Have we really come that far after all?

Reading Halperin’s article, “Is There a History of Sexuality,” I became quite intrigued with the notion of a society that does not use sexual orientation as a form of personal identification. In ancient Greece, according to Halperin, modern day categories used to define a person’s sexual orientation (i.e. homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual) did not even exist. It seems that to the Greeks, sex was sex. Whether an individual committed sexual acts with men, women, or both men and women, one’s personal identity was not altered or shaped by sex practices. However, this did not mean that when it came to sex, the ancient Greeks had a total free-for-all. There were constraints. As Halperin explains, in ancient Greek society, appropriate sexual partners were identified and determined based on the social hierarchy and power relations. To act in a way that in some way deviated from the social norm (i.e. a socially dominant and powerful person assuming a sexually inferior role) would be considered abnormal and most likely would cause a social stigma. In much the same way, homosexuals in our modern day society are stigmatized for failing to conform to the socially accepted norm of heterosexuality. In our society today, socially accepted sex is defined by man and woman. Essentially then, we too have sex constraints. While the ancient Greeks created sex restrictions based on social class, our society makes restrictions based on gender. Therefore, when it comes to sex, it seems to me that we really haven’t come that far since the times of the ancient Greeks after all. There certainly still is progress to be made.