these relationships served to pass wisdom on from the erastes to the eromenos.
Ancient Rome
- The deification of Antinous, his medals, statues, temples, city, oracles, and constellation, are well known, and still dishonor the memory of Hadrian. Yet we remark, that, of the first fifteen emperors, Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct. --Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788...
- Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla...
- Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his cognomen Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41...
and Lepidus
- Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne...
and Sporus
- Otho
For other uses, see Otho .Marcus Salvius Otho , also called Marcus Salvius Otho Caesar Augustus, was Roman Emperor from 15 January to 16 April 69, the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors....
- Elagabalus
Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, was a Roman Emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 to 222...
- Hadrian
Publius Aelius Hadrianus was emperor of Rome from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoic and Epicurean philosopher...
and Antinous
- Trajan
Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from A. D. 98 until his death in A. D. 117...
It was said by some that
Julius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar , , was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, at the age of twenty, had an affair with King Nicomedes of Bithynia. Of his tastes, a political opponent once said that "He is every woman's man and every man's woman."
The Middle Ages
Through the medieval period, homosexuality was generally condemned and thought to be the moral of the story of
Sodom and GomorrahSodom and Gomorrah , Arabic: عمورة ʿAmūrah, Greek Γόμορρα) were two cities in the Bible which were destroyed by God....
. Historians debate if there were any prominent homosexuals and bisexuals at this time, but it is argued that figures such as
Edward IIEdward II, called Edward of Carnarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. He was the seventh Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
, Richard the Lionheart, Philip II Augustus, and William Rufus were engaged in same-sex relationships.
Also, historian Allan A. Tulchin recently argued that a form of male same-sex marriage existed in Medieval France, and possibly other areas in Europe, as well. There was a legal category called "enbrotherment" (affrèrement) that allowed two men to share living quarters, pool their resources, and effectively live as a married couple. The couple shared "one bread, one wine, one purse." The article received considerable attention in the English-language press, since Tulchin may have discovered the earliest form of same-sex marriage. Tulchin's views have also sparked significant controversy, as they challenge the generally held view that the medieval period was one of the most anti-gay in history.
Renaissance
19th century
- Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest "celebrities" of his day...
- Boston marriage
Boston marriage, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, was an arrangement in which two women lived together, independent of any man's support. These relationships were not necessarily sexual; the existence of platonic Boston marriages was used to quell fears of lesbianism after the loss of men...
- Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, anthologist, early gay activist and socialist philosopher....
- The single-sex public school
- Seafarers
Early twentieth century
For events in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
see the articles on
Magnus HirschfeldMagnus Hirschfeld was a gay German physician, sex researcher, and early gay rights advocate.-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a Jewish family, the son of a highly regarded physician and 'Medizinalrat', Hermann Hirschfeld...
and History of Gays during the Holocaust.
China
- See Homosexuality in China
The situation of homosexuality in Chinese culture is relatively ambiguous in the contemporary context, although many instances have been recorded in the dynastic histories.-Terminology in China:...
.
- "Passion of the cut sleeve" - Emperor Ai of Han China and Dong Xian
Dong Xian was a Han Dynasty politician who quickly rose from obscurity as a minor official to being the most powerful official in the imperial administration of Emperor Ai within a span of a few years....
- "Passion of the half-eaten peachhttp://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/Mythology/Chinese/MiziXia/MiziXia.htm" Ling
Ling may refer to:* -ling, an English diminutive suffix* Ling , a traditional Chinese medicine concept of shamanic power and spirituality* Ling County, in Shandong, China* Ling, the legendary Kingdom, ruled by king Gesar, in Mongol-Tibetan myth...
(534 - 493 B.C.E.) and Mizi Xia
Psychiatry
Freud, among others, argued that neither predominantly different- nor same-sex sexuality were the norm, instead that what is called "bisexuality" is the normal human condition thwarted by society. A 1901 medical dictionary lists
heterosexuality as "perverted" different-sex attraction, while by the 1960s its use in all forums referred to "normal" different-sex sexuality.
In 1948
Alfred KinseyAlfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction...
publishes
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, popularly known as the
Kinsey ReportsThe Kinsey Reports are two books on human sexual behavior, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female , by Dr. Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and others...
.
Homosexuality was deemed to be a psychiatric disorder for many years, although the studies this theory was based on were later determined to be flawed. In 1973 homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. In 1986 all references to homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder were removed from the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides diagnostic criteria for mental disorders...
