Sex in History

As we human beings have changed and evolved over our thousands of years of recorded history, so have our attitudes and expressions of all things sexual. The only thing that hasn't changed much is society's desire to exercise a certain amount of control over an individual's sexual behaviour. Whether it be through church or state, educational institutions or popular media of the time, there have been rules and regulations, views and taboos about what we should do sexually, how we should do it, who we should do it with and even how we should think about doing it.

Body parts

A particular area of interest, naturally, has been the body and specifically those parts that are obviously connected with sex. We've alternately hidden and displayed, worshipped and derided male and female genitalia.

In most non-Christian cultures there were gods and goddesses of power and fertility with exaggerated genitals. Some cultures liked penis gods so much they had several; for instance, the ancient Greeks honoured Priapus, Dionysus and Hermes. The Egyptians exalted Osiris, Bacchus was the Roman version, and Shiva reigned in India.

Penis and, less commonly, vulva worship, were practised and this was reflected in objects connected with daily living. Vases in classical Greece were decorated with phalluses. In the ruins of Pompeii penis symbols were found just about everywhere, on bowls, lamps and figurines. Pitchers with enormous penis spouts were a unique speciality of the Mochica culture of Peru. The exteriors of medieval Irish churches were adorned with sculptures of Shelah-na-Gig, a vulva icon. In Egypt enormous symbols of penis power - the obelisk - were erected all over the landscape. Smaller penis symbols in the form of amulets and bracelets were worn as magical protection against evil in ancient Rome. In fact, the English word "fascinate" is derived from fascinum, the Latin word for these magic penis images.

Words describing body parts vary from culture to culture and often reflect the attitudes we have about them. In India and China the penis and vagina were approached with respect and awe. Terms like Jade Flute, Arrow of Love, Ambassador, Warrior for the penis and Valley of Joy, Ripe Peach, Lotus Blossom, Enchanted Garden for vagina were used. In the English language however, words are much more likely to be discourteous: dick, tool, meat, dong and pussy, crack, slit.

Cock and prick are two of the longest-standing terms for penis in English. Prick was actually a pet name up until the seventeenth century when times became much more prudish and prick gradually became ostracised. Now it's used not as a term of endearment but of scorn. Cock, another penis word, comes from the name for the male barnyard fowl but in the late seventeenth century uptight early Americans were so offended by this that they began calling the bird a rooster. Other common objects also had their names changed to make them more seemly: haycock turned into haystack, weathercock into weathervane, and apricock into apricot. Yiddish slang words for penis include schlong, putz and schmuck. Believe it or not, in 1962 comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested because he used the terms schmuck and putz in his act!

When it comes to penises, many cultures have considered bigger to be better. But in classical Greece delicate and small penises were the best. Big sex organs were thought to be "coarse and ugly". During this time young athletes worked out in the nude. As protection for his private parts a man pulled his foreskin over the head of his penis, tied it with a ribbon and then fastened the ribbon ends to the base of the shaft. This precursor to the modern jock strap was known as a dog knot.

Other means of protecting and, in most cases, emphasising the penis include codpieces, sheaths and even paper sculptures. Codpieces, which are brightly coloured and gaily ornamented pouches for penis and testicles, were worn by Europeans over tight breeches and under short jackets during the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. Protective and decorative penis sheaths were common among primitive societies. Made out of everything from leather and vegetable fibres to bamboo, gourds and shells, these sheaths were the mainstay of a man's wardrobe. From the ninth to the twelfth centuries Japanese men packaged their penises inside an animal shaped paper sculpture. This practice was designed to increase sexual pleasure: the penis would take on the qualities of the animal it was packed inside and the lovers would then act out fantasies stirred up by the animal package.

Look but don't touch

Although we've been fascinated by and have focused on our genitals since time began, in many cultures there has paradoxically been a policy of "look but don't touch", at least not your own. Self-pleasuring, or masturbation, has been vilified for a number of reasons. For instance, the Taoists in China condemned male masturbation to the point of ejaculation as wasteful because too much "yang" or masculine energy would be lost with the expelled semen. The Christian church raised masturbation to a level of damnable sin. Penitential books published by the church during the eighth century, which outlined proscribed sexual practices and their accompanying penalties, emphasised masturbation over any other sexual offence.

From the 18th century onward doctors and scientists joined in the battle against self-pleasuring. Leader of the pack was Swiss physician Simon Andre Tissot, who in 1758 preached that masturbation would stimulate an increase in blood pressure in the head, thereby damaging the nervous system and causing insanity. Other doctors quickly joined the battle, blaming masturbation for such ills as acne, backache, blindness, constipation, epilepsy, gout, infertility, nymphomania and vomiting. These were not the opinions of a few quacks but commonly-held beliefs throughout Western society.

From the 1850s until the 1930s thirty-three patents were issued in the US to inventors of anti-masturbation devices. These painful and humiliating gadgets included such items as: spermatorrhea bandages, which bound the penis so tightly to the body that erection was not possible; a spike-lined ring which

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