Ancient Greece Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an adult male (the
erastes) and a younger male (the
eromenos), usually in his teens. This age difference between a socially powerful and socially less-powerful partner was characteristic of the
Archaic and
Classical periods, in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. The influence of pederasty on Greek culture of these periods was so pervasive that it has been called "the principal cultural model for free relationships between citizens." The practice was viewed with concerns and disapproval by certain social groups. In the writings of
Xenophon,
Socrates says, "A man who sells his favours for a price to anyone who wants them is called a
catamite; but if anyone forms a love-attachment with someone whom he knows to be truly good, we regard him as perfectly respectable." Each author may have used Socrates as a spokesman for their own viewpoints. Both Xenophon's Socrates and Plato's Socrates were against homosexual copulation in the context of pederasty and instead advocated for platonic relationships. The Socratic writings of the two authors were one of the main texts that led to
Kenneth Dover's and
Michel Foucault's understanding of pederasty as a matter of debate in Ancient Greece. It has no formal existence in the
Homeric epics, and seems to have developed in the late 7th century BC as an aspect of Greek
homosocial culture, which was characterized also by
athletic and
artistic nudity, delayed marriage for aristocrats,
symposia, and the social seclusion of women. Pederasty was both idealized and criticized in
ancient literature and
philosophy. The argument has recently been made that idealization was universal in the Archaic period; criticism began in Athens as part of the general Classical Athenian reassessment of Archaic culture. Scholars have debated the role or extent of pederasty, which is likely to have varied according to local custom and individual inclination.
Athenian law, for instance, recognized both
consent and age as factors in regulating sexual behavior. Enid Bloch argues that many Greek boys in these relationships may have been
traumatized by knowing that they were violating social customs, since the "most shameful thing that could happen to any Greek male was penetration by another male." She further argues that vases showing "a boy standing perfectly still as a man reaches out for his genitals" indicate the boy may have been "psychologically immobilized, unable to move or run away." One vase shows a young man or boy running away from
Eros, the
Greek god of desire.
Ancient Rome (or
Jupiter) in the form of an eagle abducting
Ganymede; 1st-century AD Roman
bas-relief , now in the
British Museum, depicts pederasty In
Latin,
mos Graeciae or
mos Graecorum ("Greek custom" or "the way of the Greeks") refers to a variety of behaviors the ancient Romans regarded as Greek, including but not confined to sexual practice.
Ancient Roman society only tolerated same-sex intercourse within an inherently unequal relationship; male Roman citizens retained their masculinity as long as they took the active, penetrating role, and the appropriate male sexual partner was a prostitute or slave, who would nearly always be non-Roman. Adolescent male partners were known as
catamites. In
Archaic and
classical Greece,
paiderasteia had been a formal social relationship between freeborn males; taken out of context and refashioned as the luxury product of a conquered people, pederasty came to express roles based on domination and exploitation. Masters often gave enslaved males, and prostitutes sometimes assumed, Greek names regardless of their ethnic origin; the boys
(pueri) Martial loved had Greek names. The use of slaves defined Roman pederasty; sexual practices were "somehow 'Greek when they were directed at "freeborn boys openly courted in accordance with the Hellenic tradition of pederasty". Theologian Edith Humphrey commented that "the Graeco-Roman 'ideal' regarding homosexuality entailed erotic love, not of children, but of young (teenage) males of the same age that a young woman would be given in marriage, and that frequently the more mature male was only slightly older than the partner."
Medieval and Renaissance Europe , a sculpture by
Donatello considered to have homoerotic overtones The Roman Emperor
Justinian I, upon converting to Christianity, banned all forms of homosexual intercourse within the Roman Empire, regardless of age. The shift in these cultural attitudes transpired into literature; Eratosthenes Scholastikos, a
6th century Greek author writing shortly after the empire's
Christianization, wrote "Let males be for others; I can love only women, whose love lasts a long time. There is no beauty in
pubescent youths: I loathe that
hateful hair that begins to grow too soon." in an
epigram numbered 277 in the
Greek Anthology. Nevertheless, various covert forms of pederasty persisted in Europe following his edict. In 1323, a court sentenced a French subdeacon named Arnold of Verniolle to lifetime incarceration with a diet of bread and water. Historical records document over 3,000 convictions for sodomy in
Florence from 1432 to 1502; almost all of these relationships involved pederasty.
