Pederasty orpaederasty (/ˈpɛdəræsti/) is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice inAncient Greece andRome and elsewhere in the world, such asPre-Meiji Japan. Less frequently, it involved an adult woman and an adolescent girl.[1]
In most countries today, the localage of consent determines whether a person is considered legally competent to consent to sexual acts, and whether such contact ischild sexual abuse orstatutory rape. An adult engaging in sexual activity with aminor is considered abusive by authorities for a variety of reasons, including the age of the minor and the psychological and physical harm they may endure.
Pederasty derives from the combination ofAncient Greek:παίδ-,romanized: paid-,lit. 'boy, child (stem)'[2][3] withἐραστής,erastēs, 'lover' (cf.eros). LateLatinpæderasta was borrowed in the 16th century directly from Plato's classical Greek inThe Symposium. (Latin transliteratesαί asæ.) The word first appeared in the English language during theRenaissance, aspæderastie (e.g. inSamuel Purchas'Pilgrimes), in the sense of sexual relations between men and boys.
TheOxford English Dictionary defines it as "Homosexual relations between a man and a boy; homosexual anal intercourse, usually with a boy or younger man as the passive partner".[4]
Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an adult male (theerastes) and a younger male (theeromenos), usually in his teens.[5] This age difference between a socially powerful and socially less-powerful partner was characteristic of theArchaic andClassical periods, in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.[6] The influence of pederasty on Greek culture of these periods was so pervasive that it has been called "the principal cultural model for free relationships between citizens."[7] The practice was viewed with concerns and disapproval by certain social groups.[8]
In the writings ofXenophon,Socrates says, "A man who sells his favours for a price to anyone who wants them is called acatamite; but if anyone forms a love-attachment with someone whom he knows to be truly good, we regard him as perfectly respectable."[9] Each author may have used Socrates as a spokesman for their own viewpoints. Both Xenophon's Socrates and Plato's Socrates were against homosexual copulation in the context of pederasty and instead advocated for platonic relationships. The Socratic writings of the two authors were one of the main texts that led toKenneth Dover's andMichel Foucault's understanding of pederasty as a matter of debate in Ancient Greece.[8]
Some scholars locate its origin ininitiation ritual, particularly rites of passage onCrete, where it was associated with entrance into military life and the religion ofZeus.[10] It has no formal existence in theHomeric epics, and seems to have developed in the late 7th century BC as an aspect of Greekhomosocial culture,[11] which was characterized also byathletic andartistic nudity, delayed marriage for aristocrats,symposia, and the social seclusion of women.[12]Pederasty was both idealized and criticized inancient literature andphilosophy.[13] The argument has recently been made that idealization was universal in the Archaic period; criticism began in Athens as part of the general Classical Athenian reassessment of Archaic culture.[14]
Scholars have debated the role or extent of pederasty, which is likely to have varied according to local custom and individual inclination.[15]Athenian law, for instance, recognized bothconsent and age as factors in regulating sexual behavior.[16]
Enid Bloch argues that many Greek boys in these relationships may have beentraumatized by knowing that they were violating social customs, since the "most shameful thing that could happen to any Greek male was penetration by another male." She 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."[17] One vase shows a young man or boy running away fromEros, theGreek god of desire.[18]
InLatin,mos Graeciae ormos Graecorum ("Greek custom" or "the way of the Greeks") refers to a variety of behaviors the ancient Romans regarded as Greek, including but not confined to sexual practice.[19]: 72 Homosexual behaviors at Rome were acceptable only within an inherently unequal relationship; male Roman citizens retained their masculinity as long as they took the active, penetrating role, and the appropriate male sexual partner was a prostitute or slave, who would nearly always be non-Roman.[20] InArchaic andclassical Greece,paiderasteia had been a formal social relationship between freeborn males; taken out of context and refashioned as the luxury product of a conquered people, pederasty came to express roles based on domination and exploitation.[21]: 37, 40–41et passim Slaves often were given, and prostitutes sometimes assumed Greek names regardless of their ethnic origin; the boys(pueri) to whom the poetMartial is attracted have Greek names.[22][23] The use of slaves defined Roman pederasty; sexual practices were "somehow 'Greek'" when they were directed at "freeborn boys openly courted in accordance with the Hellenic tradition of pederasty".[19]: 17
