India is a vast country depicting wide social, cultural and sexual variations. Indian concept of sexuality has evolved over time and has been immensely influenced by various rulers, kingdoms and religions. Indian sexuality is evident in our attire, behavior, recreation, literature, sculptures, scriptures, religion and sports. It has influenced the way we regard our health, disease and device remedies for the same.
Kāmaśāstra is the science of love and sex. The Kamasutra is the oldest extant Hindu textbook of erotic love. It is not, as most people think, a book about the positions in sexual intercourse. It is about the art of living — about finding a partner, maintaining power in a marriage, committing adultery, living as or with a courtesan, using drugs –and also about the positions in sexual intercourse and the pleasures to be derived from each. The two words in its title mean ‘desire/ love/ pleasure/ sex’ (kama) and ‘a treatise’ (sutra). It was composed in Sanskrit, the literary language of ancient India.
The Kama Sutra is for and about the rich. It has very little to say about the poor except as sexual prey. It was originally a seven-act play about the art of love. The unnamed protagonist is referred to as nagaraka, a “man-about-town.” He is urban and rich. He has “a foam bath every third day,” the Kama Sutra says, “his body hair removed every fifth or tenth day, and he continually cleans the sweat from his armpits.”
As with men today, his penis is egalitarian. This is a significant revelation of the Kama Sutra, because it seems to defy the laws of Manu that divide society into castes and condemns their mingling. The Kama Sutra does not prohibit women, either, from having flings with those in the lower castes, but it does ask them to be prudent. It appears to portray a society that was far less rigid than what Manu ordained, and that was friendlier to women.
The author of the Kamasutra appears to have been a person of sound principles of life and behaviour. Strange as it may appear, Vatsyayana probably led a life of celibacy. He emphasises, without any ambiguity, that his work is a result of celibate life of great austerity.
Vatsyayana has extensive knowledge about customs and sex practices followed in different parts of the Indian sub-continent. Vatsyayana recognises women’s feeling, need and women’s capacity and right for sexual enjoyment. For centuries many cultures and traditions doubted whether women had sexual desire, or whether they had the pleasure at all. Women’s role in sex and sexual pleasure was considered to be passive and submissive only. Kāmasūtra, on the other hand, acknowledges and approves women’s initiative and active role in sexual play and takes for granted their desire and pleasure: The Kamasūtra emphasises equality, which does not always mean being alike in any way. What is emphasised is the fact that both men and women have similar desires; therefore, the pleasures they gain should also be equal.
Sexual Morality in Medieval Europe
Sexual morality in the medieval period is the amalgamation of sexual and sensual features recognized in a woman from the Middle Ages. Like a modern woman, a medieval woman’s sexuality includes many aspects. Sexuality not only included sex, but widespread into many parts of the medieval woman’s life.
Everything in her life eventually leads to marriage, and it was within marriage that her sexuality developed and takes shape into what can be recognized as a sexual identity today. The scope of sexuality for a married woman during the Middle Ages was wide-ranging than that of an unmarried woman. While there are many explanations for this, an important one is that the Church only recognized the possibility for a sexual identity in a woman contributing in sexual intercourse with her husband alone.
Outside of marriage, virginity and purity were prized, and sexuality was limited to small presentations of beauty, like as embellished hair coverings or clothes. Chastity removed the possibility for any kind of sexual identity.
Even medical complications associated to female organs were omitted with the understanding that only sexually active women could have them, and so, help was difficult to find. However, within the bounds of marriage came sexual intercourse for these medieval women and with it, sexual problems. Those problems included conception, birthing, abortion, and health problems related to sexual organs.
The most important piece of a woman’s sexuality did not directly relate to what women believed about their own sexuality, but more so the roles assigned to them through the beliefs, superstitions, and declarations of the Church, the law, and men. These three entities came to define female sexuality and identity in the Middle Ages.
Sexuality for the medieval woman began before marriage as a young virgin. Her appearance was not important but she was married because marriage was based on politics, material wealth, and social status. It was disapproved for a man and woman to marry on the basis of physical attraction or love. The family decides the match for the daughter, by choosing a partner never on the basis of sexual attraction. References to love and beauty during marriage was rare between two families.
After marriage the importance of faithfulness was related to a woman’s honour and her control of her sexuality. A man has to convert his wife from a virgin by consummating the marriage, through pregnancy. But an unconsummated marriage could lead to annulment, but once a woman lost her virginity to her husband, the consummated marriage was permanent. Sexual problems within a marriage, especially in an unconsummated marriage, existed in a woman’s claim of her husband’s impotence and inability to penetrate her or in a man’s claim that his wife’s vagina was too narrow or that it was somehow blocked.
The Church taught that the purpose of sex is reproduction, although, they didn’t forbid, for example, married couples from having sex after menopause. Reproduction is not the only thing that made sex permissible, but it was a big thing. One would argue that the close connection between sex and reproduction really is not broken until the availability of effective contraception, which means we are talking about the second half of the 20th century. Although there were some forms of contraception earlier, there was not much effective contraception in the Middle Ages.
