Author: Robert H. Allen
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476606439
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
From government to literature to architecture, few fields in western culture are untouched by the influence of Ancient Greece and Rome. Even mores that may seem exclusively modern often have roots in the classical past. This book takes an in-depth look at the ancient roots of homophobia, including its Pythagorean origins and its eventual spread throughout the Roman Empire and, consequently, the rest of the world. Originally, male homosexuality occupied something of an honorable position in ancient Greece. By the end of the Roman period several centuries later, this attitude had changed so radically that to be found guilty of homosexual actions was punishable by death. This work investigates how such a shift occurred and traces the various cultural forces that brought about almost universal homophobia throughout western societies. Beginning with the earliest documented instance of homophobia in the teachings of Pythagoras (who was surrounded by mystery even in ancient times), the author examines its proliferation through various disciplines, citing sources from political history, anthropology, religion, and psychology as well as the analysis of ancient texts. Through extensive historical research, he follows the concept from Greece to Macedonia and finally to Rome, examining relevant religious attitudes including those of Christianity and Judaism. Finally, he discusses the ways in which homophobia was solidified in the legal legacy of the Roman Empire. An extensive bibliography provides additional resources regarding classical influence on modern culture.
Author: Franz X. Eder
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350341088
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 537
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Book Description
How did sexual relationships work before, in and outside of marriage in the pre-modern era? What problems did contraception and sexually transmitted diseases pose? How did people deal with prostitution and pornography back then? What were the possibilities for same-sex and queer desire and practice? Using numerous examples and sources from across the continent, Sexuality in Premodern Europe shows that even in earlier centuries, sexual life had an elementary significance for the coexistence of couples and communities. It was just as decisive for how individuals saw themselves and others as it was for maintaining the social, economic and political order. Franz X. Eder interestingly emphasises the socio-historical view of sexuality, offering an apt foil for the cultural perspective which is so prevalent in the field. In this book, sexual behaviour is understood and thought about as social practice. From this vantage point, Eder deals with the function of the sexual in upbringing and socialization, its significance for the image of men and women, its role in marriage initiation, and the importance of sexual life for marital relationships and concubinage. Deviant and discriminated sexual forms such as prostitution, pornography and same-sex acts are also addressed throughout. The book explores the ways in which many people gained sexual experiences before, besides or beyond marriage, even if these experiences were forbidden in former societies. While research into the history of sexuality has so far dealt with such forms of the sexual primarily from the point of view of regulation and sanctioning, here they are understood as 'positive' practices that allowed people to understand and take ownership of their sexual desire.
Author: Sarah E. Nicholson
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438452209
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 330
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Book Description
This volume takes a unique approach to the question of what it is to be a gendered, sexual self in a postmodern world, offering insights informed by the Integral paradigm of theory and practice. With the inquiry into sex, gender, and sexuality having become so broad and diverse within both academia and popular culture, the Integral approach can help sift through and make sense of the cacophony of theories and agendas that seek to stake their ground in this collective conversation. Informed by the work of thinkers such as Sri Aurobindo, Gregory Bateson, Jean Gebser, Ervin Laszlo, and, most directly, Ken Wilber, the Integral approach acknowledges and works with multiple and contradictory experiences, theories, and realities. Dealing with a variety of topics, including feminism, the men's movement, sexual identity, queer history, and spirituality, the work's contributors speak from across the spectrum of personal and political backgrounds, academic and practitioner orientations, and male and female perspectives. The combination of voices aims to bring forward a more complex and integrated understanding of what it means to be woman, man, human.
Author: Artwell Nhemachena
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 9956553476
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280
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Book Description
Even as African states are currently legislating against homosexuality in order to protect their societies, there are some emergent Eurocentric discourses seeking to legalize bestiality involving sex between humans and nonhuman animals. Indeed, binaries between humans and nonhumans are being challenged, and speciesism is being deconstructed to pave the way for interspecies sex. Critically interrogating these dissident and subversive sexualities in novel ways, this book also deals with emergent humanoid sex robots which are challenging human marriages and families, by replacing human spouses. The book is relevant to anthropologists, sociologists, lawyers, legislators, politicians, theologians, historians, philosophers and educators. “Huge commendations are due for the gargantuan work done on this book which speaks to the past, present and future of African sexualities. These are revolutionary thoughts that change the traditional Western scholarship landscape in the field of sexualities. The book inculcates and imparts African people-centred strategic architectural futuristic flavor for building Africa’s competitive positioning in the discourses on sexualities for the centuries ahead. Indeed, it is commendable and deserves an award for revitalizing Africanity and Africanism renaissance. I am sure this book is going to stimulate broad discussions from Africa and the rest of the world which have sadly been fed with Eurocentric single stories on African sexualities.” Professor Eginald P. Mihanjo, Saint Augustine University of Tanzania “This is a must-read book. It grapples with the important question: ‘Why the West would want to decolonize only by ‘returning’ homosexuality to Africans and not by returning African land, artefacts, skulls and skeletons?’ The book challenges the systemic humanophobic mission, orchestrated by neo- capitalists in the Euro-American world and their allies in Africa. Until we hold together the ethical and ontological boundaries of marriage as a divine-cultural mandate, secured in its sociogenic logicality, all the debates about decolonization will not save us from the ultimate crime of promoting ontological disorderliness.” Charles Prempeh, PhD (Cantab), Research Fellow, Centre for Cultural and African Studies, Kumasi, Ghana, and author of Gender, Sexuality and Decolonisation in Postcolonial Ghana: A Socio-Philosophical Engagement
Author: Quentin J. Broughall
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000620514
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 215
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Book Description
This book examines Gore Vidal’s lifelong engagement with the ancient world. Incorporating material from his novels, essays, screenplays and plays, it argues that his interaction with antiquity was central to the way in which he viewed himself, his writing, and his world. Divided between the three primary subjects of his writing – sex, politics, and religion – this book traces the lengthy dialogue between Vidal and antiquity over the course of his sixty-year career. Broughall analyses Vidal’s portrayals of the ancient past in novels such as Julian (1964), Creation (1981) and Live from Golgotha (1992). He also shows how classical literature inspired Vidal’s other fiction, such as The City and the Pillar (1948), Myra Breckinridge (1968), and his Narratives of Empire (1967–2000) novels. Beyond his fiction, Broughall examines the ways in which antiquity influenced Vidal’s careers as a playwright, an essayist and a satirist, and evaluates the influence of classical authors and their works upon him. Of interest to students and scholars in classical studies, reception studies, American politics and literature, and the work of Gore Vidal, this volume presents an original perspective on one of the most provocative writers and intellectuals in post-war American letters. It offers new insights into Vidal’s attitudes, influences, and beliefs, and throws fresh light upon his patrician self-fashioning and his mercurial output.
