Some believe Western religions demonized sex, while others think ancient cultures might not have been that different than our own.
Here’s a little video making its way around the internet that proves once again, we are a much more sexually inhibited society than our predecessors:
If you are having trouble viewing the video, it can be found at Reuters.
The museum’s director notes that on rooftops of houses and public paintings at the time – 700 BC to 400 AD – these types of sexual scenes were displayed for all to see, including “children, adolescents, men, women, everybody.”
Reuter’s reporter Paul Chapman adds that these ancient cultures viewed “nature, ideas, and actions all in balance.” Or is that just what we’d like to believe?
Christianity Made Sex Evil?
Over at the Huffington Post, most commenters agree that this video is “not news” if you know anything about ancient Greek and Roman cultures, or have stepped foot in Europe. They’ve got these naughty artifacts hanging around everywhere.
But some interesting thoughts were brought up around the rise of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, whose belief systems are arguably the reason for turning the clock back on accepting open sexual behavior. As futate01 notes:
Sexuality became evil when Semitic religions spread around the world. Before Judaism, Christianity, and Islam most world cultures had healthy attitudes about sex. It was viewed as a method of the creation of life and a gift from God to be honored and appreciated.
Insidious takes it further, saying, “Prudish is too nice of a word to describe the “demonization” of female sexuality from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” HystericHistoria adds, “Not only female sexuality, but all sexuality. Yes, generally men in Western culture…have been…allowed more freedom than women since the inception of the Judo-Christian religions began, but even then it is nowhere near as ‘free’ as what the ancients experienced. Homosexuality, for instance.”
Insidious’ final take:
I agree with you…but it’s not just Western culture…in our global world, controlling female sexuality has been tantamount in oppressing all female behavior: From wearing the Burqa or highheels to Female Genital Mutilation to pornography as the new “erotica”. I think that the war against male homosexuality is an extension of the control over anything not “male” and is a form of misogyny. Just like there is no gray area for women’s sexuality, there can be no gray area for male sexuality...this is the case that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam purport.
Not the Whole Story
Photo: John Griffiths
Although these artifacts are obviously graphic, some commenters argue that they were simply on the “fringe” of society, and that the women depicted were prostitutes, much like our “billion-dollar porn industry.”
In other words, we can’t use these symbols to classify cultures that pre-date Christianity, Judaism, or Islam as completely open sexual societies (who didn’t oppress people) in the same way that strip clubs and bathhouses fail to prove that “deviant” sexual behavior is accepted in ours.
If people thousands of years from now can only get their hands on some copies of Hustler and a vibrating contraption, will they assume our society had extremely open views about sex?
Javida adds, “Normally, most faiths encourage the sharing of sexuality between married people. That is, not acting promiscuously or adulterously. But keeping sex inside marriage does not detract from it’s expression” (ahem, that is if you are allowed to be married, or not forced to be married, of course).
No matter what side you fall on, gotta love a guy with a very proper British accent saying, “the Greeks were always game and the Romans were permanently raunchy.”
Do you think current Western religions demonized sex, or are we just rewriting history? Share your thoughts below.
About the Author
More By This Author
- The Butterfly Effect of Women's Plight (1 comments)
- Thanks for a Great First Year (17 comments)
- The Internet Brain: Our Most Hopeful Approach to Cultural Harmony? (3 comments)
Related Posts
4 Comments... join the discussion!
-
-
Thank you for another interesting and compelling article Christine.
I do think American society has repression issues with sex and nudity. I’ll never forget being in a European train station and for the first time and seeing topless and nude models on THE COVERS of magazines! What blew me away even more was, while I was blatantly staring at these ‘zines, a 14 year old boy browsing the rack shuffled by and didn’t even give the nudes a second look. It was as if they weren’t even there! Needless to say I was blown away by his reaction (or lack thereof) as I was a bundle of raging hormones at that age. Hell, I still am.
When nudity is treated as a normal part of life, it becomes just that: normal. Not a big deal. Not something to spend money on that’s for sure. I think the booming porn industry is proof that our society represses nudity. It encourages people to experience nudity in a way that closes them self off from others, rather than sharing nudity in a healthy way (such as skinny dipping with friends and family, or going to a sauna) and becoming a part of a healthy social interaction that is such a far cry from anything found in titillating media. And that’s not to mention social repression of sexual expression!
[that sounded kind of catchy!]Perhaps the main reason our society is repressed is that we are unconsciously terrified of both our vulnerability and sexuality in a world full of uncertainties.
A video linked to the one above discusses banning topless sun bathing. http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=96164&videoChannel=2603
In it, a politician says that he believes children are offended by the nudity, and that women degrade themselves by going topless. “They might be trying to pick somebody up.” I couldn’t help but think of the Goethe quote:
“A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.”Ciao.
↵ -
@Candice: I think it is all about the mindset. Even today different societies/countries/religions have different views on marriage or monogamy. Some allow polygamy some not. It all about the way you are brought up. Some cultures are fine with nudity but others are totally against any form of it. Therefore, I feel that if there were no social rules about marriage, monogamy etc. we would have just enjoyed sex and maybe then we wouldn’t have paid so much importance to it.
But, I do feel that our ancestors were much more open to the idea of sex than we are.↵ -
Well, from a biological perspective, evolutionary biologist look at primate testicles to decide if an ape is monogamous, polygamous or “open”. The alpha male Gorilla, with his harem of females that are his, has the smallest testicles (no sperm competition). Chimpanzees, who compete for females in estrous and therefor experience sperm competition, have the largest testicles. The male Homo sapiens is right in the middle. Evolutionarily, he experienced sperm competition and was not entirely monogamous. Nicholas Wade (Before the dawn) writes that when humans settled in communities, there was a need to reduce male male competition for females and allow males to bond for warfare/defense. At that point, monogamy was a solution to reducing homicide (over access to mates). Jared Diamond (The third chimpanzee and Why is sex fun?)writes that modern hunter gatherers explain that they go to war against neighboring tribes for the women. I recommend both these authors for a biological perspective on this topic. As a female and a biologist…it makes sense to me.
↵
