sex = the devil (oneoneeleven)
(I'm plonking an excerpt from another conversation here where I can perhaps re-visit it.)
In the livejournal of the insightful 'erudito', the question was examined: Why is sex, and especially homosexuality, loathed so vehemently by monotheistic cultures?
After I made a rambling comment which elicited the response that 'yes, sex was widely believed to be a distraction from god', I think I came close enough to expressing my key thought in the following comment:
Sans corresponding Goddess, God would appear to be celibate.
Where male and female deities are worshipped, they interact in a sexual manner, therefore sex in those religions is godly. Remove sexual expression from God and sex becomes anti-god.
As a force whose power and intensity rivals that of religious passion, desire for sex is not merely 'a distraction', but the competition. God's opposition is Satan, therefore sex = the devil.
Once someone has embraced that concept and is subject to the compounding cultural factors you desribe as accompanying monotheism, it's easy for them to see homosexual sex - evil without justification - as the ultimate sin and a sign that a person has given themselves over to God's anthethesis.
(For the record - I'm atheistic, and feel that it's religious beliefs that ought to be subject to a "don't ask, don't tell" stipulation :-P)
In the livejournal of the insightful 'erudito', the question was examined: Why is sex, and especially homosexuality, loathed so vehemently by monotheistic cultures?
After I made a rambling comment which elicited the response that 'yes, sex was widely believed to be a distraction from god', I think I came close enough to expressing my key thought in the following comment:
Sans corresponding Goddess, God would appear to be celibate.
Where male and female deities are worshipped, they interact in a sexual manner, therefore sex in those religions is godly. Remove sexual expression from God and sex becomes anti-god.
As a force whose power and intensity rivals that of religious passion, desire for sex is not merely 'a distraction', but the competition. God's opposition is Satan, therefore sex = the devil.
Once someone has embraced that concept and is subject to the compounding cultural factors you desribe as accompanying monotheism, it's easy for them to see homosexual sex - evil without justification - as the ultimate sin and a sign that a person has given themselves over to God's anthethesis.
(For the record - I'm atheistic, and feel that it's religious beliefs that ought to be subject to a "don't ask, don't tell" stipulation :-P)
posted by Jac | 6:27 pm
2 Comments:
But surely heterosexual sex with contraception is also sex without justification and should be as hated by fundis as homosexual sex. There is something more to religious homophobia but I cannot say exactly what it is. But then there is plenty of non-religious homophobes so maybe this is a case of two separate phenomena reinforcing one another.
The Catholicism I was raised with was very clear that sex with contraception was an abomination in the eyes of God. Hell-fire. Brimstone. The whole nine yards.
(Please forgive me for the wild postulation, and feel free to belt me with a clue-by-four. I enjoy it.)
The desire to indulge in heterosexual sex was acknowledged, understood - most people had experienced "normal" lust. The concept of desire for homosexual sex, though, was entirely alien to most people. However, I fear that to some of the most zealous persecutors of homosexuals, the desire for homosexual sex was not alien enough.
Not understanding that homosexual orientation, somewhat like left-handedness, is something natural and innate, paranoia about being 'made to be gay' or 'led down the wrong path' or 'seduced by evil' can kick in.
1) Why more strongly among clergy than in the wider community? Perhaps because clergy are highly sensitive to the possibility that 'wrong' desire might separate them from eternal life?
2) Actually more strongly in the clergy than in the wider community? Perhaps not. Perhaps it's just that what's preached from the pulpit seems more pervasive?
Reinforcing our commonalities by emphasising how intensely we loathe 'wrong' things is a phenomenon I witness frequently. Over time, a mild dislike of something can turn into a desire to pile up all examples and burn them. In the face of that kind of vehemence, exaggerated squickiness or outrage about things deemed 'wrong' that a group member are guilty of - or merely fear being accused of - can further compound the problem.
You are right - there are many subtle and not-so-subtle complicating factors involved, serving to reinforce one another.
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