Pederasty or paederasty ( /ˈpɛdəræsti/, UK /ˈpiːdəræsti/) is a sexual relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek (paiderastia) "love of boys",[1] a compound derived from παῖς (pais) "child, boy" and ἐραστής (erastēs) "lover".
Historically, pederasty has existed as a variety of customs and practices within different cultures. The status of pederasty has changed over the course of history; at times it has been considered an ideal, and at other times a crime.
In European history, its most structured cultural manifestation was Athenian pederasty, which became most prominent in the 6th century BCE. Greek pederasty's various forms were the subject of philosophic debates in which the carnal type was unfavorably compared with erotic yet spiritual and moderate forms.
The legal status of pederasty in most countries is currently determined by whether or not the boy has reached the local age of consent. Where and when it is illegal, it is treated as a form of child sexual abuse.
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Anthropologists propose three subdivisions of homosexuality as age-structured, egalitarian and gender-structured.[2][3] Pederasty is the archetypal example of male age-structured homosexuality.[2]
Anthropologist Geoffrey Gorer distinguishes pederasty from pedophilia, which he defines as a separate fourth type, "grossly pathological in all societies of which we have record." According to Gorer, the main characteristic of homosexual pederasty is the age difference (either of generation or age-group) between the partners. In his study of native cultures, pederasty appears typically as a passing stage in which the adolescent is the beloved of an older male, who may act as a mentor. He remains as such until he reaches a certain developmental threshold, after which he in turn takes on an adolescent beloved of his own.[4]
Some modern observers restrict the age of the younger partner to "generally between twelve and seventeen",[5] though historically the spread was somewhat greater. The younger partner must, in some sense, not be fully mature; this could include young men in their late teens or early twenties.[6]
While relationships in ancient Greece involved boys from 12 to about 17 or 18 (Cantarella, 1992), in Renaissance Italy, the boys were typically between 14 and 19,[7] and in Japan the younger member ranged in age from 11 to about 19 (Saikaku, 1990; Schalow, 1989).[8]
In antiquity, pederasty was seen as an educational institution for the inculcation of moral and cultural values by the older man to the younger,[9] as well as a form of sexual expression. It entered representation in history from the Archaic period onwards in Ancient Greece, though Cretan ritual objects reflected an already formalized practice date to the late Minoan civilization, around 1650 BCE.[10] According to Plato,[11] in ancient Greece, pederasty was a relationship and bond – whether sexual or chaste – between an adult man and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. In Rome, relations with boys took a more private and less civic path, with older men either taking advantage of dominant social status to extract sexual favors from their social inferiors, or carrying on illicit relationships with freeborn boys.[12]
Many early Christians condemned sodomy - within this blanket condemnation of sodomy, pederasty in particular was a target. The second-century preacher Clement of Alexandria used divine pederasty as an indictment of Greek religion and the mythological figures of Herakles, Apollo, Poseidon, Laius, and Zeus: "For your gods did not abstain even from boys. One loved Hylas, another Hyacinthus, another Pelops, another Chrysippus, another Ganymedes. These are the gods your wives are to worship!"[13] Early legal codes prescribed harsh penalties for violators. The law code of the Visigothic king Chindasuinth called for both partners to be "emasculated without delay, and be delivered up to the bishop of the diocese where the deed was committed to be placed in solitary confinement in a prison."[14] These punishments were often linked to the penance given after the Sacrament of Confession. At Rome, the punishment was burning at the stake since the time of Theodosius I (390). Nonetheless the practice continued to surface, giving rise to proverbs such as With wine and boys around, the monks have no need of the Devil to tempt them, an early Christian saying from the Middle East.[15]
Pederasty was notable in Moorish Spain.[16] It was present in Tuscany and northern Italy during the Renaissance.[17][18] It also was documented in medieval and Tsarist Russia.[19]Elsewhere, it was practiced in pre-Modern Japan until the Meiji restoration.[20]
“Pederasty” derives from the combination of “παίδ-” (the Greek stem for child[21] or boy[22]) with “ἐραστής” (Greek for lover; cf. “eros”). Late Latin “pæderasta” was borrowed in the sixteenth century directly from Plato’s classical Greek in The Symposium. (Latin transliterates “αί” as “ae”.) The word first appeared in the English language during the Renaissance, as “pæderastie” (e.g. in Samuel Purchas' Pilgrimage.), in the sense of sexual relations between men and boys. Beside its use in the classical sense, the term has also been used as a synonym for anal sex, irrespective of the nature of the partner. A nineteenth century sex treatise discusses men practicing the "insertion of the penis into the anus of women," as "pederasty with their wives."[23]
