Geoffrey PARRINDERParrinder - 1910-2005 - was hoogleraar in vergelijkende godsdienstwetenschap ('comparative religion') aan het King's College in London.
Dit boek geeft een bijzonder helder overzicht van opvattingen over allerlei vormen van seksualiteit, mannen- en vrouwenrollen, het huwelijk, naaktheid, en zo meer. Het is goed geschreven en waardevol. Maar zoals Parrinder zelf ook aanduidt: we weten nog zo veel niet over allerlei waarden en normen op dit vlak, al is het maar omdat veel bronnen (papieren bronnen, maar ook beeldende kunst, tempelkunst, enz.) vernietigd werden door preutse overheden. Hij bespreekt de grote religies. Ik geef alleen een aantal zaken weer.
In het hindoeïsme variëren opvattingen over de rol van seks van acceptatie (vroeger) tot verwerping ervan (moderne tijd).
Het huwelijk werd gezien als opoffering. Het idee was dat een man ongeveer drie keer zo oud moest zijn als degene die hij trouwde. Vandaar de gewoonte van kindhuwelijken. En niets zo erg voor een vrouw in India als het achterblijven als weduwe.
"Similarly the remarriage of a widow was forbidden from an early date, for she must always revere him."(17)
Waaraan je ziet dat mannen de dienst uitmaakten. Er bestonden wel allerlei sekshandleidingen zoals de Kama Sutra. Maar ook al bestond er tolerantie tegenover seks, er waren altijd regels die men geacht werd te respecteren.
"Sexual intercourse was not unrestricted. It should be practised privately and not in the open air, and only with the vulva since oral sex was forbidden. Intercourse should not be held with strange women, and especially not with those of baser caste, with exceptions again in Tantra. Both the epics and the Laws of Manu condemned intercourse with a teacher's wife as particularly shameful, though since the prohibitions detailed anointing her, helping her in the bath, shampooing her limbs, and arranging her hair, the dangers must have been great for young pupils, and prohibition implies temptation. The same Laws forbade rape, to be punished by severing two fingers, and Lesbianism which brought fines and beating to a girl, and head shaved or two fingers severed for a woman who polluted a girl and she had to ride through the town on a donkey. Male homosexuality seemed to receive less punishment, 'a twice-born man who commits an unnatural offence with a male shall bathe, dressed in his clothes', says one law, but another prescribed loss of his caste. Some medieval writers regarded 'underlove', male homosexuality, as quite common and not a perversion. Incest was severely punished, including sexual intercourse with sisters by the same mother, wives of a friend or of a son."(20-21)
De regels golden allereerst voor vrouwen.
"A woman was protected by her father in childhood, her husband in youth, and her sons in old age, but she was 'never fit for independence'. Women should be guarded against evil inclinations, and employed in household, religious, and commercial duties. They should be kept from alcohol, sleeping at unseasonable hours, rambling abroad, and other men's houses. Many faults are attributed to them, in texts clearly compiled by men.(...) A woman was protected by her father in childhood, her husband in youth, and her sons in old age, but she was 'never fit for independence'."(24)
"But the Muhammadan invasions of India, from the eleventh century intensified restrictions upon women that were already present by Brahminical laws and customs." [mijn nadruk] (25)
Mannen waren de baas en hadden meer ruimte om seks te hebben. Zoals altijd en overal was er sprake van een dubbele moraal. Ook in deze samenleving in India zien we courtisanes vergelijkbaar met de Japanse geisha en 'gewone' prostituees.
"In the epics and classical Indian texts extra-marital sex, for men, was accepted as part of life. There were high-class courtesans for male needs, and they were expected to be educated in sixty-four arts and sciences and were the equivalent of Greek hetairae or Japanese geishas. The courtesans were women of high education, whose teachers should be paid by the state, and their accomplishments included dancing, singing, acting, sewing, flower-arranging, and other useful and domestic arts. The cultured courtesans (ganikas) were distinguished from low-class and promiscuous prostitutes (kalutas).(...) "Houses of joy" (...) "... women that live by their beauty""(26)
Mooie uitdrukkingen vind ik dat. Ze zijn positief en dat zegt iets over de acceptatie. Er bestond ook tempelprostitutie.
"The deva-dasis, 'god's servants', were high-class prostitutes attached to the service of deities in Hindu temples. This practice went back to ancient times and developed until the end of the last century. Girls were given to temples in childhood as a gift to the god, perhaps in the hope of getting a son or some other benefit. They were said to be married to the deity, often Krishna or Shiva, and in a formal wedding ceremony they might be ritually deflowered by a priest or rich patron, or made to sit on a stone linga. The girls were trained in erotic arts and made available to temple visitors, for a price. Because their duties included dancing and singing, the dance was often regarded as immoral until modern reforms tried to purify it."(27)
"The influence of the Kama Sutra and similar works upon sculpture, painting, and literature was of great social importance, before the puritanism of recent times sought to cover all sex from public view or discussion." [mijn nadruk] (30)
"Temple prostitution was closed by the British, with the help of Hindu reformers, along with the suppression of widow-burning. (...) In the present century efforts have been made to free dances from erotic associations, and the classical styles have been revived, by male dancers and also by women." [mijn nadruk] (27)
"In recent centuries there have been several reactions against the eroticism of ancient India, particularly its sculptures and lingas. The Mughal rulers were Muslims and usually iconoclastic. The fanatical Aurangzeb is said to have destroyed over two hundred temples in one year in one province, and how many were devastated during his fifty years reign is unknown. Not only overtly sexual statues were damaged but simple nudes, such as the stone figures of Jain saints at Gwalior which had their heads and penes knocked off. The heads have now been restored, but in terra cotta.
