Been reading quite a bit lately on the history of sexuality
and how various societies have treated gender and orientation differences. Turns out that prior to the last couple
hundred years or so, there was far less angst about who slept together. Native American societies had the “berdache” who
were generally men who had a spiritual awakening to their gender bender-ness
and often lived as women, including marrying masculine men. Some societies have believed that ingesting male
semen was right up there with mother’s milk as a vital ingredient for healthy
development. And, the all-male societies throughout history have accepted the
reality of male sex... pirates, cowboys, war parties in all their forms
all have stories. Not too many women
around. Fascinating. Virtually every early society has
evidence of gender and sexual diversity beyond the polarized "straight or gay" labels we find ourselves with today. And, in many cases those men who identified as homosexual or similarly oriented
were given high status as mediators, educators, shamans, and damn good homemakers. It’s also interesting to look at societal
laws around homosexuality… sodomy laws put in place in times where population
increase was desired and eliminated when population decrease was desired.
I'm also intrigued by the general absence of sexual
instruction in the Bible. Makes me think
that maybe it just isn't the big deal. The
sexual references in the Bible seem to have more to do with rampant sexual
debauchery (right up there with drunkenness) and rejecting pedophilia than the acceptance or rejection of homosexual orientation. It was only a thousand years or so after the Bible
was written that some Europeans decided to use their religion as a way of
rejecting those who were different.
So, here we are today.
I’ve got to hand it to the smart folks who shifted the argument from the
moral question of “legalizing gay marriage” to simply “promoting marriage
equality.” Brilliant move. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Tough to argue against that.
More? "Sex at Dawn" by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha, and "The Spirit and the Flesh" by Walter Williams.
