PART 11
EARLY AMERICA
***, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION,
BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS
Lesbian
Lesbianism (referred to as LEWD BEHAVIOR, ACTS AGAINST NATURE or UNSEEMLY
PRACTICES BETWIXT WOMEN) was more tolerated, since women
were at first seen as ***ually irrepressible. Also, no seed was wasted as
in male deviant ***ual practice. Whipping or fines were the two most
common
punishments, although some colonies had a death penalty on the books. The
repentant were accepted back into the church and society without permanent
stigma.
SOURCE: The Writer's Guide, Everyday Life in Colonial America From 1607 -
1783. Dale Taylor. Weiter's Digest Books (1997) p 128
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The sin conception of same-*** ***ual activity prevailed in the
colonies and in the United States before the late 19th century.(7) During
this period, the modern concept of hetero***uality and homo***uality did
not exist,(8) rather, almost all non procreative or non-marital ***ual
activities were considered immoral and made criminal.(9)
Yet those who transgressed the society's ***ual moral code were not
stigmatized as long as they repented.(10) Furthermore, sharp distinctions
were not drawn between same-*** ***ual activity and other forms of sin;
rather sodomy represented a capacity for sin inherent in everyone.(11)
This conception of all non marital or non procreative ***ual acts
as sinful is reflective of the largely homogeneous society in which the
family was the basic economic and social unit. (12) The homogeneity of
society also explains the absence of distinction between homo***ual and
had
hetero***ual ***ual orientation. The idea that some members of a
community
might be different and have different ***ual orientation was less
intuitive
in such a society than the contrary notion that all members of the
community were equally capable of moral transgression. (13)
The absence of a concept of ***ual orientation is particularly
vivid in 9th century society's treatment of relation****ps between women.
During this time, deeply felt, intimate relation****ps between women were
seen as normal and acceptable.(14) These relation****ps were both sensual
and platonic,(15) they were never labeled as lesbian(16) but rather were
seen as complementary to the woman's relation****p with her husband and
family.(17) Because men and women lived and worked in different spheres,
relation****ps between women developed naturally."(18)
FOOTNOTES:
(7) See J. KATZ, GAY/LESBIAN ALMANAC 31-48 (1983).
(8) See D'Emilio, Making and Unmaking Minorities: The Tensions Between
Gay
Politics and History, 14 N.Y.U. REV. L. & SOC. CHANGE 915, 917 (1986);
Goldstein, History, Homo***uality, and Political Values: Searching for the
Hidden Determinants of Bowers v. Hardwick, 97 YALE L.J. 1073, 1087 (1988)
The terms "homo***ual" and "hetero***ual" and the concepts behind them
were
not popular in the United States until the 1920's See J. KATZ, supra note
7, at 16.
(9) See J. KATZ, Supa note 7, at 29-65; Law, Homo***uality and the Social
Meaning of Gender, 1988 Wis. L. REV. 187, 199. However, ***ual acts
between
two women were generally not criminalized because the laws only sought to
deter "the unnatural spilling of seed, the biblical sin of Onan." J.
DIEMILIO & E. FREEDMAN, INTIMATE MATTERS: A HISTORY OF ***UALITY
IN AMERICA 122 (1988); see also Law, supra, at 202 n75("The traditional
common law and religious condemnation of homo***uality did not encompass
women.").
(10) See J. D'EMILIO & E. FREEDMAN, supra note 9, at 15.
(11)D'Emilio, supra note 8, at 917.
(12)See Law, supra note 9, at 199.
(13) See id.
(14)See L. FADERMAN, SURPASSING THE LOVE OF MEN: ROMANTIC FRIEND****P AND
LOVE BETWEEN WOMEN FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT 157 (1981);
Smith-Rosenberg, The Female World of love and Ritual: Relations Between
Women in Nineteenth-Century America, I SIGNS I, 9, 27 (1975); A. RICH,
Vesuvius at Hornet The Power of&mily Dickinson, in ON LIES, SECRETS AND
SILENCE: SELECTED PROSE 1966-1978, at 161-63 (1979).
(15) Smith-Rosenberg, supra note 14, at 4.
(16)Indeed, most people never imagined that relation****ps between two
women
could be ***ual. See P. BLUMSTEIN & P. SCHWARTZ, AMERICAN COUPLES 40
(1983), see also Law, supra note 9, at 202 ("Lesbians Were censured by
silence; ***ual acts between two women were unimaginable."). This view was
also a reflection of the common belief that women were a***ual.
See D. GREENBERG, THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOMO***UALITY 376-77 (1988).
(17) See P. BLUMSTEIN & P. SCHWARTZ, supra note 16, at 41, P. CONRAD & J.
SCHNEIDER, DEVIANCE AND MEDICALIZATION 173 (1980) (As long as women's
behavior did not interfere with carrying, bearing, and rearing of
children,
it received comparatively little attention."); D. WEST, HOMO***UALITY
RE-EXAMINED 177 (1977) ("In male-dominated societies,... lesbian
activities
.... seem to have been treated with an amused tolerance, so long as they
did
not interfere with masculine satisfactions.").
(18) See Smith-Rosenberg, supva note 14, at 9-13; L. FADERMAN, supra note
14, at 157-58
(SOURCE OF INFORMATION: ***UAL ORIENTATION AND THE LAW, by the editors of
the Harvard Law Review, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, London,
England. (1989) pp 2-3)
***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why
"a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v.
Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
|
