[Aztlan] Sexuality in Mesoamerica

[David Hixson]

Elizabeth Kirchner <ekirchner at aibs.org> wrote ---


 "Does the evident commodification of sex illuminate its nature in
MesoAmerican society?"
Best regards,
Liz

And Justin Kerr wrote --
Paraphrasing some jokester, "We know there were prostitutes, we are only
arguing about the price."

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These comments reminded me of a recent SAA (Society for American
Archaeology) presentation...

The author noted that certain economic ventures that may have
been present in the ancient Maya past were not recorded in the
primary documents, nor are evident in the archaeological record.

Therefore, we have an "invisible" class of not only artifacts, but
also occupations --- those that we can infer were present, yet
cannot physically demonstrate.

Prostitution is one, but also economic ventures with slavery, or
production of organic dyes, fibers, comestibles, etc.  These
occupations rarely leave a physical trace.

Such occupations are much more difficult to detect in the
archaeological record than a household focused upon lithic
production, or ceramic distribution (items that can more easily
be gleaned from excavations).

Thus, the comments by Justin Kerr regarding the scant
evidence of sexual practices merges well with the lack of solid
evidence for prostitution (yet, one may suppose that brothels
or individual sex practitioners did exist in such locations as
major urban centers and/or ports of trade).

While we might imagine that there was prostitution among
the Maya, since it was a social exchange of "biodegradable commodities"
(not a physical exchange of mineral resources that would survive
to this day), essentially, these occupations may remain invisible
due to the lack of primary texts and/or physical evidence.

-Dave