07-02-2003, 03:22 PM
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#47 (permalink)
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Psycho
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You're telling me that there is NOTHING to be said for stereotypical homosexual traits? Where then, did the steroetype come from?
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Sparta. A soceity where most of the men were bisexual or gay:
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Everything was now dedicated to making each Spartiati a superb and unquestioningly loyal soldier. The Process started at birth. Newly-born babies were inspected by a committee of elders, and, if considered too weak , they were left to die by exposure on the sloped of Mount Taygetos. Those who survived were carefully brought up as Plutarch describes:
'The women did not bathe the babies with water, but with wine, making it a sort of test of their strength. For they say that the epileptic and sickly ones lose control and go into convulsions, but the healthy ones are rather toughened like steel and strengthened in their physique. The nurses displayed care and skill:they did not use swaddling -bands, making the babies free in their limbs and bodies? they also made them sensible and not fussy about their food, not afraid of the dark or frightened of being left alone, not inclined to unpleasant awkwardness or whining. So even some foreigners acquired Spartan nurses for their children.
At the age of seven, a Spartan boy came directly under the control of the city, and remained so in effect until the time of his death. From this age boys were brought up in packs, which had a prefect system, and were under the general charge of a state director of education , the paidonomos. The military emphasis is explained by Plutarch:
' They learned reading and writing for basic needs, but all the rest of their education was t make them well-disciplined and steadfast in hardship and victorious in battle. For this reason, as boys grew older, the Spartans intensified their training, cutting their hair short and making them used to walking barefoot and for the most part playing named. When the boys reached the age of twelve, they no longer had tunics to wear, but got one cloak a year. Their bodies were tough and unused to baths and lotions. They only enjoyed such luxury only a few special days a year.They slept, in packs, on beds which they got together on their own, made from the tops of the rushes to be found by the river Eurotas. These they broke of f with their bare hands, not using Knives.'
The smallest offences were punishable by whipping, and food was deliberately rationed, so that the boys were forced t to steal to get more -'if they are caught theft are whipped severely, for stealing carelessly and unskillfully'. The packs of boys were matched against each other in violent games with a ball and in straightforward fights. As they approached the age or twenty and manhood, the training grew more and more severe and military. At the festival of the goddess Artemis Ortheia, the older boys had to take part in a contest in which they snatched as many cheeses as possible from the steps of the altar to the goddess. To do so it was necessary to run the gauntlet of guards, with whips, who were instructed to use them as hard as they could. Some youths died as a result. Another test was the Krypteia, or 'period of hiding', during which the boy had to live alone and under cover in the countryside.
the source
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Spartan men were fierce warriors and engaged in homosexual activities but yet did not demonstrate any the behaviors you associate with the homosexual stereotype. |
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