“The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies” - Interim Thoughts

I mentioned recently that a friend had given the husband and me a book entitled “The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies” which looks at the existence and role of homosexuality and bisexuality throughout history.  I am still reading the book, but the main take away so far is that homosexuality and bisexuality were recognized and accepted throughout the world and throughout diverse cultures.  All of that changed when European Christians launched their global colonial conquest and with it their imposition of sexual mores derived from Church fathers who could be describes as neurotic at best and perhaps more correctly outright mentally ill.

Illustrative of the sexual freedom that seemingly existed is a  papyrus which is believed to be the oldest known depiction of sex on record. The papyrus, painted sometime in the Ramesside Period (1292-1075 B.C.E.), is known as the “Turin Erotic Papyrus” because of their “discovery” in the Egyptian Museum of Turin, Italy.  One article notes the ancients' approach to sex:

The number of sexual positions the papyrus illustrates—twelve in all—“fall somewhere between impressively acrobatic and unnervingly ambitious,” one even involving a chariot. Apart from its obvious fertility symbols, writes archaeology blog Ancient Peoples, the papyrus also has a “humorous and/or satirical” purpose, and probably a male audience—evidenced, perhaps, by its resemblance to 70’s porn: “the men are mostly unkept, unshaven, and balding […], whereas the women are the ideal of beauty in Egypt.”

[T]he culture reveled in a stylized ritual sexuality quite different from our own limited mores. Sacred temple prostitutes held a privileged position and mythological narratives incorporated unbiased descriptions of homosexuality and transgenderism. Ancient Egyptians even expected to have sex after death, attaching fabricated organs to their mummies. The above applies mainly to a certain class of Egyptian. As archaeologist David O’Connor points out, the Turin Erotic Papyrus’ high “artistic merit” marks it as within the provenance of “an elite owner and audience.”

The inscriptions are also an important part of the papyrus because they indicate us that it is not just the men that are enjoying themselves; 

So what changed?  The Catholic Church's bizarre abhorrence of all things sexual that developed in the Middle Ages.  Who was behind this bizarre obsession?  Leading Church fathers who were disturbed to say the least.  Here are some examples of how these very sick, bizarre men viewed sex:

". . . .the reformers as a group considered sex and other pleasurable experiences tainted by evil and a potent source of sin.  They were not merely suspicious of sex, but hostile to any sexual activity at all save for marital relations undertaken expressly and consciously to conceive a child.  . . . . were determined to limit marital sex to the absolute minimum, and on penalizing extra-marital sex as harshly as possible."

" . . .  married couples were allowed sexual intercourse under only three conditions: 1) for the explicit purpose of conceiving a child; 2) to prevent the temptation of marital infidelity; and 3) to yield to the unrelenting demands -  most likely sinful - of their partner. Even then the sexual intercourse could not be performed in the daytime, had to be in the "missionary position', could not be performed on Sundays, Wednesdays or Fridays - removing the equivalent of five months of the year - and was not to be performed during Lent or other forbidden times. . . All other sexual activity was categorically condemned."

"To assist the couple in their performance of intercourse with as little pleasure as possible, therefore, a device, chemise cagoule, was invented a heavy nightshirt with a hole strategically placed to allow the husband to impregnate his wife with as little bodily contact possible."

"In [St. Peter] Damian's mind, sex was a "violation, sacrilege, profanition, contagion, or corruption. Sex is never the product of love, only of animal lust"  Damian's hatred of sex extended even to loathing of the human body which he called "hideous putrefaction and filth," and consumed by lust.  . . . as clerical reform progressed in the 12th and 13th centuries, Peter Damian's  attitude to sex was to set the tone for the writings on sexual morality of the Church's most influential moral leaders."

I will provide other thoughts as I move through the portion of the book aptly entitled"Sexual Neurosis in Western Society."  These Church fathers belonged in mental wards, not in positions to dictate morality to others.

Why Republicans Are Losing the Virginia Governor's Race

I've continued to argue that the main reason Ken Cuccinelli seems to be headed towards defeat in the Virginia gubernatorial elections in a week and a half is because - besides being clinically mentally ill in my opinion - Cuccinelli is far to extreme on so-called social issues and has no real plan to fix Virginia's broken transportation system or create new jobs other than perhaps low paying call center jobs.  Unknown apparently to Cuccinelli is the fact that unlike the folks at The Family Foundation and within the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, Virginians are not obsessed with re-criminalizing homosexuality, banning contraception, restricting sex to the "missionary position, and diverting taxpayer dollars to support religious schools.  A piece in Rolling Stone echo's my sentiments and slams Cuccinelli for bringing the equally insane Rick Santorum to Virginia for his last ditch effort to energize voters.  Here are story highlights:

For many Republican politicians, the chaos and bad blood that resulted from the recent Tea Party government shutdown will be a long-forgotten memory by the next time their constituents go to the ballot box. But for Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, judgment day is just two weeks away. To overcome the public relations disaster of his party's recent hostile takeover of the federal branch – as well as his own lagging polling – the state's attorney general and wannabe-governor is going to have to bring out some big guns in the final days of the campaign. His secret weapon? Santorum.

Yes, with a nearly double-digit deficit and a 25-point gender gap, Team Cuccinelli has decided the best way to close in on Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe is to have former Pennsylvania senator, failed presidential candidate and rabid "traditional family values" stalwart Rick Santorum ride into town for a get-out-the-vote crusade. Santorum is joining Christian conservative luminaries like the Duggars – the famous Quiverfull family and reality television stars, who also enjoy discussing the evils of birth control and comparing abortion to the Nazi Holocaust.

The addition of Santorum's supporters as a door-knocking "strikeforce" for Cuccinelli makes a great deal of sense. After all, Santorum believes gay marriage would lead to "man on dog" sex, and Cuccinelli keeps urging the courts to make consensual oral and anal sex illegal. It's a totally platonic same-sex match made in heaven.  

It's also completely the wrong way to play the last weeks of an already faltering campaign, especially after the GOP disaster that was the recent government shutdown and attempt to defund Obamacare.

Instead of following the example of Christie or learning from the upset in Florida, Cuccinelli appears determined to double down on the same far right, Christian conservative extremism that put the country into financial jeopardy just a week ago.  He stomped with Tea Party superstar Sen. Ted Cruz while Congress was still in a deadlock, and appeared with Fox News commentator and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who commended Cuccinelli for his leadership in suing to have Obamacare declared unconstitutional.

In fact, the Cuccinelli campaign has moved so far to the right at this point that the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a mostly reliable Republican endorsement machine prior to election day, threw up its hands and refused to endorse any candidate in the race at all.  Their reason? Cucinelli's extreme stance on social issues makes him unelectable.

While the newest additions to the campaign trail are unlikely to win over any moderate Virginia voters – and they definitely won't eliminate Cuccinelli's massive deficit among women – the GOP candidate is likely hoping that bringing in the best and brightest of the Tea Party will convince his party's most extreme fringe to show up at the polls in droves.  It's a risky gamble, even more so after the massive disaster that was the government shutdown.

If Cuccinelli's strategy does work, however, expect this to be the first battle of the 2014 culture wars. And be sure to stock up on birth control while you can still get it.

I continue to stand by my view that Cuccinelli - and Santorum too, for that matter - is a self-loathing closet case who is obsessed with regulating everyone else's sex lives because he is so twisted when it comes to dealing with his own sexual orientation.   No one in good mental health and comfortable with who they are is this obsessed with other people's sex lives and homosexuality. Message to Ken: fathering lots of children doesn't make you straight.