The commonly accepted reference definitions of pederasty refer to a sexual relationship, or to copulation, between older and younger males. The OED offers: "Homosexual relations between a man and a boy; homosexual anal intercourse, usually with a boy or younger man as the passive partner."[24] The concise OED has: “Sexual intercourse between a man and a boy.”[25] When describing pederasts, some focus solely on the mechanics of copulation, such as the Merriam-Webster (on-line edition): “one who practices anal intercourse especially with a boy”.[26] Other dictionaries offer a more general definition, such as "homosexual relations between men and boys"[27] or "homosexual relations, especially between a male adult and a boy or young man."[28] The limitation of pederasty to anal sex with a boy is contested by sexologists. Francoeur regards it as "common but incorrect,"[29] while Haeberle describes it as "a modern usage resulting from a misunderstanding of the original term and ignorance of its historical implications."[30]
Academic and social studies sources propose more expansive definitions of the term. The Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Culture offers “The erotic relationship between an adult male and a youth, generally one between the ages of twelve and seventeen, in which the older partner is attracted to the younger one who returns his affection.”[5] The Encyclopedia of Homosexuality suggests "Pederasty is the erotic relationship between an adult male and a boy, generally one between the ages of twelve and seventeen, in which the older partner is attracted to the younger one who returns his affection, whether or not the liaison leads to overt sexual contact."[31]
In Athens, the slaves were expressly forbidden from entering into pederastic relations with the free-born boys. In medieval civilization, pederastic relations "were so readily accepted in upper-class circles that there was often little or no effort to conceal their existence."[32]
Plato was an early critic of sexual intercourse in pederastic relationships, proposing that men's love of boys avoid all carnal expression and instead progress from admiration of the lover's specific virtues to love of virtue itself in abstract form. While copulation with boys was often criticized and seen as shameful and brutish,[33] other aspects of the relationship were considered beneficial, as indicated in proverbs such as A lover is the best friend a boy will ever have.[34]
Pederastic art shows seduction scenes as well as sexual relations. In the seduction scenes the man is standing, grasping the boy's chin with one hand and reaching to fondle his genitals with the other. In the sexual scenes, the partners stand embracing face to face, the older of the two engaged in intercrural sex with the younger, who (usually but not always) does not show arousal. Anal sex is almost never shown, and then only as something eliciting surprise in the observers. The practice was ostensibly disparaged, the Athenians often naming it jocularly after their Dorian neighbors ("cretanize," "laconize," "chalcidize"). While historians such as Dover and Halperin hold that only the man experienced pleasure, art and poetry indicate reciprocity of desire, and other historians assert that it is "a modern fairy tale that the younger eromenos was never aroused."[35]
Pederastic couples were said to be feared by tyrants, because the bond between the friends was stronger than that of obedience to a tyrannical ruler. Plutarch gives as examples the Athenians Harmodius and Aristogeiton. Others, such as Aristotle, claimed that the Cretan lawgivers encouraged pederasty as a means of population control, by directing love and sexual desire into relations with males.[36]
From the early Republican times of Ancient Rome, it was perfectly normal for a man to desire and pursue boys.[37] However, penetration was illegal for free born youths; the only boys who were legally allowed to perform as a passive sexual partner were slaves or former slaves known as "freedmen", and then only with regard to their former masters. For slaves there was no protection under the law even against rape.[38]
The result was that in Roman times, pederasty largely lost its function as a ritual part of education and was instead seen as an activity primarily driven by one's sexual desires and competing with desire for women. The social acceptance of pederastic relations waxed and waned during the centuries. Conservative thinkers condemned it — along with other forms of indulgence. Tacitus attacks the Greek customs of "gymnasia et otia et turpes amores" (palaestrae, idleness, and shameful loves).[39]
Other writers spent no effort censuring pederasty per se, but praised or blamed its various aspects. Martial appears to have favored it, going as far as to essentialize not the sexual use of the catamite but his nature as a boy: upon being discovered by his wife "inside a boy" and offered the "same thing" by her, he retorts with a list of mythological personages who, despite being married, took young male lovers, and concludes by rejecting her offer since "a woman merely has two vaginas."[40]
In pre-modern Islam there was a "widespread conviction that beardless youths possessed a temptation to adult men as a whole, and not merely to a small minority of deviants."[41]
In central Asia the practice is reputed to have long been widespread, and remains a part of the culture, as exemplified by the proverb, Women for breeding, boys for pleasure, but melons for sheer delight.[42] In the Ottoman Empire culture, young male dancers, usually cross-dressed in feminine attire were called Köçek.