Effeminacy or a lack of discipline in managing one's sexual attraction to another male threatened a man's "Roman-ness" and thus might be disparaged as "Eastern" or "Greek". Fears that Greek models might "corrupt" traditional Roman social codes (themos maiorum) seem to have prompted a vaguely documented law (Lex Scantinia) that attempted to regulate aspects of homosexual relationships between freeborn males and to protect Roman youth from older men emulating Greek customs of pederasty.[21]: 27 [24]
Theologian Edith Humphrey commented that "the Graeco-Roman 'ideal' regarding homosexuality entailed erotic love, not of children, but of young (teenage) males of the same age that a young woman would be given in marriage, and that frequently the more mature male was only slightly older than the partner."[25]
Bacha bāzī (Persian:بچه بازی,lit. 'boy play') is a practice in which men (sometimes calledbacha baz) buy and keep adolescent boys (sometimes calleddancing boys) for entertainment and sex.[26] It is a custom inAfghanistan and in historicalTurkestan and often involves sexual slavery and child prostitution by older men of young adolescent males.[27]
The most comprehensive study of young male dancers in Afghanistan in the second half of the twentieth century perhaps belongs to German folklorist Ingeborg Baldauf, who studied bacabozlik (bachah-bāzi) among Uzbeks in the north. Baldauf's study, published in 1988 in German under the title Die Knabenliebe in Mittelasien: Bacabozlik (Boy Love in Central Asia: Bachah-bāzī), contended that a significant percentage of the Uzbek male population in Afghanistan's northern provinces were involved in bachah-bāzī at some point in their lives—either as a dancing-bachah or a bachah-lover (or perhaps both in the course of their lives). Bachahs were expected to be familiar with Chagatai literature, have a good grasp of music, know how to sing and dance, have good manners, and accompany their lovers in homosocial occasions. In return, their lovers, or bachah-bāz, had to generously spend money to outdo their rivals, otherwise the bachah would leave for a wealthier man. While the exchange of a few kisses and caresses was permissible between the bachah and bachah-bāz, no sexual intercourse was allowed, or the relationship would end abruptly. According to Baldauf, some men even ruined their families and went bankrupt after spending lavishly on bachahs for years.[28]
Similarly, Gunnar Jarring, a Swedish diplomat and ethnographer who studied the Turkish dialects of Andkhoy in the mid-1930s, heard from an Andkhoy resident about a “current custom” among Afghan Turkmens and Uzbeks in the northern provinces who would keep boys in a cellar for a few years to teach them to dance. “If young boys are to be found,” writes Jarring, “[the people of Afghan Turkistan] never let women dance.[29]
Among theZande people of Congo, there was a social institution similar topederasty in Ancient Greece.E. E. Evans-Pritchard also recorded that maleAzande warriors routinely took on boy-wives between the ages of twelve and twenty, who helped with household tasks and participated inintercrural sex with their older husbands. The practice had died out by the early 20th century, after Europeans had gained control of African countries, but was recounted to Evans-Pritchard by the elders with whom he spoke.[30]
AnthropologistsStephen Murray andWill Roscoe reported that women inLesotho engaged in socially sanctioned "long term, erotic relationships", namedmotsoalle (lit. 'Special Friend').[31][page needed] Often, amotsoalle relationship was acknowledged publicly with a ritual feast and with the community fully aware of the women's commitment to one another.Motsoalle relationships commonly existed among school girls where it functioned like a type of "puppy love" or mentorship. As Lesotho became moremodernized, those communities were exposed to Western culture and thushomophobia. Anthropologist K. Limakatsuo Kendall hypothesizes that as Western ideas spread, the idea that women could be sexual with one another, coupled with homophobia, began to erase themotsoalle relationships. By the 1980s, the ritual feasts that were once celebrated by the community formotsoalles had vanished.[32] Today,motsoalle relationships have largely disappeared.
Men who worked in some gold mines in South Africa would form sexual relationships with younger males, despite same-sex relationships being illegal under theapartheid regime. Boys in mines would do household chores and serve as men's "wives" or sexual partners for extended periods of time.[33]
Pederasty inJapan prior to theMeiji Restoration was present in similar forms across different societal contexts. Accounts ofBuddhist monasteries,samurai circles, andkabuki theatres all commonly noted the presence of relationships between adolescent or pre-pubescent boys (sometimes classified aswakashū) and older male mentor figures.[34][35] Art and literature of these relationships was common, with perhaps the most well-known collection beingukiyo-zōshi poetIhara Saikaku'sThe Great Mirror of Male Love.