(DSM) of the
American Psychiatric AssociationThe American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
.
The sexual revolution
During the
Sexual RevolutionThe sexual revolution encompasses the changes in social thought and codes of behaviour related to sexuality throughout the Western world.-Overview:...
, the different-sex sexual ideal became completely separated from procreation, yet at the same time was distanced from same-sex sexuality. Many people viewed this freeing of different-sex sexuality as leading to more freedom for same-sex sexuality.
Gay-rights movement
See also Gay rights, Timeline of LGBT historyThe following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender related history.-25th/24th century BCE:*Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum's tomb is built in Egypt during the fifth dynasty.-7th century BCE:...
and :Category:LGBT history.
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of violent conflicts between New York City police officers and the gay men and transgender women at the Stonewall Inn, a gay hangout in
Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village , often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families. Greenwich Village, however, was known in the late 19th – earlier to mid 20th...
. The riot began on Friday, June 27, 1969. "Stonewall", as it is often called, is considered the start of the modern gay rights movement in the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and worldwide. It was the first time any significant body of gays resisted arrest. For many, this is the primal scene of the modern gay rights movement, although some advances in gay rights had taken place previously (Canada had legalized
sodomySodomy is a term used today predominantly in law to describe the act of anal intercourse, oral intercourse, or bestiality.- Definitions :...
earlier that year, whereas France had legalized it in the 18th century).
Religion and sex
Although not the case in every culture, most religious practices contain taboos in regard to sex,
sex organA sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, as narrowly defined, is any of the anatomical parts of the body which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in a complex organism; in mammals, these include:*Female...
s and the reproductive process.
Judaism
In Jewish law, sex is not considered intrinsically sinful or shameful when conducted in marriage, nor is it a necessary evil for the purpose of procreation. Sex is considered a private and holy act between a husband and wife. Certain deviant sexual practices, enumerated below, were considered gravely immoral "abominations" sometimes punishable by death. The residue of sex (as with any lost bodily fluid) was considered ritually unclean outside the body, and required
ablutionAblution in religion is a prescribed washing of part or all of the body or of possessions, such as clothing or ceremonial objects, with the intent of purification or dedication.In Christianity, both baptism and footwashing are forms of ablution...
.
Recently, some scholars have questioned whether the Old Testament banned all forms of homosexuality, raising issues of translation and references to ancient cultural practices. However, rabbinic Judaism had unambiguously condemned homosexuality.
Mosaic law
- And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and over all the beasts that tread upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28)
The
TorahThe term "Torah" , refers either to the Five Books of Moses or to the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts...
, while being quite frank in its description of various sexual acts, forbids certain relationships. Namely,
adulteryAdultery is referred to as extramarital sex, philandery, or infidelity, but does not include fornication. The term "adultery" for many people carries a moral or religious association, while the term "extramarital sex" is morally or judgmentally neutral....
, all forms of
incestIncest is any sexual activity between close relatives irrespective of the ages of the participants and irrespective of their consent, that is illegal or socially taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo...
, male
homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
, bestiality, and introduced the idea that one should not have sex during the wife's
periodThe menstrual cycle is a cycle of physiological changes that occurs in fertile females. Overt menstruation occurs primarily in humans and close evolutionary relatives such as chimpanzees...
:
- You shall not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife, to become defiled by her. (Lev. 18:20)
- Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. (Lev. 18:22)
- And with no animal shall you cohabit, to become defiled by it. And a woman shall not stand in front of an animal to cohabit with it; this is depravity. (Lev. 18:23)
- And to a woman during the uncleanness of her separation, you shall not come near to uncover her nakedness. (Lev. 18:19)
The above passages may, however, open to modern interpretation. The original meanings of these verses did not change, but their interpretation may have changed after they were translated into English and other languages.
Christianity
Christianity re-emphasised the Jewish attitudes on sexuality with two new concepts. First, there was the re-iterated idea that marriage was absolutely exclusive and indissoluble, placing further guidance on divorce and expanding on the reasons and principles behind those laws. Second, in Old Testament times marriage was almost universal, in continuity with the total matrimony in Eden, but in the New Testament, the trajectory is extended forward to the goal of no marriage in the new heavens and new earth (see Matthew 22). Practically therefore the new age after Jesus now has marriage as only normative, but celibacy is a valuable gift in and of itself.
