Term Paper
The first reference to lesbian love in Indian Literature was in the Rig Veda. According to Gita Thalani there were legislations against lesbian love, validating only procreative sex. The code of Manu contains the punishments meted out to women engaging in homosexual acts, a virgin girl who engages in love-making with another deserves the punishment of being fined and beaten. Thus we see that lesbianism and homosexuality were not only present in ancient India, but were also suppressed and punished.
Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History edited by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai, explores the history of Indian literary tradition from the viewpoint of homoerotic love. The book begins with ancient Puranic texts with tropes indicating same-sex attachments. In the Mahabharata for example the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna goes beyond that of friendship and has homoerotic tones. Another homoerotic trope is that of rebirth, in Somadatta’s Kathasaritsagara, Somaprabha falls in love with the princess Kalingasena and attributes to it to their previous birth where he must have been her close female companion.
Same sex desire amongst women is illustrated in the Bengali text Kritivasa Ramayana i.e. Ramayana written by Krittivasa, the sage Bhagiratha’s birth is ascribed to the sexual union between two females as his father died before his conception, his birth occurs through divine sanction of the god Sankara, “You two have intercourse with one another. By my blessings one of you will have a lovely child”
The book further talks about the multi-dimensional portrayal of gods in the Bhakti tradition where the gods appeared in male, female or even in neuter and animals forms , carrying tones of an homoer...
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...lore their sexuality, the lack of appropriating spaces and discourses for homosexual relations. As Radha states, “There is no word in our language to describe what we are to each other.”
Lihaaf and Fire represent two highly controversial literary, artistic works, Chughtai argued that purdah had already been imposed on her, but her tongue would be a naked sword, unrestrainable. While Chughtai faced obscenity charges for her story, Fire loosely based on Lihaaf was strongly condemned by right –wing parties like the Shiv Sena and the Bhartiya Janta Party as being foreign to Indian culture, with acts of vandalism performed at the theatres. However the voice of female sexuality proved to be an indomitable one. Over the years writers like Kamala Das , Arundhati Roy and Manju Kapur have explored forbidden female desires ranging from the homoerotic to the incestuous.
Jonathan Katz talks about the initial creation of the term “heterosexuality” and how it was used to classify certain groups of people’s way of practicing sex. Along with the negative ideology the term reflected upon society. The author talks about the early definition of the term “heterosexuality”. Katz closely examines the different cultures and what sex meant to them prior to the term and over all labeling of “heterosexual” and what become of them after the fact. Katz illustrates the many faces of the term “heterosexual” starting with the early definition of the word, which was at the
2.Chenier,Elise. “The Benality of Evil.” History 115: Introduction to the History of Sexuality. Class lecture at Simon Fraser Univerity, Burnaby,BC,September 11,2013
In the article “An Anthropological Look at Human Sexuality” the authors, Patrick Gray and Linda Wolfe speak about how societies look at human sexuality. The core concept of anthology is the idea of culture, the systems of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors people acquire as a member of society. The authors give an in depth analysis on how human sexuality is looked at in all different situations.
The effects of cultural traditions and institutions are primary factors influences that determine the ideologies of gender and sexuality within societal sects. Authors have explored the theology of the various origins of these elements within society through the science fiction genre and how these elements lead to discrimination and isolation. Authors’ concepts of social structures that formed perceptions of gender and sexuality are created by desensitizing sex through a systematizing of sexual desires and actions.Western culture and society has inserted traditionally social policy in regard to gender and sexuality through religious institutions, while propagating xenophobia
Sexuality is a subject that has changed over times, the idea of sexuality and sex shifted from one view to another as people began to enforce different views in society. At the beginning of the 17th century there was little need for secrecy about sexuality and sexual practices as the idea was an open topic that could be discussed freely in society. Adult humour was not kept from children and ideas were open to all (Foucault and Hurley, 2008). However this times in society changed due to the power of the Victorian bourgeoisie. Sex and sexuality became confined and moved into the privacy of the home. People no longer spoke freely about it and secrecy became key (Foucault and Hurley, 2008).
Homosexual relationships can be traced back throughout history and in every civilization. The ancient Greeks in particular were well noted for homosexuality being an integral part of everyday life. “The secret of Greek homosexuality has only ever been a secret to those who neglected to inquire. The Greeks themselves were hardly coy about it”(Davidson, J. 2007). Famous authors such as Plato, Xenophon, Herodotus and Athenaeums all explored this subject in their writing. A modern day writer Thomas K Hubbard, has translated the most important primary texts on homosexuality in ancient Greece and Rome into modern, English and collected together a comprehensive sourcebook. Here we get a true glimpse into the past of the daily lives of the ancient Greeks and homosexuality was not only perfectly normal, it was a huge part of society.