Classical studies during the time of theVictorian era rapidly changed with the exploration of what ancient Greece had to offer, quickly garnering admiration by those in study and capturing the attention of Victorian writers. Holding esteem of the Greeks, the Victorians began to model and apply Greek concepts and more onto their modern life. This application of Greek philosophy manifested with the Victorians' examination ofPlato and subsequently the Greek concept of pederasty which had them evaluating and applying this conception of intimate Greek encounters to those found within the Victorian era.[36] This fascination and admiration led to works of literature which commemorated Pederasty and same-sex love by numerous individuals of this time such asJohn Addington Symonds with his essay "A Problem in Greek Ethics", orOscar Wilde with his novel,The Picture of Dorian Gray, amongst others.
While there was a celebration of same-sex love to be found in pederasty by some individuals during this time, there was also a moral repudiation of it as well that found pederasty to be a degradation of the youthful soul. This view was put into law with theCriminal Law Amendment Act 1885 under section 11, theLabouchere Amendment.[37] It was this piece of legislation that cemented the discussion on pederasty and its reception by the public and mainstream media with the legal prosecution of Oscar Wilde, whose novelThe Picture of Dorian Gray was used as evidence to secure his imprisonment and conviction, labeling him as a "sodomite" under the eyes of the law.[38]
Pederasty is also associated with the late-19th-centuryDecadent movement which took place amidst the European literary and artistic community. The Greek practice was used by decadents to reinforce their own identity and non-conformance with heterosexuality.[39]
Within this movement was the emergence of thecoterie known as theUranians, pederasty being a theme often written upon in their poetry. The group was one of intimacy and wrote their works for themselves and shared amongst themselves, the group meaning to be a safe space and a source of consolidation for those who admired pederasty, devising it as "erotically and aesthetically superior to heterosexuality".[40]
Though Victorians took inspiration from the Greeks regarding pederastic relationships, the social context of Victorian pederasty was different from Greek pederasty. Victorian pederasty did not share the factor of community acknowledgement. The Victorian era also lacked the notion that "asymmetry" in relationships, includingage disparity and social status, was to be expected and aspired to. Sandra Boehringer and Stefano Caciagli comment that Greek and other ancient societies existed "before sexuality". Having a preference for gender or age did not assign a label to a relationship, but this did not preclude groups from disapproving of or enacting laws against pederastic practices.[41]
In Papua New Guinea, theSimbari people traditionally incorporated pederasty as part of the ritual initiation into manhood. Prepubescent boys were removed from their mothers and taken to a temple, and older boys danced in front of them, making sexual gestures. Younger boys were expected to performfellatio on the older boys.[42] Throughout puberty, older males would inseminate younger boys, in order to teach them how to have sex and prepare them for marriage.[43]
.jpg)
Although illegal, a significant pederastic subculture existed among working classlaborers,hobos, andunhoused people in the United States during the early 20th century.[44][45] These relationships typically involved small scaleprostitution involving occasional and agreed upon sexual encounters rather thanhuman trafficking orsexual violence. Period authors typically blamed the existence of pederasty among impoverished American men on isolation from women rather than a modern understanding ofpedophilia andsexual orientation.
Linda C. Dowling, author ofHellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford,[46] discusses the intricacies of homosexuality and homoeroticism that were part of Victorian culture in mid-century Oxford. Pederasty was briefly mentioned in lieu of William Hurrell Mallock'sThe New Republic, which is a parody of "aesthetic" verse in the epigraph for the Oxford pamphletBoy-Worship, where pederasty is cited as "being a mode of male romantic attachment".[46] InThe New Republic, Mallock mocks many important figures in Oxford University, includingWalter Pater andOscar Wilde, and its references toAestheticism andHellenism.
In Dowling’sHellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford,[47] it was noted thatWilliam Johnson Cory's classic paen paiderastia,Ionica (1858), enabled the Oxford cult of “boy worship” to surface, and influence the upbringing of theUranian literary movement, which celebrated “heavenly” love between men, which is highly influenced by Plato'sSymposium of 180e. Similarly to pederasty, Uranians have been influenced by the Ancient Greek to write poetry that represented homoeroticism and homosexuality of adolescent boys in theDecadent era. Dowling notes these detailed accounts of many different scholars in Victorian Oxford in order to reform the homosexual studies of Hellenistic culture that influenced the Decadent movement of the nineteenth century.