Hilarius, a Latin language poet of English origin studying in
France in the early
12th century, authored several poems discussing homoerotic admiration of adolescent boys. Numerous works of medieval Jewish poetry, the majority authored in
al-Andalus during the
Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain, detail similar themes of admiring the beauty of adolescent males.
Africa Among the
Zande people of Congo, there was a social institution similar to
pederasty in Ancient Greece.
E. E. Evans-Pritchard also recorded that male
Azande warriors routinely took on boy-wives between the ages of twelve and twenty, who helped with household tasks and participated in
intercrural sex with their older husbands. The practice had died out by the early 20th century, after Europeans had gained control of African countries, but was recounted to Evans-Pritchard by the elders with whom he spoke. The
Nyakyusa people of
Tanzania have traditionally approved of pederastic relationships between an adult man and a boy, along with homosexual relationships between two boys. However, precolonial Nyakyusa culture prohibited
rape and consensual homosexual relationships between two adult men, punishing offenders with fines. Men who worked in some gold mines in South Africa would form sexual relationships with younger males, despite same-sex relationships being illegal under the
apartheid regime. Boys in mines performed household chores and served as men's "wives" or sexual partners for extended periods of time.
Australia Precolonial era The
Warlpiri people traditionally designated all initiated boys as the "boy-wife" of their future father-in-law in their traditional system of arranged marriages. Initiation traditionally occurs between the ages of 9 to 12; the subsequent form of pederasty involved
anal intercourse, with a boy's anus equated to a girl's vagina. Various
aboriginal tribes of
Central Australia, including the Warlpiri people, also traditionally allow children to sexually experiment with both same and opposite gender children before marriage.
18th-20th centuries Pederasty, along with consensual same-sex intercourse among adult men, often occurred among
convicts sent to Australia during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Same-sex couples often engaged in legally unrecognized
marriages. Boys and young men often sold themselves into prostitution to gain better provisions and living conditions. English convicts tended to engage in same-sex intercourse at a higher rate than Irish convicts. During
World War II, American servicemen housed at local
YMCAs and other forms of makeshift barracks in Australia often engaged in sexual intercourse with local men and boys who used these facilities for their original purposes.
Central Asia (in modern-day
Uzbekistan), c. 1910
Bacha bāzī () refers to a practice in which men (sometimes called
bacha baz) buy and keep adolescent boys (sometimes called
dancing boys) for entertainment and sex in
Afghanistan and historical
Turkestan. The most comprehensive study of young male dancers in Afghanistan in the second half of the twentieth century perhaps belongs to German folklorist Ingeborg Baldauf, who studied bacabozlik (bachah-bāzi) among Uzbeks in the north. Baldauf's study, published in 1988 in German under the title Die Knabenliebe in Mittelasien: Bacabozlik (Boy Love in Central Asia: Bachah-bāzī), contended that a significant percentage of the Uzbek male population in Afghanistan's northern provinces were involved in bachah-bāzī at some point in their lives—either as a dancing-bachah or a bachah-lover (or perhaps both in the course of their lives). Bachahs were expected to be familiar with
Chagatai literature, have a good grasp of music, know how to sing and dance, have good manners, and accompany their lovers in homosocial occasions. In return, their lovers, or bachah-bāz, had to generously spend money to outdo their rivals, otherwise the bachah would leave for a wealthier man. While the exchange of a few kisses and caresses was permissible between the bachah and bachah-bāz, no sexual intercourse was allowed, or the relationship would end abruptly. According to Baldauf, some men even ruined their families and went bankrupt after spending lavishly on bachahs for years. Similarly,
Gunnar Jarring, a Swedish diplomat and ethnographer who studied the Turkish dialects of
Andkhoy in the mid-1930s, heard from an Andkhoy resident about a “current custom” among
Afghan Turkmens and
Uzbeks in the northern provinces who would keep boys in a cellar for a few years to teach them to dance. “If young boys are to be found,” writes Jarring, “[the people of Afghan Turkistan] never let women dance.