Despite that we often think of sex and sexuality as going hand in hand in today’s society, if we look back in history we see a major distinction in many cultures. It is obvious that there has always been sex, otherwise I wouldn’t be here writing this paper, but sexuality is another matter. I interpret sexuality to be a distinct preference for some sexual act with a specific partner(s) free of outside pressure. In some places and periods of history this distinction was a component of a sexual behavior, others not so much, and sometimes it’s unclear. Take for example the arguments made in David Halperin’s “Sex before Sexuality” and John Boswell’s “Revolutions, Universals, and Sexual Categories” regarding the sexual nature of pederasty.
Milstein, Susan A. Taking Sides Clashing Views in Human Sexuality. Ed. William J. Taverner and Ryan W. McKee. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
Halperin, David. "Is There a History of Sexuality?." The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed. Henry
Love and affection is an indispensable part of human life. In different culture love may appear differently. In the poem “My god my lotus” lovers responded to each other differently than in the poem “Fishhawk”. Likewise, the presentation of female sexuality, gender disparity and presentation of love were shown inversely in these two poems. Some may argue that love in the past was not as same as love in present. However, we can still find some lovers who are staying with their partners just to maintain the relationship. We may also find some lovers having relationship only because of self-interest. However, a love relationship should always be out of self-interest and must be based on mutual interest. A love usually obtains its perfectness when it develops from both partners equally and with same affection.
One of the most enabling definitions of bisexuality comes from a bisexual activist named Robyn Ochs. According her her, “bisexuality is the potential to be attracted – romantically and/or sexually – to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree” (Ochs). However, bisexuality did not always refer to sexual orientation. One of the first uses of the word ‘bisexual’ can be found in Psychopathia Sexualis, a late nineteenth-century forensic study authored by psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing. The study was one among many which pathologized homosexuality. In this work, however, ‘bisexuality’ is used to describe what is now known as ‘intersexuality’ in which “a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male” (Eisner 14-15; What is Intersex?). Sigmund Freud’s idea of bisexuality more closely fits what we know as bisexuality today, however he regarded it as a primitive sexuality found in male children which would develop into heterosexuality or homosexuality later on (Eisner 15). Appropriately, one of the first people to refer to bisexuality as a normal, viable sexual orientation was Alfred Kinsey, himself a bisexual (Queen and Lawrence 1216). According to him, “the world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white” (Kinsey 639). Though as many as 1.8% of Americans identify as bisexual, many people continue to discriminate against them or assert that they do not exist (Gates). This kind of marginalization is known as biphobia. On the whole, the Wikipedia article for biphobia covers a variety of topics and presents goo...
Irigaray, Luce. “That Sex Which is Not One.” The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 1467-1471.
says Anthony Rotundo, attempting to define the boundaries between romantic friendship and erotic love, in relation to same gender friendships, in the late nineteenth century (Miller 4). Same gender relationships could exist on a physical level, expressing affection, without bringing up questions of sexual preference. Further, F.S. Ryman, a gentleman in his twenties, wrote of the very few documents ever discovered from the Victorian age regarding intimate encounters and the emotions attached to them. He has helped give us an idea of what some male relationships were like back then. In his diary, August of 1886, he describes spending the night in his best friends arms with out sexual intentions.
Aristophanes thinks that a human’s love is clearly “a lack” – a lack of one’s other half- and having no meant to satisfy themselves they begin to die. Zeus, having failed to foresee this difficulty repairs the damage by inventing sexual reproduction (191 b-c). Any “embracements” of men with men or of women with women would of course be sterile – though the participants would at least “have some satiety of their union and a relief,” (191 c) and therefore would be able to carry on the work of the world. Sex, therefore, is at this stage a drive, and the object is defined only as human. Sexual preferences are to emerge only as the human gains experience, enabling them to discover what their “original form” had been.
The modern day understanding of lesbianism can best be described as nebulous. Although most know that a lesbian is a woman that loves other women, the public opinion surrounding lesbianism mainly consists of half-formed stereotypes and vague disapproval or begrudging acceptance. When considering the LGBT community, most people picture the gay male and neglect the rest of the acronym. There a multitude of reasons for this nebulous perception of the modern day lesbian, but in actuality, lesbian culture is a vast and solid connection between woman that history has often refused to acknowledge. Although lesbian culture is often forgotten or overlooked, it encapsulates the broad variety of actions and appearances reclaimed by thousands of women,