New Testament
The
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
is quite clear on principles regarding sexual relations. In one of his letters to the Corinthian church, Paul directly answers some questions they had asked about this.
- 1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: 'It is well for a man not to touch a woman.' 2 But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 This I say by way of concession, not of command. 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind." (1 Corinthians 7:1-9, NRSV)
Paul is speaking into a situation where the church was falling into lust, and some members even using prostitutes (6:16), while others advocated a 'higher spirituality' that wrongly denied pleasure from earthly things, including abstinence from sex (7:1). Paul writes to them to explain the right context for sex in marriage, and the importance of couples keeping having sex and giving each other pleasure, but encourages them to pursue celibacy (as he later explains [7:32-35], so that they may devote more time and energy to others) wherever God has granted that gift (7:7).
Many other passages refer to sex or marriage
Later Christian Thought
St.
AugustineAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
opined that before Adam's fall, there was no lust in the sexual act, but that it was entirely subordinate to human reason. Later theologians similarly concluded that the lust involved in sexuality was a result of
original sinOriginal sin is, according to a doctrine proposed in Christian theology, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt,...
, but nearly all agreed that this was only a venial sin if conducted within marriage without inordinate lust.
In Reformed schools, as represented for example by the Westminster confession, three purposes of marriage are drawn out: for mutual encouragement, support, and pleasure; for having children; and to prevent lustful sin.
Today, many Christians have adopted the view that there is no sin whatsoever in the uninhibited enjoyment of marital relations. Some Christians will tend to limit the circumstances and degree to which sexual pleasure is morally licit, for example to build self control to prevent sex becoming addictive, or as a fast.
Hinduism
In India,
HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
accepted an open attitude towards sex as an art, science and spiritual practice. The most famous pieces of Indian literature on sex are Kamasutra (Aphorisms on Love) and
KamashastraIn Indian literature, Kāmashastra refers to the tradition of works on Kama. It therefore has a practical orientation, similar to that of Arthashastra, the tradition of texts on politics and government...
(from Kama = pleasure, shastra = specialised knowledge or technique). This collection of explicit sexual writings, both spiritual and practical, covers most aspects of human courtship and sexual intercourse. It was put together in this form by the sage
VatsyayanaMallanaga Vātsyāyana is the name of an Indian philosopher in the Vedic tradition who lived some time in the Gupta period . His name appears as the author of the Kama Sutra and of Nyāya Sutra Bhāshya, the first commentary on Gotama's Nyāya Sutras. It is, however, unlikely that the same Vatsyayana...
from a 150 chapter manuscript that had itself been distilled from 300 chapters that had in turn come from a compilation of some 100,000 chapters of text. The Kamasutra is thought to have been written in its final form sometime between the third and fifth century AD.
Also notable are the sculptures carved on temples in India, particularly the
KhajurahoKhajuraho is a village in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Chhatarpur District, about 385 miles southeast of Delhi, the capital city of India. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for their...
temple. The frank depiction of uninhibited sex hints towards a liberated society and times where people believed in dealing openly with all aspects of life. On the other hand, a group of thinkers believe that depiction of sexually implicit carvings outside the temples indicate that one should enter the temples leaving desires (kama).
Apart from Vatsyayana's Kamashastra, which is no doubt the most famous of all such writings, there exist a number of other books, for example:
- The Ratirahasya
The Ratirahasya is an Indian love manual written by Kokkoka. It is a popular text and is often compared to the Kama Sutra. It was probably written in the 12th century.Some commentaries have been written on this text....
, literal translation - secrets (rahasya) of love (rati, the union);
- The Panchasakya, or the five (panch) arrows (sakya);
- The Ratimanjari, or the garland (manjari) of love (rati, the union)
- The Anunga Runga, or the stage of love.
The Secrets of Love
was written by a poet named Kukkoka. He is believed to have written this treatise on his work to please one Venudutta, considered to be a king. This work was translated into Hindi years ago and the author's name became Koka in short and the book he wrote was called Koka Shastra
. The same name crept into all the translations into other languages in India. Koka Shastra
literally means doctrines of Koka, which is identical with the Kama Shastra
, or doctrines of love, and the names Koka Shastra
and Kama Shastra are used indiscriminately.