Although forced to accept sex between married couples as legitimate the church urged a suppression of sexual desire in favour of spirituality, which was considered to be man’s true vocation in life. Celibacy and virginity were exalted as ‘the highest forms of life,’ Thomas Aquinas believed that lust undermined reason, which then led to a corruption of morals and judgment. In fact, the church did not deny that sex was pleasurable, but openly acknowledged the power it could wield over humans, claiming that sex itself only functioned as a generator for more sexual desire. the pleasure obtained from intercourse was a sin, which automatically led to shame, guilt and even depression, resulting from the ‘strength of carnal passion.
Medieval and Modern Middle Eastern Societies
Sexual relations in Middle Eastern societies have historically articulated social hierarchies, dominant and subordinate social positions: adult men on top; women, boys and slaves below. The distinction made by modern Western ‘sexuality’ between sexual and gender identity, between kinds of sexual predilections, degrees of masculinity and femininity, has, until recently, had little resonance in the Middle East. Both dominant/subordinate and heterosexual/homosexual categorisations are structures of power. They position social actors as powerful or powerless, ‘normal’ or ‘deviant.’ Middle eastern societies saw a drastic shift with the coming of colonialism and European culture. Arab-muslim socio religious norms has a great influence on the sexual morality. Gender roles played a significant part in admitting the sexual ethos in these societies.
Power and Sexuality
The sexual ethos of the middle eastern societies is characterised by the general importance of male dominance, the centrality of penetration to conceptions of sex and the radical disjunction of active and passive roles in male homosexuality. Islam recognises both men and women as having sexual drives and rights to sexual fulfilment and affirms heterosexual relations within marriage and lawful concubinage. All other sexual behaviour is however, considered illicit. It is debatable whether the 7th century message of Qur’an undermined or improved the position of women but there is more agreement that in the subsequent centuries Muslim male elites promoted the segregation and seclusion of women and reserved the political and public life for men.
Social segregation was legitimised in part by constructing male and female as opposites : men as rational and capable of control; women as emotional and lacking self control, particularly of sexual drives. Female sexuality, if unsatisfied or uncontrolled could result in social chaos. Hence it was believed that in order to restore stability it was required of men to control women’s bodies. The domain of licit sexuality was placed in service to the patriarchal order. The patriarchal family served as paramount social institution and the proper locus of sex, thus ensuring legitimate filiation. In the Arab-Muslim societies sexes are segregated and the honour of the men and the family is linked to premarital female virginity. Sex is licit only within marriage or concubinage. The persistent notion that women lack sexual control broadened the scope and served as a social sanction for aggressive male sexuality.
Sexuality was defined according to the domination by or reception of penis in the sex act. Moreover, one’s position in the social hierarchy also localised her or him in a predetermined sexual role. Sex or penetration took place between dominant, freeadult men and subordinate social inferiors: wives, concubines, boys, prostitutes and slaves. The focus was not the mutuality between the partners but the adult male’s achievement of pleasure through domination. Women were viewed as naturally submissive, male prostitutes were understood to submit to penetration for gain, and boys being not yet men could be penetrated without losing their potential manliness. omen who could not penetrate and were confined to private realm, were largely irrelevant to conceptions of gender. Female homoeroticism received little attention. Effeminate men who voluntarily and publicly behaved as women gave up their claims to membership in the dominant male order. They lost their respectability as men but could be tolerated and even valued as entertainers. Sexual relations, whether heterosexual or homosexual, continue to be understood as relations of power linked to rigid gender roles. Men who are active in sexual relations with other men are not considered homosexual, the sexual domination of other men may even confer a status of hyper-masculinity.
Prostitution
Those denied access to licit sexuality for reasons ranging from youth, poverty, occupation to demographic social imbalances required other sexual outlets. Such contradictions between normative morality and social realities supported both male and female prostitutions and same sex practices in Middle Eastern societies from the medieval to modern period. Ruling authorities saw prostitution as a socially useful alternative to potential male violence and an easy source of revenue, hence it was encouraged. Sex slaves were a common asset found in every rich household in the later periods.
Sexual Morality in 17th century Europe
There were two main discourses about sexuality in early modern England, one religious, the other medical.
Religious Discourse
The church viewed sexuality as a moral issue. Basically, the church assumed that all sexuality should be heterosexual, genital and confined to marriage. Before the Reformation, endeavoured to discipline and enforce their sexual teachings through the confessional and the church courts. Both the Anglican and Protestant clergy held it that procreative marital sex was the only right kind of sexuality and abhorred bisexuality and homosexuality.
Medical Discourse
According to both medical theorists like physicians and others like midwives, sexual activity in men and women were considered a source of health. According to them, marriage was the only site of lawful sexual activity and was necessary for the health of both sexes. In the absence of marital sex, it was advised by the physicians that men and women should follow a sober diet and vigorous exercise. They also disregarded other modes of sexuality as unhealthy.
Sexual Offences in Early Modern England
Some sexual offences, including bestiality and sodomy were felonies which stipulated death penalty. Attitudes to sodomy are unclear, though some records prove that the Earl of Castlehaven indicated an abhorrence of sodomy. Lyndal Roper, an Australian historian suggests that men of the age found it difficult to think seriously of any act that did not involve penetration, and thus found it difficult to imagine what sexual activity between women could be.
