PEDERASTY IN THE NON-CHRISTIAN WORLD BY PARKER ROSSMAN
The following is the one of the sections of the seventh chapter of Dr. Parker Rossman’s Dr. Parker Rossman's Sexual Experience between Men and Boys (originally published in 1976), entitled "The Uses of History", and introduced here.
Pederasty in the Non-Christian World
Outside the confines of Western history there are many cultures and traditions. Alexander the Great did not carry pederasty to India and Pakistan, nor did Muslim traders transport it to East Asia, for it was already well-rooted in the ancient societies of those areas.[1] Some of it was the “sport of kings” exploitive variety, but affectionate sex play was also often seen in Buddhist and medieval Hindu society, even between monks and novices. In Japan the nobility’s pederasty had a style similar to the Greek experiment; yet, just as in Greece, there was also the crass side to pederasty in Japan and China, with boys prostituted in brothels, teahouses and theaters.[2] The customers of boy brothels were “priests, soldiers, police, government officials, writers….”
In the Middle Ages there was a great deal of pederast literature and art in East Asia. Pederasty was not only cultivated at court but also man-boy sex play was common with working boys and schoolboys. The same was true in the rest of Asia and parts of Africa.[3] Muslim scriptures condemn pederasty, but affirm the value of sexual pleasure, with the orgasm prefiguring the joys of paradise - the prophet affirming that the faithful will continually make love in heaven.[4] This fact, and the hint in Muslim scriptures that in heaven the faithful will be served by beautiful boys, made it possible for many Muslims to justify sexual intercourse with non-Muslim slave boys and to “compare the love of boys with the love of God.”[5] - especially since wealth and the slave trade gave them their choice of “the most beautiful boys from all the countries of the world,”[6] specially trained to serve any and all pleasures. The finest poetry of the Muslim Middle Ages was frequently addressed to boys - with the biblical story of Joseph being a favorite subject, because in Muslim tradition the youngster sold to the king of Egypt was the most beautiful boy of history. Greek and Roman pederastic literature was popular in the courts of all the princes, almost as a fad.
[1] If anyone knows of any evidence that pederasty was “already well-rooted” in India and Pakistan when Alexander the Great invaded them, the editor of this article would be most grateful to be informed, as he has never come across any.
[2] F. Karsch-Haack, Das Gleichgeschlechtlich Leben der Ostasien (Munich: Seitz and Schauer, 1906), cites hundreds of references from travelers. [Author’s footnote]
[3] See note 25, p. 84, in Marc Daniel, “Le Civilisation Arabe et l’amour Masculine,” Arcadie, Jan. 1975. [Author’s footnote]
[4] G. H. Bousquet, La Morale de l’Islam et son ethique sexuelle (Paris: A. Maisonneuve, 1953), p. 36. [Author’s footnote]
[5] See note 35, p. 88, in Marc Daniel, “Le Civilisation Arabe et l’amour Masculine,” Arcadie, Jan. 1975. [Author’s footnote]
[6] Marc Daniel, “Le Civilisation Arabe et l’amour Masculine,” Arcadie, Jan. 1975, p. 93. [Author’s footnote]
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