Islam
In Islam sexual intercourse is allowed only after marriage and only with one's spouse. Sex outside of marriage, called zina, is considered a sin and strictly prohibited and is punishable. According to the chapter Al-Israa', verse 32 of the Qur'an, Allah (God) prohibits Muslims from getting close to (engaging in) zina.
Politics of sex
With the rise of
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
and
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
s, personal behaviors, including sex, became increasingly politicized.
The politics (and, therefore, laws) in regards to sex vary widely. In several countries (and different states of countries) there are or were, laws, both civil and religious, forbidding some sexual practices or to forbid sexual intercourse between partners of difference races. Laws that forbid to have sex with a person younger than a fixed age are very common.
The laws generally fit into the following types.
- Partner laws regulate the choice of the partner on the following attributes: species, state, sex, age, number, group, time.
- Species (human/non-human): Permitted: a human partner. Not permitted: a non-human partner. e. g. sex with animals (zoophilia
Zoophilia, from the Greek ζῷον and φιλία , is the practice of sex between humans and animals , or a preference or fixation on such practice. A person who practices zoophilia is known as a zoophile.Although sex with animals is not outlawed in some countries, it is not explicitly condoned anywhere...
) is not permitted.
- State (living/dead): Permitted: a living human. Not permitted: a dead one e. g. sex with the dead (necrophilia
Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia and necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from Ancient Greek: νεκρός and φιλία...
) is not permitted.
- Sex (opposite/same): Permitted: a living human of the opposite sex. Not permitted: a living human of the same sex e. g. sex with the members of one's own sex Homosexual sex) is not permitted.
- Age: Permitted: a partner with a certain age. Not permitted: a partner with an age less than a certain age. These restrictions are of two types.
- Absolute age: Permitted: a partner with the age greater than or equal to the age of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
as determined by the applicable law. Not permitted: a partner with the age less than the age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
. The value of Age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
ranges from 9 to 21.
- Relative age: Permitted: a partner with the age greater (or less) than one's own age. Not permitted: a partner with the age less (or greater) than one's own age. E. g. a law that prohibits the woman being elder to the man.
- Number (one/many): Number of partners for sexual activity.
- At a single sexual encounter: e. g. monogamy
Monogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
(monandryMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
, monogynyMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
) and polygamyThe term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
(polyandryPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
, polygynyPolygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time." It is distinguished from a relationship where a man who has a sexual partner outside marriage, such as a concubine, casual sexual partner, paramour, or other culturally recognized secondary partner...
)).
- At any given time in life: e. g. monogamy
Monogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
(monandryMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
, monogynyMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
) and polygamyThe term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
(polyandryPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
, polygynyPolygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time." It is distinguished from a relationship where a man who has a sexual partner outside marriage, such as a concubine, casual sexual partner, paramour, or other culturally recognized secondary partner...
)).
- At different times in life: Permitted: only one partner at a time e. g. serial monogamy. Not permitted: polygamy
The term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
(polyandryPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
, polygynyPolygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time." It is distinguished from a relationship where a man who has a sexual partner outside marriage, such as a concubine, casual sexual partner, paramour, or other culturally recognized secondary partner...
)).
- Group: Permitted: a partner from one's own race, religion, caste, creed, community and/or group. Not permitted: a partner outside one's own race, religion, caste, creed, community and/or group. These are of two types.
- Same: Permitted: a partner from the same group. Not permitted: a partner from a different group.
- Different: Permitted: a partner from a different group. Not permitted: a partner from the same group. E. g. sex with one's blood-relatives (incest
Incest is any sexual activity between close relatives irrespective of the ages of the participants and irrespective of their consent, that is illegal or socially taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo...
), sex with the members of one's own sex (homosexual sex) are prohibited.
- Time: The time in the life of the partner e. g. a law that prohibits the woman from engaging in sexual activity while she menstruates.
- Activity laws regulate the choice of the sexual activity e. g. a law that prohibits genital-genital intercourse. Activity laws are of the following types.
The laws sorted in the decreasing order of perceived severity for a
single (number
) living (state
) adult (absolute age
) human (species
) being:
AT = Attribute Type = [ A: Absolute | R: Relative ]
A relative attribute takes its value relative to a single living human being.
