Sexuality Essay, Research Paper

Sexuality

Sexuality means the concern with or interest in sexual activity according to the

Oxford Dictionary. The meaning of sexuality changes from time to time, from

land to land, and from people to people. Social historians hold different

points of view about sexuality relating to what the common people are thinking

especially on the relationship between sexuality and mythology. The majority

think that it is impossible to have a sexual history. However, the social

historians state that sexual behaviour and its significance had changed time to

time from their research, and therefore, they believed that sexuality has

history. Sex relationship can be found among the Greek Gods in the Greek Myths.

The Greek myths are an excellent example of the predominance of sexuality on

human creativity. Since the Greek Gods have sexual relationships, there will be

some similarities and differences between the sexuality nowadays according to

the status of both sexes, sexual desire, and sex behaviour.

The sexual desire in ancient Greece and nowadays are quite similar. In

Greek myths, Zeus is a sexually-active person, ?It has been estimated that,

besides his legal wife Hera, Zeus had over 100 women.? (Reinhold,80) Poseidon is

also sexually obtrusive. For instance, Poseidon loved Demeter. When Demeter

transformed herself into a mare, Poseidon changed himself into a stallion and

chased after Demeter. Today, the boys always fond of dating many girls who they

love. ?From the male’s point of view there simply aren’t enough females to go

around with and so a male must compete for sexual success with other sex-seeking

males? (Hutchison,202) They will have sex quite a lot in a short time. In 20th

century, the youngsters are very open-minded to sex and love relationships.

When they like or fall in love with anybody, they will go on a date with their

targets. According to research, 35 percent of teenagers have had sex in 1976.

But in 1985, the total was 58 percent of teenagers who have had sex. This trend

is increasing further. In a statistics of Next Change Magazine, teenagers have

an idea that having sex is an extremely natural phenomena when one has a

girlfriend or boyfriend. Many boys are eager to have both sex with girls which

is the same as what Zeus and Poseidon did in the Greek Myths. Many girls are

also eager to have both sex with boys which just like Aphrodite. She had sex

not only with her husband, Hephaestus, but also her lovers. By the way, some of

the Greek gods will not really indulge in sex, for instance, Hades and Hermes.

Some people still care about their virginity in this present time. However,

some of the eagerness of sex will result to rape. The rate of rape is

increasing because it is quite often to see it from the daily newspaper. In

Greek Myths, Hades once kidnapped Persephone to the underworld and wanted her to

live with him. It is a kind of rape because Persephone is not willing to be

with Hades ?Hades seized her forcibly, and took her to his palace under the

earth. Demeter heard her cry of terror, but the rape of Persephone …?

(Reinhold, 88) Ares attempts to rape Athena too but he fails to do so.

Bisexuality was also practised in Ancient Greece. Apollo is very

attractive because of well-built and good-looking. He fell in love with many

boys and not only women. One of the boys was called Hyacinth. Zeus fell in love

with a handsome Trojan boy called Ganymedes. Zeus brought him to Olympus too.

From these examples, the Greek gods did not care their sex partners form. Their

only concern is to see if they love their targets or not. Bisexuality is also

common based on the statistics in the Next Change Magazine. ?Some men think

that women are a tool of giving birth while men are their real love partners and

sexual intercourse happens. What they really want is the care from others. They

love the other man’s beauty. Those men are either lack love from their wives or

they love another men as a good friend, but their wives will be the long-term

sex partners.? (Next, 35) It reflects that both men in Ancient Greece and this

modern world enjoy the so-called ?target? idea. They love to have sex with women

to gain good feelings or to reproduce. But they will not hesitate to date or

fall in love with another male if they find that man is either physically

beautiful or mentally beautiful (love-care) or both.

Incest was frequently practised in Ancient Greece. Zeus married with

his own sister, Hera, and had sex with her. They had many offspring. In this

modern world, incest also happens. According to research, ?as many as 100

million young girls may be raped by adult men-usually their fathers- often day

after day, week after week, year in, year out.? (Women, 65) The statistics also

indicates that one in four families are incestuous among the US, Australia,

Egypt, Israel and India. In the vast majority of cases, about 80 to 90 percent

of these girls are being sexually used by their male relatives, usually their

father.

The world would not only have similarities, the differences should not

be omitted.

The role of men and women are an absolute difference between the Greek

myths and the present time. The way that men and women are treated is different.

The male gods could have sex with a lot of women even when they had a wife

already. For example, Zeus indulged in having sex with women even though his

only legal wife was Hera. When a goddess, who had a husband, and had sex with

another male, then she would be punished . Once

Hephaestus knew the clandestine meetings of his wife with Ares,

constructed a skilfully woven net which he hung invisibly over the pair’s

bed. Here it fell upon them in their lovemaking and entrapped them.