East Asia with a boy actor Pederasty existed as a socially accepted practice in China for significantly longer than in Europe. Classical novels such as
The Carnal Prayer Mat discuss relationships between adult men and young boys and scholars often engaged in pederastic relationships with boy actors performing in
Peking opera.
Qing dynasty laws banned all extramarital sex (same-sex marriages did not exist), which included pederasty, but these laws rarely resulted in prosecution. Novels such as
Pleasant Spring and Fragrant Character, often accompanied by illustrations, continued to openly depict pederastic themes. Pederasty, along with other forms of homosexuality, declined during the
Republican era from Westernization efforts and the
Cultural Revolution further suppressed remnants of feudalism. The
Communist Party relegalized same-sex intercourse in 1997 with an age of consent of 14. Pederasty in
Japan prior to the
Meiji Restoration existed in similar forms across different societal contexts. Accounts of
Buddhist monasteries,
samurai circles, and
kabuki theatres all commonly noted the presence of relationships between adolescent or pre-pubescent boys (sometimes classified as
wakashū) and older male mentor figures. Art and literature of these relationships was common, with perhaps the most well-known collection being
ukiyo-zōshi poet
Ihara Saikaku's
The Great Mirror of Male Love.
Early modern Europe Pederasty among classical scholars , an artist associated with the Uranian movement Classical studies during the 19th century rapidly changed with the exploration of what
ancient Greece had to offer, quickly garnering admiration by those in study and capturing the attention of period writers. Holding esteem of the Greeks, 19th century Europeans began to model and apply Greek concepts and more onto their modern life. This application of Greek philosophy manifested with the Victorians' examination of
Plato and the Greek concept of pederasty, which led to them evaluating and applying this conception of intimate Greek encounters to those found within the Victorian era. This fascination and admiration led to works of literature which commemorated pederasty and same-sex love, such as
John Addington Symonds's essay "A Problem in Greek Ethics" and
Oscar Wilde's novel
The Picture of Dorian Gray. For instance,
Richard Barham Middleton's poem "The Bathing Boy" idealizes the beauty of a nude boy diving into a lake:While some individuals celebrated same-sex love in pederasty, others also imposed a moral repudiation onto it as a degradation of the youthful soul. British authorities codified this view with Section 11 of the
Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, the
Labouchere Amendment. This piece of legislation cemented the discussion on pederasty and its reception by the public and mainstream media with the legal prosecution of
Oscar Wilde, whose novel
The Picture of Dorian Gray was used as evidence to secure his imprisonment and conviction, labeling him as a "sodomite" under the eyes of the law. Pederasty also frequently occurred in the late-19th-century
Decadent movement, which took place amidst the European literary and artistic community. Decadents used pederasty to reinforce their own identity and non-conformance with heterosexuality. The movement led to the emergence of the
coterie known as the
Uranians, who often produced poetry and art centered around pederasty. However, these artistic forms often lacked explicit descriptions or depictions;
Henry Scott Tuke often painted nude boys without showing their
genitals or physical contact between them. The group provided intimacy, writing their works to share them amongst themselves, to provide a safe space and a source of consolidation for those who admired pederasty, devising it as "erotically and aesthetically superior to heterosexuality." Though 19th century Europeans took inspiration from the Greeks regarding pederastic relationships, the social context of pederasty during this time period differed from Ancient Greek pederasty. 19th century European pederasty did not share the factor of community acknowledgement and lacked the notion of "asymmetry" in relationships, including
age disparity and social status, as an expectation and aspiration. Sandra Boehringer and Stefano Caciagli comment that Ancient Greek and other ancient societies existed "before sexuality." Having a preference for gender or age did not assign a label to a relationship, but this did not preclude groups from disapproving of or enacting laws against pederastic practices.
