[Aztlan] Sexuality in Mesoamerica

[Elizabeth Kirchner]

Hi,
I was wondering that too. Several books about cacao indicate that a 
prostitute could be purchased for 10 beans (which wasn't all that 
pricey, since rabbits were going for 300), but it's the prostitution 
part, rather than the 'cacao-as-currency' part, that caught my eye.
Liz



Rodrigo Garcia wrote:
> Hi everyone, 
>
>  
>
> I have a few questions which I can't seem to find much information about
> anywhere and I would appreciate any help you can give me on this.
>
>  
>
> What do we know about sexuality in Mesoamerica? 
>
> Did people carry the same taboos and negative associations about sex that
> we do today? 
>
> Was sex repressed by Mesoamerican religions like it has been repressed by
> many other religions all over the world? 
>
> Was nudity accepted in public and if so was sex also accepted in public or
> was it something to be strictly practiced only in private areas?
>
> Was sex restricted only to married couples?
>
> What was considered wrong sexual behavior?
>
>  
>
> And I read somewhere that the Totonacs were more "free", open and tolerant
> about sexuality and that they had a lot of sculptures of genitalia. I
> wonder if anybody can direct me to where I can find examples of this. Also
> I tried searching on the Justin Kerr vase collection for "sex",
> "sexuality" and nothing comes up. Does this mean that sexual practices
> were never depicted in Maya art? If this is not true could somebody direct
> me to art where sexual practices are depicted in Maya or Mesoamerican art?
> I know there are at least a few examples of this because a friend of mine
> told me he visited a famous painters house in Mexico and he supposedly had
> many prehispanic clay figurines of couples engaging in sex, something I
> had never heard of before. So I am wondering if the church destroyed a lot
> of these or if they have been kept from the public because of our own
> taboos against sex?    
>
>  
>
> Thanks for any help on this!
>
>  
>
> Rodrigo 
>
>  
>
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