PT = Permission Type = [ Same | Opposite ]
A permission type takes the value 'Same' if and only if the permitted matches with a single living adult human being in either the species
or the state
or the absolute age
or the number.
| Type |
Attribute |
Sub-attribute |
AT |
PT |
Permitted |
Not Permitted |
| Partner |
Species |
|
R |
Same |
Human |
Non-human. Sex with animals i. e. zoophiliaZoophilia, from the Greek ζῷον and φιλία , is the practice of sex between humans and animals , or a preference or fixation on such practice. A person who practices zoophilia is known as a zoophile.Although sex with animals is not outlawed in some countries, it is not explicitly condoned anywhere...
|
|
__State |
|
R |
Same |
Living |
Dead. Sex with the dead i. e. necrophilia Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia and necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from Ancient Greek: νεκρός and φιλία...
|
|
____Group |
Sex |
R |
Opposite |
A partner with a sex different from one's own. Sex with a partner with a sex different from one's own i. e. heterosexual sex. |
A partner from one's own sex. Sex with a partner from one's own sex i. e. homosexual sex |
|
____Group |
Family |
R |
Opposite |
|
A partner from one's own family. Sex with a partner from one's own family i. e. incestIncest is any sexual activity between close relatives irrespective of the ages of the participants and irrespective of their consent, that is illegal or socially taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo...
|
|
____Age |
Adulthood with respect to the age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
|
R |
Same |
A partner with age >= the age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
|
A partner with age < the age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
. Sex with a partner with age < the age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
i. e. pedophiliaThe term pedophilia has a range of definitions as found in psychiatry, psychology, law enforcement, and the vernacular. As a medical diagnosis, it is defined as a psychological disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children...
|
|
____Group |
Race, religion, caste, creed, community, etc. |
R |
Same |
A partner from a group same as one's own |
A partner from a group different from one's own |
|
____Number |
At a single sexual encounter |
R |
Same |
One |
Opposite i. e. many |
|
____Number |
In a particular period in life |
R |
Same |
One i. e. monogamy Monogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
(monandryMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
, monogynyMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
) or many i. e. polygamyThe term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
(polyandryPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
, polygynyPolygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time." It is distinguished from a relationship where a man who has a sexual partner outside marriage, such as a concubine, casual sexual partner, paramour, or other culturally recognized secondary partner...
)) |
Many i. e. polygamy The term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
(polyandryPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
, polygynyPolygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time." It is distinguished from a relationship where a man who has a sexual partner outside marriage, such as a concubine, casual sexual partner, paramour, or other culturally recognized secondary partner...
)) |
|
____Number |
In different periods in life |
R |
Same |
One i. e. serial monogamy Monogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
(monandryMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
, monogynyMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
) or many i. e. polygamyThe term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
(polyandryPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
, polygynyPolygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time." It is distinguished from a relationship where a man who has a sexual partner outside marriage, such as a concubine, casual sexual partner, paramour, or other culturally recognized secondary partner...
)) |
Many polygamy The term polygamy is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, sociology, as well as in popular speech. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one...
(polyandryPolyandry refers to a form of sexual union, in which a woman is married to two or more husbands at the same time....
, polygynyPolygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time." It is distinguished from a relationship where a man who has a sexual partner outside marriage, such as a concubine, casual sexual partner, paramour, or other culturally recognized secondary partner...
)) |
|
____Age |
Relative |
R |
|
|
E. g. a woman elder than a man. |
|
____Time |
|
|
|
|
E. g. a menstruating woman |
| Activity |
|
|
|
|
Genital-genital intercourse |
|
The value of
Age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
ranges from 9 to 21.
Technology and sex
Scientific and
technologicalTechnology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment...
advances have significantly affected the enjoyment and outcomes of sex, especially in recent history.
Recreational uses
Sex toyA sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure. The most popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals and may be vibrating or non-vibrating...
s such as vibrators were introduced to the market in the late 1880s, some 10 years before domestic
vacuum cleanerA vacuum cleaner is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors...
s
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.01/vibrators_pr.html. More recently, Internet sites dealing in sexual images developed the infrastructure for Internet commerce well in advance of most other sectors.
Birth control
WithdrawalCoitus interruptus, also known as withdrawal or the pull-out method, is a technique in which a man withdraws his penis prior to ejaculation during sexual intercourse, with the semen being ejaculated outside of and away from the vagina....
, various herbal contraceptives and abortifacients, as well as crude pessaries, were available to cultures in ancient times. The invention of vulcanized rubber in the nineteenth century, and the promotion of condoms made from that rubber, began the modern birth control movement. A large number of birth control options are now available.
