[Aztlan] Sexuality in Mesoamerica

[Elizabeth Kirchner]

Hi,
While I'm sure(-ish) these numbers are apocryphal, sensational, the  use 
of cacao  seeds as currency, of course, is not; a short discussion of 
the relative worth in terms of cacao of commodities like rabbits is 
found in Sophie Coe's True History of Chocolate - and from there 
splashed and morphed throughout layman discussion, online and in print. 
Googling again right now, I find, she may have actually said four beans 
for a rabbit and ten for a prostitute. Although we may have found that 
dinner and a date was a better buy than I had stated, my question is 
still "Does the evident commodification of sex illuminate its nature in 
MesoAmerican society?"
Best regards,
Liz

Sven Röhrig wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I wonder wher you have theese prices from? Is the 300 bean rabbit 
> indicating that the majority of the popuation was forced vegetarians?
>
> Best regards,
> Sven Röhrig
>
>
> Am 16.10.2009 um 19:07 schrieb 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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>>
>>
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