Oscar Wilde expresses a pederastic ethos to his stories by focusing on the intersection between “sensual experience and moral enlightenment."[48] Beginning in 1885, Wilde would look for attractive boys and invite them to a dinner party under the notion of mutual pleasure and the satisfaction of all the senses; emphasizing “physical senses as a means to artistry.”[48] Wilde often utilized fairy-tale conventions by writing events and actions in threes, clarifying structure by repeating images or phrases, and using biblical style and diction.[48] "The Happy Prince" is the first tale inThe Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) that describes a growing relationship between a Prince and a Swallow until they both meet their fateful deaths.
In Wilde’s general story model, the connection between the older and younger man is spurred by the fact that they are completely different in nature.[49] The Prince is a large statue towering over the city, inherently an inanimate object, while the Sparrow is a tiny bird, always moving “of a family famous for its agility.”[50] In this work, the Prince is portrayed as a youthful character, as his own experience in life has been limited to playing with his companions in the garden and dancing in the Great Hall. His childishness is also seen in his lack of knowledge regarding emotions, as he “did not know what tears were,” living a life “where sorrow is not allowed to enter.”[50] The Swallow is older, as he has had many experiences in life, having traveled to many places. In addition to this foundation of inequality, exchanging ideas is also a vital proponent of pederastic thoughts.[49] The Prince educates the Sparrow on the cruelties of the city he oversees, teaching him societal virtues. The story ends with the Sparrow asking the Prince, “Will you let me kiss your hand?” and the Prince responds, “But you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you," showing the extremely intense love that is shared between these two male figures.[50] This story presents a pederastic view of a tale where there is mutual growth between student and teacher.
In the modern world, an adult engaging in sexual activity with anunderage person may be consideredchild sexual abuse orstatutory rape, depending upon the localage of consent. In the case of underage heterosexual relationships, which were also practiced by the Greeks, it may also be consideredchild marriage. Age of consent laws exist because minors are considered incapable of meaningfully consenting to sexual activity until they reach a certain age.[52][53] Prepubescent and adolescent children are not socially equal to adults, and abusers emotionally manipulate the children they victimize.[54]: 65–66 These laws aim to give the minor some protection against predatory or exploitative sexual interaction with adults.[53][55]
Child sexual abuse has been correlated withdepression,[56]post-traumatic stress disorder[57] andanxiety.[58][59][60][non-primary source needed]
Contemporary homosexual pedophiles may describe themselves as "boy lovers",[61][62] and sometimes appeal to practices in Ancient Greece as a justification of sexual relationships between adults and minors.[63][64]
Though outlawed,bacha bazi is still practiced in certain regions ofAfghanistan.[65][66]
Greek love is a modern phrase.
Statutory rape laws are based on the premise that until a person reaches a certain age, that individual is legally incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse.
age of consent laws render teenagers below a certain age incapable of consent to sexual activity...The justification usually put forward for age of consent laws is the protection of young persons from sexual exploitation by adults.
a number of different motivations were observed on the part of State legislators, including:...Desire to protect minors below a certain age from predatory, exploitative sexual relationships—for example, with much older partners.
There are child sex offenders who willingly describe themselves as boy lovers, girl lovers, child lovers, and pedophiles but will adamantly argue that they are not predators.
The use of the BIRGing [basking in reflected glory] account allows them to feel a connection to noteworthy men such as...many of the ancient Greek poets and philosophers.
Paedophile activists themselves...have found it necessary to adopt...legitimation. The first, the 'Greek love', legitimation basically argues for the pedagogic value of adult-child relations, between males. It suggests – relying on a mythologized version of ancient Greek practices – that in the passage from childhood dependence to adult responsibilities the guidance, sexual and moral, of a caring man is invaluable.
I'm at a wedding party in a remote village in northern Afghanistan.
| Associatedchronophilias | |
|---|---|
| Behavior and legal aspects | |
| By country | |
| Treatment methods | |
| Research and support groups | |
| Prevention organizations |
|
| Social views | |
| Related |
|
.svg)
