I never thought I would get to learn so much about prostitutes and prostitution as I have this quarter.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that brothels were treated as public services that were necessary to the society, and even run by municipal officers! Of course, maybe the prostitutes felt differently about this. But regardless, this means that there was a time within Christian history when sexuality was considered a normal part of human development -- what a concept! If only we can get our current policies regarding sex and sexuality to have the same maturity...
It's not surprise that this all changed when the plague came through along with the Protestant Reformation and suddenly prostitutes and women in general became the scapegoats on which to place all blame for such a hellish curse. The Catholic clergy made up the majority of the patrons, or "johns," who frequented municipal brothels, and that was a pretty well known fact. People understood the necessity of sex and pleasure, and it wasn't until Protestantism ruined it all (and then Catholicism in response) by placing such strict rules on sexuality.
What's really funny/sad to me is that people still seem surprised today when sex scandals happen among church leaders. It's like, "who would have thought that being brought up in a culture that teaches you to fear your own body and hate yourself for having sexual thoughts would lead to any kind of sexual misconduct???"
I think they had it all figured out with municipal brothels and open sexuality, maybe we can learn something from the Early Modern Europeans.
No comments:
Post a Comment