In post-Islamic Persia, where, as Louis Crompton claims, "boy love flourished spectacularly", art and literature also made frequent use of the pederastic topos. These celebrate the love of the wine boy, as do the paintings and drawings of artists such as Reza Abbasi (1565 – 1635). Western travelers reported that at Abbas' court (some time between 1627 and 1629) they saw evidence of homoerotic practices. Male houses of prostitution amrad khaneh, "houses of the beardless", were legally recognized and paid taxes.[43]
Osman Agha of Temeşvar who fell captive to the Austrians in 1688 wrote in his memoirs that one night an Austrian boy approached him for sex, telling him "for I know all Turks are pederasts".[44]
In 1770s, Âşık Sadık the poet wrote, in an address to the Sultan: Lût kavmi döğüşür, put kavmi bozar. Askerin lûtîdir, bil Padişahım ("The people of Lot fight, the people of idolatry spoil. Know, my Sultan, that your soldiers are sodomites").[45]
In Afghanistan in 2009, the British Army commissioned a report into the sexuality of the local men after British soldiers reported the discomfort at witnessing adult males involved in sexual relations with boys. The report stated that though illegal, there was a tradition of such relationships in the country, known as "bache bazi" or boy play, and that it was especially strong around Kandahar.[46]
In Japan, the practice of shudō (衆道), "the Way of the Young", paralleled closely the course of European pederasty. It was prevalent in the religious community and samurai society from the mediaeval period on, and eventually grew to permeate all of society. It fell out of favor around the end of the 19th century, concurrent with the growing European influence.
"Of the Koniagas of Kodiak Island and the Thinkleets we read, 'The most repugnant of all their practices is that of male concubinage. A Kodiak mother will select her handsomest and most promising boy, and dress and rear him as a girl, teaching him only domestic duties, keeping him at women's work, associating him with women and girls, in order to render his effeminacy complete. Arriving at the age of ten or fifteen years, he is married to some wealthy man who regards such a companion as a great acquisition. These male concubines are called Achnutschik or Schopans' (the authorities quoted being Holmberg, Langsdorff, Billing, Choris, Lisiansky and Marchand). The same is the case in Nootka Sound and the Aleutian Islands, where 'male concubinage obtains throughout, but not to the same extent as amongst the Koniagas.' The objects of unnatural affection have their beards carefully plucked out as soon as the face-hair begins to grow, and their chins are tattooed like those of the women. In California the first missionaries found the same practice, the youths being called Joya."[47]
Though early Mayans are thought to have been strongly antagonistic to same-sex relationships, later Mayan states employed pederastic practices. Their introduction was ascribed to the god Chin. One aspect was that of the father procuring a younger lover for his son. Juan de Torquemada mentions that if the (younger) boy was seduced by a stranger, the penalty was equivalent to that for adultery. In the 16th century, Bernal Diaz reported seeing statues of male pairs making love in the temples at Cape Catoche, Yucatan.[48]
Pederastic eros in the West, while remaining mostly hidden, has nevertheless revealed itself in a variety of settings. Legal records are one of the more important windows into this secret world, since for much of the time pederastic relations, like other forms of homosexual relations, were illegal.[49] The expression of desire through literature and art, albeit in coded fashion, can also afford a view of the pederastic interests of the author.
Reflecting the conflicted outlook on male loves, some northern European writers ascribed pederastic tendencies to populations in southern latitudes. Richard Francis Burton evolved his theory of the Sotadic zone, an area bounded roughly by N. Lat. 43° N. Lat. 30°, stretching from the western shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.[50] Likewise, Wilhelm Kroll, writing in the Pauly-Wissowa encyclopaedia in 1906, asserted that "The roots of pederasty are found first of all in the existence of a contrary sexual feeling that is probably more frequent in southern regions than in countries with moderate climates."[51]
The Renaissance was a period that saw a rediscovery or renewed interest in the philosophy and art of the Classical period. The Roman Catholic Church suppressed homosexual and pederastic expressions of attraction, especially through the machinery of the Inquisition, most infamously the Spanish Inquisition. The Church could not repress all expressions of pederastic desire. According to an encyclopedia of GLBTQ culture, "The most conventional object of homoerotic desire [in art] was the adolescent youth, usually imagined as beardless."[52]
In England into the 20th century, public boarding schools were limited to boys and all the teachers were male. Some upper class boys were sent to boarding school by age 7 or 8, and they studied there through the adolescent years. Some teachers justified homosexual relationships based on the Classics, both between the older and younger boys, and between teachers and boys. However, there were some scandals around such relationships. In the mid-19th century, William Johnson Cory, a renowned master at Eton from 1845 until his forced resignation in 1872, evolved a style of pedagogic pederasty which influenced a number of his pupils. His Ionica, a work of poetry reflecting his pederastic sensibilities, was read in intellectual circles and “made a stir” at Oxford in 1859.[53] Oscar Browning, another Eton master and former student of Cory, followed in his tutor’s footsteps, only to be likewise dismissed in 1875. Both are thought to have influenced Oxford don Walter Pater, whose aesthetics promoted pederasty as the truest expression of classical culture.[54]
