Homosexuality: The Role Of Sexuality In Ancient Societies

When discussing the nature of human sexuality it is important to be clarify what is being referred to, as the term comes with a considerable degree of ambiguity and can sometimes be conflated with romanticism. In the context of sexual orientation, one's sexuality is often seen as being either homosexual or heterosexual, conforming to some rigid standard contrived by society. It is often the case, however, that sexuality is of a more fluid nature, or falls on some kind of spectrum.

Society's influence on a person's sexuality is not inconsequential, and can affect it in many ways. Evidence of this can be seen when contrasting the views of ancient societies such as Rome or Greece and those of present-day societies regarding human sexuality. Contrary to those ancient societies, in which it was commonplace to have sex with either gender and was seen as morally sound in moderation, contemporary views, as a result of centuries of various religious doctrine encouraging heterosexuality and reserved practice of sex for the sole purpose of procreation, there exists a stigma associated with those of a more promiscuous nature that leads to people having less sex overall, in fear of being labeled 'sluts' or 'whores'. Until recently, it was heavily frowned upon to haven even the slightest homosexual tendencies because it is seen by some as being unnatural. …show more content…
Bonobos, who are now thought to be even closer evolutionarily to humans than even chimpanzees, often engage in sexual activities recreationally rather than for procreation. In fact, the majority of their sex is for pleasure, and a large portion of them exhibit bisexual tendencies. It would stand to reason that this free behavior is due to a lack of societal pressure to conform to some invented idea of normative sexual orientation. This also extends to other species with some correlation between the intelligence of the species