Homosexuality
Homosexuality has been viewed differently throughout history. Although there have been times when homosexuality has been accepted, there have also been times it has been scorned. The influence of the Church has greatly affected societal tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality.
Before the 19th century, men who engaged in homosexual acts were accused of sodomy or buggery, which were simply seen as crimes and not considered part of a person’s fundamental nature. Homosexual activity was common, homosexual prostitution was taxed by the state and the writers of the time seemed to consider men loving men as natural as men loving women. Even after Rome became Christian, there was no anti-homosexual legislation for more than 200 years.
Contrary to popular belief, homosexuality was not treated with concern or much interest by early Christians. Neither ancient Greek nor Hebrew had a word for homosexual. It was rarely mentioned in the Bible, Saint Paul never explicitly condemned homosexuality and Jesus made few pronouncements on proper or improper sexuality except fidelity and never mentioned homosexuality.
From the 16th century onwards, homosexuals were subject to periods of tolerance and periods of severe repression. In the American colonies, homosexuality was a serious offence. In 1656, the New Haven Colony prescribed death for both males and females who engaged in homosexual acts. The severe attitudes towards Homosexuality in America reflect its Puritan origins.
Even in times when homosexual acts were condemned, however homoerotic poems, writings and art were created. Openly homosexual communities appeared now and then. Other cultures also had periods of relative tolerance to homosexuality. In Japan, for example, the Edo period (1600-1867) saw a flourishing homosexual subculture, with openly gay clubs, geisha houses and a substantially gay literature.
Tableau de l’amour conjugal (1696), a French work by the physician Dr Nicolas Venette was translated into English in 1703 under the title The Mysteries of Conjugal Love Revealed. This book and Aristotle’s Master-Piece (1684) were two works which sexual advice during the time. Both the writers held it that the sex that was correct and approved was that between conjugally bonded men and women, sex likely to culminate in the making of babies.
Homosexuality in Literature
IN Chinese poetry too, tales of relation between Samurai and the young warriors who studied under them are common from 15th through the 17th centuries.
Yet the authors, such as Marbod of Rennes,either adopted a critical tone towards such same-sex desire or used literary devices to distance themselves from what their work clearly implied. Writers who overtly and sympathetically decribed same-sex relations were few. Often they paid a high price for their works, like the 17th century French poet, Theophile de Viau, who was subjected to permanent banishment from France.
More typical are works like Christopher Marlowe’s poetry and play Edward II, with their allusions to classical figures known for their same sex love, and scnes suggestive of homosexual desire. Similarly, Shakespeare’s sonnets clearly express a deep, consuming passion for a younger man, but in language that is dense and sometimes ambiguous.
Pornographic literature, however was more forthright in its exploration of homosexuality. Some prominent figures authoured such works, such as the Frenchman Mirabeau, whose novels depicted male and female homosexual acts. The Marquis de Sade is perhaps the most important person in the tradition of European pornographic literature. His works often depict male-male sexuality, although often as part of a larger tableau wherein the characters are bisexual or, more accurately omnisexual with unfettered desire.
During the Renaissance, Europe had many regions where passionate same-sex friendship was idealized, although typically such relationships were understood as non-sexual in nature. Although first written about among men, 17th century France and England provide multiple examples of romantic friendship in literature. The poetry of Katherine Philips is the most notable.
There have been speculations about whether, and in what way, her work could be described as ‘lesbian.’ Certainly her representations of female friendships are intense, even passionate. She herself always insisted on their platonic nature and characterizes her relationships as the ‘meeting of souls,’ as in these lines from ‘To my Excellent Lucasia, on our Friendship’:
For as a watch by art is wound
To motion, such was mine;
But never had Orinda found
A soul till she found thine;
Which now inspires, cures, and supplies,
And guides my darkened breast;
For thou art all that I can prize,
My joy, my life, my rest. (9-16)
Transgender
‘Transgender’ is a word that came to widespread use only recently, so its meanings are still under construction. They are people who crossover (trans-) the boundaries constructed by their culture to define and contain that gender.
Transgender is often linked to transvestism. In the early times many women tried to pass of as men by cross dressing for the benefits of land ownership and security. Even when the old land-based feudal order was replaced by capitalism, many were forced to pass as the opposite sex in order to survive.
By the 17th century, consequences for passing as the opposite sex became very harsh. At the close of the 17th century, the penalty in England was to be placed in the stocks and dragged through the streets in an open cart. In France, there were instances of burning to death of both transgenders and transvestites.
Though transgender representations in literature are very scarce in 16th and 17th centuries, the writers, especially dramatists, created a confusion of sexual identity by using the device of cross-dressing. Shakespeare is a prominent name among them. In seven of his plays, cross-dressing can be observed. From the social point of view, cross-dressing in the Renaissance had an important aspect: as women were considered inferior to men, cross-dressing presented an important change of status. If a woman pretended to be a man, she was, in fact, assuming more rights than she was entitled to.