Also in 19th-century England, pederasty was a theme in the work of several writers known as the "Uranian poets". Although most of the writers of Uranian poetry and prose are today considered minor literary figures, the prominent Uranian representatives --- Walter Pater, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Oscar Wilde – are figures of worldwide renown. Hopkins and Wilde were both deeply influenced by Pater's work. Wilde wrote of pederastic and homoerotic culture—though not in the "elevated" pederastic sense that it held for Pater and Hopkins[55] – in a number of works.[56] In the case of Hopkins, "Hopkins often was, it must be admitted, strikingly Ruskinian in his love of Aristotelian particulars and their arrangements; however, it was at the foot of Pater – the foremost Victorian unifier of ‘eros, pedagogy, and aesthetics’ – that Hopkins would ever remain."[57] Another notable late 19th-century writer on pederasty was John Addington Symonds, whose essays, "A Problem in Greek Ethics" and "A Problem in Modern Ethics", were among the first defenses of homosexuality in the English language.[58]
The end of the 19th century saw increasing conflict over the issue of social acceptance of pederasty. A number of other pederastic scandals erupted around this time, such as the one involving the German industrialist Friedrich Alfred Krupp, which drove him to suicide, by some reports. In the same vein, in a work that was to influence the evolution of communism's attitude towards same-sex love, the German political philosopher Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's collaborator, denounced the ancient Greeks for "the abominable practice of sodomy" and for degrading "their gods and themselves with the myth of Ganymede".[59]
The Wandervogel movement, a youth organization emphasizing a romantic view of nature, began in 1896, the same year that the journal Der Eigene went to press. It was published by a twenty-two-year-old German (Adolf Brand), and it advocated classical pederasty as a cure for the moral flabbiness of German youth. Influenced by the ideas of Gustav Wyneken, the Wandervogel movement was open about its homoerotic tendencies. Affection between males was supposed to be expressed in a nonsexual way. The founding of Young Wandervogel happened largely as a reaction to the public scandal about these erotic tendencies, which were said to alienate young men from women.
Until the 1970s, English "public schools" were boarding schools whose male teachers educated young and adolescent boys only. They emphasized study of Greek and Latin classics. The all-male environment encouraged “hotbeds of pederasty” into the twentieth century.[60] C. S. Lewis, when talking about his life at Malvern College, an English public school, acknowledged that pederasty "was the only counterpoise to the social struggle; the one oasis (though green only with weeds and moist only with foetid water) in the burning desert of competitive ambition."[61]
Liminal same-sex love — relations with young people on the threshold of becoming adults — whether for pleasure or to further social goals, is no longer widely practiced in the West, despite its lawful status in many countries. Feminist and postmodern theories describe such relations as an abuse of power when the older partner is in a position of educational, religious, economic, or other form of institutional authority over the younger partner. Pederasty is widely censured, whether legally or illegally expressed. Instances of it, or of homosexual behavior among public men, have had severe political repercussions. (For example, the Mark Foley scandal, or "Pagegate",[62] in which apparent abuse of pages in the United States in 2006 may have contributed to the Democratic capture of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in the following fall elections.[63]) The United States appears to be moving towards a more restrictive approach to such relationships. In 1983, for instance, Democratic Congressman Gerry Studds admitted having had an affair with a 17-year-old page and was censured by the House of Representatives, but he continued his career in Congress.
The Catholic Church has been rocked in the 21st century by long-delayed accounts of child-sex abuse. After resistance to revelations, it is working to control activities of its priests. On February 2, 1961 the Vatican issued a document, “Instruction on the Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders,” barring from the priesthood anyone who has "perverse inclinations to homosexuality or pederasty."[64]
Though pederasty was once accepted in many cultures, some modern observers have retrospectively labeled it abusive. Enid Bloch argues that many Greek boys who were involved in pederastic relationships may have been harmed by the experience, if the relationship included anal sex. Bloch writes that the boy may have been traumatized by knowing that he was violating social customs. According to her, the "most shameful thing that could happen to any Greek male was penetration by another male."
Bloch further argues that vases showing "a boy standing perfectly still as a man reaches out for his genitals" indicate the boy may have been "psychologically immobilized, unable to move or run away."[65] Many vases, however, show the boys responding warmly to the man's advances, placing their hands around the man's neck or on his arm, a gesture thought to indicate affection and reciprocity.[66] Other vases show the boy running away.[67]
See bibliography of Greek pederasty
See bibliography of Japanese pederasty
See bibliography of pederasty in the Middle East and Central Asia
See bibliography of child sexual abuse
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