HISTORY OF SEXUALITY IN CLASSICAL CIVILIZATIONS: An analysis from the perspective of Peter Stearns (Atena Editora)

Abstract

Sexuality is a human dimension whose study makes it possible to understand the civilizing process and the direction of social conduct. The historical bias of sexuality brings multiple possibilities, in this work we prioritized a bibliographical research of an exploratory nature to detect patterns of sexuality in classical civilizations: China, Greece, Rome, Persia and India, in the book History of Sexuality by Peter Stearns. The analysis aimed to focus on specific aspects of sexuality such as interest in sexual pleasure, division by gender, the role and participation of women, homoerotic relationships, prostitution, culture and art. Sex for procreative purposes was a constant in all the civilizations analyzed. Interest in sexual pleasure varied according to cultural conditions. Interest in female pleasure showed greater and lesser emphasis in India and Greece respectively. Sex outside of marriage was frowned upon when practiced by women. Female prostitution socially accepts the distinction between respectable and non-respectable women. Homoerotic sexuality was more freely practiced in Greece than in other places and at the same time it was the place that most devalued female sexuality. Among the Greeks, passivity was frowned upon, but sex between men was a matter of parity. In terms of sex and art, China produced little in this regard, whereas the Greeks explicitly produced sex as an artistic expression. The sexual artistic themes of the Romans were influenced by Greeks but were less obscene and more apotropaic. In India, erotic art presented itself as a form of intersection between sexuality and religiosity, showing a mixture of sex, deities, anatomical details and sexual positions. The societies analyzed were more open to fantasies and wanton sexual conduct in art and culture than in everyday life.