Hephaestus then summoned all the other gods to see and laugh at the helpless

pair. (Reinhold,100) In addition, it was not allowed for women to be lesbians.

Lesbians were punished harshly. Also, the Greek myths had an idea of “the

earth is female, mother earth, and the sky is male” As a sex historian says ?The

base of many [sexual] assumption often appears in the creation myths.?

(Highwater, 8) It shows ?attitudes arise out of various mythologies and are

then socialised in Custom? (Highwater, 8) Men should be at the top and women

should be at the bottom when they have sexual intercourse. Men dominant over

the women in sex.

In modern societies, women play an important part in sex. Women break

free from the repression, fear and anxiety following the sexual revolution.

Some of the women in America tried to break free from the male-dominant society

by discussing their feeling about sex with other woman. Education leads them

know more about sex. There are handbooks teaching women masturbation technique

because ?masturbation, in fact, could increase the power of women. Women could

arouse and satisfy themselves, males would no longer be required, or, if allowed

to participate, would no longer be in charge.? (Hutchison, 41) It shows that

women can now be ?self-served? and the necessary of the man to exist can be

neglected. Now, women have the right to choose and not subserient to what the

men said. It is because there is an alternative for woman to fulfil their

sexual desire which is masturbation. They can achieve sex by themselves and may

get a better feelings. They can now enjoy it and it is not sex is for men to

enjoy” (Women, 61) “Marketing surveys and a variety approaches convinced

publishers that women were also eager for sexually arousing materials”

(Hutchison, 48) It further implies that sex is not only for the men but also for

the women. Woman are starting to refuse to force their bodies into the fantasy-

forms of male-defined sex … are searching instead for that rare man who is

willing to forsake the the divisive power of pornographic sex for the

confusing, frightening, vulnerable intimacy of eroticism. (Women, 68) After

the second sexual revolution, female could refuse the men’s sexual needs.

Som of the women turned to each other during the second sexual revolution to

explore lesbian sex. Women were not punished. Sodomy is not uncommon in

Greek myths. The Greek Gods would have intercourse with animals in the form

of an animal, “Zeus approaches Leda as a swan, Persephone as a snake: pasiphae

falls in love with a bull and has intercourse with it, and the fruit of this

passion was the Minotaur.” (Licht, 504) In this world, sodomy sometimes

occur but people will not indulge in it.

Homosexuality is quite different between the Ancient Greece and 20th

century. In Ancient Greece, the Gods love men owing to the boy’s beauty. ?Zeus

… the handsome young Trojan Ganymedes, with whom he had fallen in love?

(Reinhold, 81) There is a line by Athenaeus, ?Boys are beautiful, For as long

time as they look like women.? In Western point of view, ?think of sexuality in

terms of binary opposites: male and female, heterosexual and homosexual, marital

sex and pre- or extramarital sex. And in every case, one of these pairs is

privileged, is seen as the normal? (Highwater, 15) Quite often, the gay people

think that women are insecure to love because women are becoming more and more

independent. Moreover, an old man could have a lot of boys but a boy can’t have

a lot of boys or old men. Nowadays, gay people are mostly found not having a

great age-gap. The disallowance of a boy to have a lot of boys or old men is

not common or even exist.

There are similarities and differences in sexual attitude, sexual

behaviour and sexual desire between the Ancient Greece and this modern societies.

The attitude and behaviour of homosexuality and some of the Greek’s sexual

behaviour, for instance, sodomy, will be different from what it is nowadays.

The Greek Gods very concern only about the beauty while people will not only

concern about the beauty. In Ancient Greece, sex was necessary to men and there

was less concern about the satisfaction of women in sex. Women was unfairly

treated. In this modern world, women will fight for their rights and they are

more independent. They can masturbate to achieve their own sexual climax

without the need of men. The laws protect women because the laws always achieve

the goal of ?fairness?. No men can dominate over women. The sexual desire of

men to women is still very strong nowadays which is the same as what it was in

Ancient Greece. They love having sexual intercourse. They only concern about

their targets. From the trend of sexual needs nowadays, the idea of having sex

will become more and more open. The importance of women’s roles in society

will eventually increase.

Bibliography

Highwater, Jamake. Myth and Sexuality. USA: Meridan, 1990.

Reinhold, Meyer. Past And Present. Canada: Makkert, 1972.

Hutchison, Michael. Anatomy of Sex and Power. New York: William Morrow &

Company, Inc., 1990

Licht, Hans. Sexual Life in Ancient Greece. New York: Dorset Press, 1993.

. Women: A World Report. Great Britain: Methuen London Ltd, 1985

. Next Change Magazine. Hong Kong: 1996