Wrong Wasn't Always Wrong

Written by Tara Tainton

Monday, 27 June 2005 23:00

Today, in western society, and even more specified in American culture, right and wrong in sexuality are fairly clearly defined. We're raised according to our current society's beliefs, which tend to match those of our parents, organizations, communities, and other influences in general. Everyday, we're encouraged to put our own individual thinking aside and accept the majority definition of sexual sin and sexual acceptance.

But who decided what was "right" or "good" or "noble" versus what is "wrong" or "bad" or "sinful?" That fell to the hands of those before us, as we're deciding (if we decide to change at all) the standards for those after us. We take it all for granted, rarely pausing to consider, "Hmm, perhaps we should finally decide for ourselves, consider our own needs and wants, our present lifestyle, the state of our planet, and the global community's needs." In fact, it can be downright unbelievable to consider that once, the standards were indeed different. "Wrong," as we call it, wasn't always wrong.

Consider a time when eroticism was a natural part of life. So natural, and so ingrained, that it was intertwined among every part of daily life and a the community structure. Consider the Greeks. Yes, you've heard stories, but have you really paused to realize that we could very well be them and they could very well be us? That we're all humans, just of a different time, and from a different set of standards set long, long before we came into the world.

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"There is in fact evidence that romantic eros was seen as homosexual all over Greece. Sparta, even with its relatively free women, had homosexual relationships built into the structure of the training all young Spartan men received. In other Dorian areas also homosexuality was widely accepted. Thebes saw in the 4th century the creation of a battalion of homosexual lovers - the Sacred Band. In Crete we have evidence of ritualised abduction of younger by older men" ("Introduction to Ancient Greek Eroticism," About.com).

"Sex between wife and husband was just one of many choices available -- at least to the male. There were slaves of both sexes, concubines, and hetairai, all of whom were available, if only for a fee. Men could also try to entice a young man just past puberty. These relationships were the ones celebrated on vases and in much of Athenian literature.

In Plato's Symposium (a treatise on Athenian eroticism) Aristophanes offers a colorful explanation for why all these sexual options existed. In the beginning there were three types of double-headed humans, varying according to sex: male/male, female/female, and male/female. Zeus, angered at the humans, punished them by splitting them in half. From then on, each half has forever sought out his other half."

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Yes, my friends, the Greeks were the very same as us: the same people, but in different clothes, in a different time, taught different things. Somewhere along the way, someone decided for us what we'd enjoy and what would be a part of our lives today. "ONE OF THE MAIN changes wrought by Christianity lies in the definition of sin. Instead of hubris, temptations of the flesh and sexuality now put humans on the wrong side of God. Since we live in this culture, it's hard to step back to imagine a culture that encouraged same-sex bonds; one in which pederasty -- that crime disgusting to the most hardened prison veteran -- was the norm; one in which heterosexual unions at one time had to be mandated by law in order to maintain a supply of citizens; one in which homosexual bonds were thought conducive to bravery and military valor."

Tomorrow, start the day with your own mind on your shoulders and your own thoughts in your mind. Enter the world as an individual, consider everything around you, consider respect for others, consider your own needs and wishes, and try developing your own standards. New standards.