PEDERASTY IN ANCIENT GREECE
For a
discussion of the topic please see: http://tinyurl.com/yhjvbp .
The subject of
Pederasty in ancient Greece came to my attention recently and caused me to
reevaluate my thinking about bisexuality among men, while affirming my thinking
on bisexuality as experienced and practiced by women. I based my thought on the
fact that so
many women are unfulfilled emotionally in their relationships with men, usually
looking for the depth of understanding and comfort that they don't receive from
their husbands and male lovers in their female friends and the findings
of The Great British Sex Survey, which found: "Nearly 50% of women would sleep with
another woman if they knew that nobody would find out, while 14% of men would
sleep with a man under the same circumstances." (See: http://tinyurl.com/c83h6 ).
I had
encountered references to mature Greek men's sensual appreciation of adolescent
boys and young men in Greek literature, of course, but I did not know that
Pederasty was a widespread, variegated and highly developed and sophisticated ancientGreek socio-cultural institution. Before reading
about Pederasty in ancient Greece and based only on my observations of society
in our times and in the recent past; I came to the conclusion that bisexuality
is not only more prevalent among women than among men, but also perhaps more
natural to their nature for the reasons I described above.
In the
light of what I have learned about Pederasty, as practiced in ancient Greece by
men and analogous behavior among women; it now seems to me that bisexuality is
the norm for both sexes and will be the commonly practiced form of sexuality in
the absence of societal pressures to be otherwise.
Note: Pederasty is not Pedophilia, even though it would not
accord with ages of consent in conservative countries like the US. Herein we
are discussing relationships between mature men and young men or adolescent
boys, not between pubescent adults and pre-pubescent children, which I consider
a gross form of abuse, wholly unnatural and thus a serious crime against
nature.
Ancient
Greece was a society in which Pederasty was not only considered normal or
desirable, it was considered essential for the full development of the citizen.
The Wikipedia article describes the phenomenon
thusly: "The erastes-eromenos (the older lover-young object of his love, my
parentheses) relationship was fundamental to the Classical Greek social and educational system, had
its own complex social-sexual etiquette and was an important social institution
among the upper class."
We note a
number of elements of ancient Greek Pederasty.
First, it
was not an abusive relationship, but one of love. I mention this because today
the definition of Pederasty includes any type of mature-youthful homosexual
relationship, including violent and otherwise abusive ones.
It was
tremendously widespread in ancient Greece, truly a societal norm, which assumed
various forms in accordance with the various cultures of the various
City-States.
Ancient
Greek art depicts the eromenoi (the term used for the
"beloved" youth,
the objects of love of the mature men) as physically well-developed. They are
clearly fully sexually mature, quite muscularly developed and, admittedly in
some but not all cases, in their full height.
The
statues and art of ancient Greece teach us that neither the erastes nor the eromenos look
"queer". They practiced homosexual relationships freely, but were
very male in appearance, behavior, emotional make-up and thought patterns.
The
Pederasty was in addition to, not instead of, relationships with women in which
men were married and had children. As the Wikipedia
article states: "The Greeks considered it normal for any man to be
drawn to the beauty of a boy - just as much if not more than to that of a
woman."
It is
important to consider the implications of the fact that the practice was
extremely widespread. It is impossible that an entire culture was based on an
unnatural sexuality. That is to say, that in a culture in which homosexual
expression of love is not forbidden, it will arise spontaneously, be widespread
and exist side-by-side with heterosexual expression of love. The article also
states: "Analogous relations between Greek women and
adolescent girls have been reported by Plutarch, Xenophon and others." Bisexuality
seems to be the norm for humans if not suppressed, that being, as I have
(tentatively) concluded, as true for men as for women.
The love
and lust of older men for young men was overpowering. The Greeks grappled with
the problem mightily, as they saw that their love and
love were obsessive and could override other concerns. They were also concerned
with the welfare of the young men, not wanting them to be merely what we would
call "sex objects" today. From this we learn that the ban on
homosexuality in other cultures was not based on any natural repulsion of men
toward other men, but rather the attempt to limit the strength of the
attraction.
It would
make sense, then, for men to develop self-control in their lusts one for the
other by engaging in sexual relationships based on love. This is equally true
of men's relationships with women. Any to
attempt to squelch a natural desire results only in the lust being channeled, far
less successfully, elsewhere.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat,
Israel