Technology and infertility
In the mid 20th century advances in medical science and modern understanding of the
menstrual cycleThe menstrual cycle is a cycle of physiological changes that occurs in fertile females. Overt menstruation occurs primarily in humans and close evolutionary relatives such as chimpanzees...
led to observational, surgical, chemical and laboratory techniques to allow diagnosis and treatments many forms of infertility.
Pederasty
Many cultures normalized or promoted adult males and male youths, usually teenagers, entering into pedagogic friendships or love affairs that also had an erotic dimension. These were usually sexually expressed, but chaste ones were not infrequent. If sexual, that phase of the relationship lasted until the youth was ready for adulthood and marriage. Other cultures saw such relationships as inimical to their interests – often on religious grounds – and tried to stamp them out.
See
PederastyPederasty or paederasty is a relationship between an older man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family...
,
Shudois the Japanese tradition of age-structured homosexuality or pederasty prevalent in samurai society from the medieval period until the end of the 19th century. The word is an abbreviation of wakashudō , "the way of the young" or more precisely, "the way of young men "...
,
Pederasty in ancient GreeceGreek pederasty, as idealised by the Greeks from archaic times onward, was a relationship and bond between an adult man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. It was seen by the Greeks as an essential element in their culture from the time of Homer onwards...
,
Historical pederastic couplesOver the course of history there have been a number of pederastic relationships between adult men and adolescent boys which have become part of the historical record...
Zoosexuality
Prior to and outside the influence of the major Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam),
sex with animalsZoophilia, from the Greek ζῷον and φιλία , is the practice of sex between humans and animals , or a preference or fixation on such practice. A person who practices zoophilia is known as a zoophile.Although sex with animals is not outlawed in some countries, it is not explicitly condoned anywhere...
(also known as zoophilia, or bestiality) was sometimes forbidden, and sometimes accepted. Occasionally it was incorporated into religious ritual. The Abrahamic religions by and large forbid it, and make it a sin against God, and during the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
in Europe people and animals were often executed if found guilty. With the
age of enlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority....
, bestiality became subsumed into
sodomySodomy is a term used today predominantly in law to describe the act of anal intercourse, oral intercourse, or bestiality.- Definitions :...
and a civil rather than religious offence.
Since the 1980s, many alternative sexualities have formed social networks, and zoosexuality (a more modern name for the spectrum of affinity and attraction to animals) is no exception to this. Although society in general is hostile, several decades of research seem to form a consensus that it is commonly misunderstood and mistaken for
zoosadismZoosadism is a term coined by Ernest Borneman referring to pleasure derived from cruelty to animals. Zoosadism is part of the Macdonald triad, a set of three behaviors that are a precursor to Sociopathic behavior.-Research:...
. Regardless, although there are signs of slow attitude change over decades, it is usually considered a crime against nature in public, and illegal in most countries, and for that reason it is not much evidenced other than
onlineONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
, in private, and in the light of prosecution.
See main articles:
ZoophiliaZoophilia, from the Greek ζῷον and φιλία , is the practice of sex between humans and animals , or a preference or fixation on such practice. A person who practices zoophilia is known as a zoophile.Although sex with animals is not outlawed in some countries, it is not explicitly condoned anywhere...
,
Historical and cultural perspectives on zoophiliaThis article covers the historical and cultural aspects of zoophilia and zoosexuality , from prehistory onwards.-Overview:...
Prostitution
Prostitution is the sale of sexual services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse. Prostitution has been described as the "world's oldest profession". Men, women and
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
people may engage in prostitution, although the majority of prostitutes in history have been women.
In some cultures, prostitution has been an element of religious practises.
Religious prostitutionReligious prostitution, sacred prostitution, or temple prostitution is the practice of having sexual intercourse for a religious or sacred purpose...
is well documented in the ancient cultures of the near East, such as
SumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Iraq . It is the earliest known civilization in the world and is known as the Cradle of Civilization...
,
BabylonBabylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
,
ancient GreeceAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
and
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, where prostitutes appear in the
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
. In
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
the hetaerae were often women of high social class, whereas in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
the meretrices were of lower social order. The
DevadasiDevadasi is originally described a Hindu religious practice in which girls were "married" and dedicated to a deity , although in practice, they are also subject to providing sexual favours to the clergy...
