From: BARNARD, NICHOLAS
To: ^FRS1000.28
Sent: 10/9/99 2:07 AM
Subject: RE: The Gay Greeks > From: TAMAS, PAUL
> To: ^FRS1000.28
> Sent: 10/8/99 8:54 PM
> Subject: The Gay Greeks
> We read about and heard about the sexual relations that males in Greek society had with
> their friends as well as apprentices, to my knowledge this is uncommon in the modern
> world, I was just curious how the rest of the civilized world at the time viewed this
> behavior (if they knew about it at all). Did they look at the Greeks as a bunch of sex
> crazed people or was the rest of the world busy getting it on with everyone too? Paul, It wasn't exactly that the Greeks were gay. They didn't really define sexuality as Americans do today. Instead of having a male/female structure it was more a penetrater/penetratee structure, at least in Athens. It was technically acceptable for any Athenian (citizen or not) to be a penetrater. Any female and males between the age of the onset of puberty, and the growth of the first hairs on the face were to be penetrated without any social stigma. In regards to the relationship between older males, and males within the aforementioned age slot. This was not supposed to be a voluntary act. The older male was supposed to pursue the younger male. The younger male was to resist being pursued, and his family was supposed to protect him. Once the younger male was caught by the older male he was still supposed to resist. It was the older males job to impart knowledge verbally to the younger male about being a citizen. It may have also been considered that knowledge was imparted through semen, and therefore the requirement of the sexual act. As a citizen one was not supposed to be penetrated. This was an offense that one could be exiled for, and severely criticized in social circles. I'm not quite sure what the other societies thought of the Greeks. You may be asking at this point where I found this information. A good place to start is Plato's Symposium. (it is an excellent book, and very readable Greek) If your even more interested in social sexual structures, this is discussed extensively within Introduction to Gay and Lesbian studies, a course which I highly recommend. This doesn't exactly answer the question, but it is a bit of a background to start with. Nick Barnard
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