Author: Menelaos Apostolou
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030539253
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252
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Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolutionary origins of same-sex attraction, evaluating multiple existing evolutionary theories. It combines empirical findings with theoretical arguments in order to review evidence on the prevalence rates of same-sex attraction and determine its genetic and environmental basis. Among the topics addressed: Attitudes towards same-sex attraction across human history Assessing the weak selection pressures hypothesis of attraction Assessing the male choice hypothesis of attraction Evolution of same-sex attraction in men versus women The Evolution of Same-Sex Attraction will be of interest to academics and students of evolutionary and psychological sciences, filling a gap in literature on the origins of specifically same-sex attraction.
Author: James P. Wilper
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1612494218
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
In Reconsidering the Emergence of the Gay Novel in English and German, James P. Wilper examines a key moment in the development of the modern gay novel by analyzing four novels by German, British, and American writers. Wilper studies how the texts are influenced by and respond and react to four schools of thought regarding male homosexuality in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first is legal codes criminalizing sex acts between men and the religious doctrine that informs them. The second is the ancient Greek erotic philosophy, in which a revival of interest took place in the late nineteenth century. The third is sexual science (or "sexology"), which offered various medical and psychological explanations for same-sex desire and was employed variously to defend, as well as to attempt to cure, this "perversion." And fourth, in the wake of the scandal caused by his trials and conviction for "gross indecency," Oscar Wilde became associated with a homosexual stereotype based on "unmanly" behavior. Wilper analyzes the four novels—Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, E. M. Forster's Maurice, Edward Prime-Stevenson's Imre: A Memorandum, and John Henry Mackay's The Hustler—in relation to these schools of thought, and focuses on the exchange and cross-cultural influence between linguistic and cultural contexts on the subject of love and desire between men.
Author: Thomas K Hubbard
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315432439
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 346
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Book Description
This volume sheds light on one of the most explosive episodes of censure of academic scholarship in recent decades. Bruce Rind, a former psychology professor at Temple University, investigated sexual relations between male adults and adolescents through history and across cultures, from highly institutionalized relationships in Ancient Greece and Rome, to 33 contemporary cultures including the USA, and among various species. His conclusions that these relations, when consensual, are not always negative was radical, but based in his research findings. Even before publication of an invited article on the topic, he was subjected to intensive attacks, censured, and censored. This book presents a substantially extended version of Rind’s original, unpublished article, plus 12 scholarly responses to his work that argue for or against Rind’s conclusions or offer useful context on his work. For anyone interested in sex research and the academic freedom issues surrounding it, whether supportive of or vehemently opposed to Rind’s ideas, this book is a must-read.
Author: Stanimir Panayotov
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003818803
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474
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Book Description
Including both traditional and underrepresented accounts and geographies of soul, body, gender, and sexuality in late antique history, philosophy, and theology, this volume offers substantial re-readings of these and related concepts through theories of dis/embodiment. Bringing together gender studies, late antique philosophy, patristics, history of asceticism, and history of Indian philosophy, this interdisciplinary volume examines the notions of dis/embodiment and im/materiality in late antique and early Christian culture and thought. The book’s geographical scope extends beyond the ancient Mediterranean, providing comparative perspectives from Late Antiquity in the Near East and South Asia. It offers critical interpretations of late antique scholarly objects of inquiry, exploring close readings of soul, body, gender, and sexuality in their historical context. These fascinating studies engage scholars from different fields and research traditions with one another, and reveal both change and continuity in the perception and social role of gender, sexuality, body, and soul in this period. Soul, Body, and Gender in Late Antiquity is a valuable resource for students and scholars of Classics, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as those working on late antique and early Christian history, philosophy, and theology.
Author: Chad Denton
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786495049
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291
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Book Description
From earliest times, sex has fascinated and repulsed society in equal measure. In an effort to untangle Western society's complex relationship with the realities of sex, this provocative volume explores the ways in which governments, religious leaders and cultures in Europe tried to regulate sex and sexuality throughout history. From the sacred texts of ancient Israel to the slums of 19th century Britain, this book explores political, legal and cultural controls on consensual sex and the individuals and movements that resisted them. Topics range from prostitution and homosexuality to marriage, contraception and abortion. While traditional narrative holds that Europe alternated between sexual freedom and oppression through the Victorian age, this work reveals that the real story of how sex was regulated--and how people defied regulation--is not so clear cut.
