[Aztlan] Sexuality in Mesoamerica

[Dodds Pennock, Dr C.E.]

Dear Rodrigo,

First of all, can I just comment that it is important to realise that sexuality in 'Mesoamerica' was a very diverse issue. The dearth of evidence has often led to the conflation and collation of information regarding the issue, where in fact there was a considerable diversity of practice. Trexler's Sex and Conquest: Gendered Violence, Political Order and the European Conquest of the Americas (Cornell, 1995), for example, is an excellent resource in terms of the quantity of material he has compiled (and would be a good place for you to find references), but his analysis tends to blur the boundaries between cultures. That said, whilst reliable primary source evidence is scarce, there is quite a historiography on this issue, and it has frequently been considered in recent years. To mention just a few 

If you would like to read primary sources on the subject, despite it's rather sensationalist title, the following book compiles many relevant accounts - F. Guerra, The Pre-Columbian Mind: A study into the aberrant nature of sexual drives, drugs affecting behaviour, and the attitude towards life and death, with a survey of psychotherapy, in pre-Columbian America (London, 1971)

Rosemary A. Joyce, Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica (Austin, 2000) contains considerations of sexuality amongst the essays. And if I may, my own book, Bonds of Blood: Gender, Lifecycle and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture (Basingstoke, 20008), contains detailed consideration of the evidence for both hetero- and homo-sexual practices in Tenochtitlan (including addressing many of the issues you mention). 

Best wishes,
Caroline
-------
Dr Caroline Dodds Pennock
Lecturer in Early Modern History
School of Historical Studies
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester
LE1 7RH

email: ced22 at le.ac.uk
http://www.le.ac.uk/history/people/ced22.html
________________________________________
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org] On Behalf Of Rodrigo Garcia [rodrigo at paloalto.com]
Sent: 16 October 2009 17:28
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: [Aztlan] Sexuality in Mesoamerica

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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