, prostitutes of
HinduA Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, a set of religious, philosophical and cultural systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The vast body of Hindu scriptures, divided into Śruti and Smriti , lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs which primarily include dhárma, kárma, ahimsa and saṃsāra...
temples in south
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, were made illegal by the Indian government in 1988.
Abortion
Abortion is a means of ending a pregnancy, practiced since antiquity. Its legality has varied from country to country. At the present time it is, particularly in the US, the subject of vigorous debate in political and religious circles due to claimed conflicts with the definition of life, issues of personal freedom, and other beliefs.
Sexually transmitted diseases
For much of human history, sexually transmitted diseases have been the scourge of humanity. They raged unchecked through society until the discovery of antibiotics. For a period of about thirty years (in the second half of the twentieth century) their threat subsided. However, due to the free movement of people and uncontrolled distribution of antibiotics, new diseases resistant to antibiotics quickly spread and at the present time pose a threat to people who are sexually active.
AIDS
AIDS has profoundly changed modern sexuality. It was first noticed (although many historians feel that the first case was in 1959) spreading among
gayHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
men and
intravenous drug usersRecreational drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational purposes rather than for work, approved medical or spiritual purposes, although the distinction is not always clear ....
in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, the majority of victims are heterosexual women, men, and children in developing countries. In most developing countries, fear of epidemic has drastically changed many aspects of twentieth century human sexuality. Fear of contracting AIDS has driven a revolution in
sex educationSex education is a broad term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, contraception, and other aspects of human sexual behavior...
, which now centers far more the use of protection and
abstinenceAbstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging a desire or appetite for certain bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to abstention from sexual intercourse, alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or...
, and spends much more time discussing sexually transmitted diseases.
Further effects of this disease run deep, radically impacting the average lifespan of afflicted countries. So stark is the difference that BBC News reports: "It is falling in many African countries - a girl born today in
Sierra LeoneSierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea in the north, Liberia in the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has a population estimated at 6.4 million...
could expect only to live to 36, in contrast to
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, where today's newborn girl might reach 85 on average."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3330155.stm
See also
- Historical pederastic couples
Over the course of history there have been a number of pederastic relationships between adult men and adolescent boys which have become part of the historical record...
- History of feminism
The history of feminism is the history of feminist movements. Most feminist historians assert that all movements that work to overturn gender inequality and obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not apply the term to themselves...
- The History of Sexuality
The History of Sexuality is the title of a three-volume series of books by French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault written between 1976 and 1984...
(book series)
- Ephebophilia
Ephebophilia is a term originally used in the late 19th to mid 20th century for a chronophilia in which an adult experiences a sexual preference for mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19, and recently revived by Ray Blanchard...
- Kamashastra
In Indian literature, Kāmashastra refers to the tradition of works on Kama. It therefore has a practical orientation, similar to that of Arthashastra, the tradition of texts on politics and government...
- Paraphilia
Paraphilia is a biomedical term used to describe sexual arousal to objects or situations that are not part of normative stimulation and that can cause distress or serious problems for the paraphiliac or persons associated with him or her.The term was coined by Wilhelm Stekel in the 1920s and...
- Pederasty
Pederasty or paederasty is a relationship between an older man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family...
- Pedophilia
The term pedophilia has a range of definitions as found in psychiatry, psychology, law enforcement, and the vernacular. As a medical diagnosis, it is defined as a psychological disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children...
- Polyamory
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate sexual relationship at a time with the consent of everyone involved....
- Pornocracy
- Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is a pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, both genders, neither gender, or another gender...
- Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality consists of sexual behavior, practices, and identity predicated on preference or desire for the opposite sex. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions primarily to...
- Homosexuality
Homosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
- Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior with or physical attraction to both sexes , or a bisexual orientation. People who have a bisexual orientation "can experience sexual, emotional, and affectional attraction to both their own sex and the opposite sex"; "it also refers to an individual’s sense of...
- Timeline of LGBT history
The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender related history.-25th/24th century BCE:*Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum's tomb is built in Egypt during the fifth dynasty.-7th century BCE:...
- Transvestophilia
Further reading
- Hubbard, Thomas K. (ed.) Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents, University of California Press, 2003.
- George Rousseau and Roy Porter. Sexual Underworlds of the Enlightenment (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1987). ISBN 0-7190-1961-3
- Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Volumes 1, 2 and 3. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. ISBN 0-679-72469-9
External links
Sexual orientation