Historic Background and Modern Sexuality

Before reading Halperin’s article I had never considered the history of sexuality and the impact on which it has on modern day perspectives. The culture in which we live in has created images of sexuality that we base our ideas on. For example, the media has stereotyped homosexual and heterosexual behavior through numerous reality television shows such as, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and The Real World. Because our generation has developed with these concrete images of sex and sexuality, many people have neglected or have become discriminative towards alternative sexual preferences. Sexuality is commonly defined by being heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual with the idea that a human is attracted to what they sexually desire. However, Halperin’s article analyzes the historic background of men during the time of classical Athens to imply that sexuality is more than desire and lust. Sexuality was not defined by a term or by what gender one had intercourse with, instead it served as a point of power. Superior and inferior roles of men were placed on people through sexual experiences, regardless of their gender. From this historic information, we understand the importance of domination through sex and how it has a significant impact on someone despite their gender. Dominance is still a factor in sex and sexuality of men, but it is now viewed as socially unacceptable. Could the history of sexuality in Athens with regards to superior and inferior sex relate to the issue of rape and masculinity? Questioning and analyzing the history of sexuality is one of the most important steps in how to understand and how we perceive sexuality. One of the most interesting topics that Halperin discussed in the article was his correlation to sexuality and dietary choice. The connection is made through by how people categorize characteristics depending on certain preferences. Vegetarians are categorized by the fact that they exclude meat from their diet, while homosexuals are categorized by an attraction towards the same sex. What differentiates the two situations is that people do not necessarily identify an individual by what they eat. Why should sexuality be any different? Sexuality is, and will continue to be controversial because it is an unfamiliar subject to many people.