Pederasty in boarding schools During the 19th and 20th centuries, all-male elite British boarding schools such as
Eton College and
Harrow School held a common but officially forbidden culture of pederasty between older and younger students. The strict
fagging system where older students could choose a younger student to carry out orders for them contributed to this culture of pederasty, as older students often forced younger students to perform sexual acts with each other. However, various boarding school romances involving mutual agreement (legal consent for same-sex intercourse did not exist at the time) also existed;
Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath recounts numerous same-sex romances at Eton College in his memoir
Top Hat and Tails (Strictly Private). Students at boarding schools typically tolerated same-sex relationships if they possessed an element of
gynephilia involving a more masculine (and typically older) student penetrating a more feminine (and typically younger) student's
anus,
mouth, or
thighs. Older students often viewed the lack of
body hair on younger students as a symbol of
femininity and permissible gynephilic relationships. Students often inspected the bodies of other boys using
communal showers and
nude swimming to identify students they wanted to engage in relationships with. Depending on the time, place, and situation, school officials
expelled or
beat students for engaging in same-sex relationships, but these consequences did not lead to imprisonment or a serious criminal record.
Pederasty in the British Navy During the 17th, 18th and 19th century,
British naval ships often recruited adolescent boys who engaged in various forms of pederasty, both consenting and nonconsensual. Penalties for pederasty involved execution (in the earlier centuries) and lashes and expulsion from the Navy (in the later centuries) for both the man and boy (if consenting) or for only the man in instances of rape. Surgeons occasionally inspected boys' anuses to check for pederasty.
Islamic world miniature from the book
Sawaqub al-Manaquib depicting a young male being used by a group of men for
anal sex During the
Islamic Golden Age, pederasty remained common, particularly in upper-class and artistic circles, despite its official religious prohibition. Literature from this time period assumed that most men held sexual desires toward both women and adolescent boys at the age of fourteen or older. Poetry and art often depicted homoerotic themes and same-sex intercourse without shame or public outrage. This informal social acceptance led European intellectuals to associate pederasty and other forms of homosexuality with Islam and heresy. The social acceptance of pederasty in the Islamic world ended with the growth and governmental integration of fundamentalist movements such as
Wahhabism and
Khomeinism, which proscribe the death penalty for all consenting acts of homosexuality. Although some modern Westernized sects of Islam such as
Muslims for Progressive Values accept consenting homosexual acts as
halal, no modern Islamic societies or groups tolerate pederasty.
Oceania New Guinea The
Simbari people traditionally incorporated pederasty as part of the ritual initiation into manhood. Prepubescent boys were removed from their mothers and taken to a temple where older boys danced in front of them, making sexual gestures and younger boys performed
fellatio on the older boys. Throughout puberty, older males penetrated younger boys to teach them about sexual intercourse and prepare them for marriage. The
Keraki people historically practiced a similar custom, but with boys playing the receptive role in anal intercourse until facial hair develops. The
Kaluli people hosted ceremonies known as
bau a once every several years, where older men engage in anal intercourse inside a dark room with boys and younger men across a wide age range (depending on their age during the community's first
bau a). The Kaluli people believed that anal intercourse improved boys' growth and maturity; leaders forced disobedient boys to return to their family longhouses. Women did not receive any information of what occurred during the
bau a; men and boys used a special code language to conceal their rituals. The
Biami people and
Onabasulu people traditionally required young boys to
masturbate older men and rub their semen on their skin; the
Onabasulu people equated semen to medicine.
Solomon Islands In the
Nggela Islands, most men traditionally partook in sexual intercourse with multiple boys from the ages of seven to eleven years old, both before and after marriage. Traditional culture did not view discussion of pederasty with friends and family members as a
social taboo.
Vanuatu In
Malakula, many men held boy-wives in combination with or as a substitute for adult female wives. Members of the lower classes had a higher tendency of possessing boy-wives than the chief caste.
United States and Canada Although illegal, a significant pederastic subculture existed among working class
laborers,
hobos, and
unhoused people in the
United States and
Canada during the early 20th century. These relationships typically involved small scale
prostitution involving occasional and agreed upon sexual encounters rather than
human trafficking or
sexual violence. Period authors typically blamed the existence of pederasty among impoverished men on isolation from women rather than a modern understanding of
pedophilia and
sexual orientation. == Pederasty in literature ==