[extropy-chat] Biology of homosexuality- was Gay marriage in Spain

[Harvey Newstrom]

On Jul 21, 2005, at 6:44 PM, The Avantguardian wrote:

> Also while homosexuality might be considered
> taboo in historically RECENT western cultures like
> Victorian England, it was accepted and even glorified
> in ancient western cultures such as the Greeks and the
> Romans. Read Plato and Sallust if you don't believe
> me.

Yes.  People need to remember that in these cultures, women were not 
equal to men.  Women were property, illiterate, stayed at home, did not 
conduct business, etc.  When greek philosophers debated whether 
homosexual partnerships were superior than heterosexual partnerships, 
they were not discussing similar relationships.  Homosexual partners 
(of equal class or citizenship) could discuss philosophical topics, 
conducted business, fight together in battle, journey together on 
exploration, work together on projects, etc.  Heterosexual partners 
were usually an unequal partnership between a roman citizen and his 
sexual property who was illiterate and couldn't discuss philosophy, 
couldn't conduct business, couldn't fight in the military, stayed at 
home while the man journeyed the world, couldn't assist with projects, 
etc.  It is not surprising that the philosophers argued the superiority 
of the cooperative partnership over the simply sexual use of a woman.  
They were definitely not looking at the modern world where there is 
more equality and choices.

--
Harvey Newstrom <HarveyNewstrom.com>
CISSP CISA CISM CIFI NSA-IAM GSEC ISSAP ISSMP ISSPCS IBMCP