Muslim puritanism was followed by European. The Abbé Dubois, who wandered about south India from 1792 to 1823 left many vivid descriptions, but stressed what he regarded as the evil side of Hinduism." [mijn nadruk] (38-39)
"The aim was to bring detachment, beyond pleasure or pain of the body and its cravings."(44)
Niet bepaald gericht op het genieten van het lichaam, nietwaar? Natuurlijk was het niet zo simpel om seksuele verlangens te vermijden en heilige boeken gaven dan ook allerlei regels die discipline moesten brengen. Als reactie ontstond het tantristische boeddhisme (kortweg Tantra genoemd), maar dat bestreek niet zo'n groot gebied.
"Early Buddhism was male-dominated, but with the incorporation of Tantra at both popular and philosophical levels the feminine element became very important."(50)
Ook in het boeddhisme zien we een plaats voor courtisanes.
"Other courtesans appeared in Buddhist story, sometimes living in groups and at times very wealthy. Their occupation was never openly condemned, it was listed at the end of names of other professions and was regarded as low rather than blameworthy. In Buddhist and general Indian thought a prostitute was working out her karma, like all other ranks in society. She must have been reborn to that low condition by some offence in a previous life, but she need not remain there, and by virtuous practice she could rise to a higher state in the next life."(57)
En wat betreft naaktheid wordt geschreven:
"Formerly many tribal peoples went about naked or only half- clothed, but now state governments have organized campaigns to clothe them. When Bhil girls in Rajasthan were photographed bare to the waist, the local government issued them with thousands of white saris. Since white is the colour of mourning in India, the result was that these beautiful girls came to look like Hindu widows." [mijn nadruk] (76)
Waarom wilden die overheden dat? Ze wilden waarschijnlijk een goede indruk maken op het Westen en laten zien hoe geciviliseerd ze waren.
In China had je eerst het taoïsme dat positief stond tegenover seks en later het confucianisme dat negatief was over seks.
"From the highest to the lowest levels of Chinese society followers of Tao sought to cultivate sexual energy and unite Yin and Yang. In sexual play these powers were aroused and in orgasm they were released from the body and passed into the partner of the other sex, male into female and female into male. Such mutual exchange of Yin and Yang essences was thought to produce perfect harmony, and sexual intercourse, instead of declining with age, was believed to increase vigour and bring long life."(84)
"Confucius said little about women and nothing of physical sexual relationships. In one verse he remarked: 'Women and people of low birth are very hard to deal with. If you are friendly with them, they get out of hand, and if you keep your distance, they resent it.' The followers of Confucius developed this attitude to ensure the lower place of women; their foremost duty was to obey their husband and his parents, to look after the house, and to bear healthy male children. Procreation was primary, and enjoyment of sex secondary; the ideal woman was 'she who is within', concentrating on household tasks. Chastity was essential for the woman, but not for the man.(...) The Confucians advocated the separation of the sexes, in order to maintain the purity of family life." [mijn nadruk] (91)
Ook daar zie je dus een eerdere tolerantie verdwijnen door verpreutsing. Dat was ook zo op het vlak van naaktheid:
"Until the T'ang dynasty Chinese women exposed their throats and bosoms, and girls often danced with naked breasts. But from the Sung dynasty, from the tenth century, the high collar became the distinctive feature of women's dress that it remained till modern times, and communist boilersuits perpetuate this covering."(95)
Japan is qua opvattingen zowel beïnvloed door het taoïsme als door het confucianisme. In die historische volgorde.
"From adolescence a wall was raised between boys and girls, and even in marriage a woman had little formal status in the home. Neo-Confucianism may be blamed for some of the male dominance, but much seems to have been native Japanese, and due both to the greater physical strength of the male and the traditions of feudalism. Even today Japanese women often complain that they have no voice in the education of their children and their choice of partners, though strong-minded women perhaps do make themselves heard."(116-117)
Ook hier vermaak voor mannen: geisha en prostituees.
"The gay quarters provided an escape from reality, at the expense of the women there and at home. Only the upper classes could afford mistresses and concubines, but middle-class men sought outlets with geishas or prostitutes. A geisha was an 'art person', a dancing girl, and strictly a professional dancer and singer. The word was often loosely used, however, either of a high-class courtesan or a low-class prostitute. A visit to a geisha house gave entertainment, but not the right to automatic sexual intercourse. For that, a man would have to sign a contract in which the geisha would become his mistress for a time. At geisha houses nevertheless the dances, songs, gestures, and repartee were traditionally suggestive, expressing things that a wife would not say, giving relief from the 'circle of duty' into the 'circle of human feelings'."(124-125)
Over naaktheid:
"Nakedness, partial or total, was not shameful in traditional tropical Africa, and it was more sensible in such a climate than the heavy clothes that were often later adopted. Even a few years ago many girls and women were bare to the waist for much of the day, and only education and modern respectability has clothed most of them. Among some tribes, like the Somba of northern Dahomey, the women went completely naked ..."(144)
De invloed van de missionarissen en het latere kolonialisme in combinatie met het christendom maakte dat naaktheid en allerlei seksuele praktijken die normaal waren werden tegengewerkt en verboden.
Hierna worden met name de drie grote monotheïstische godsdiensten besproken: de islam, het jodendom, en het christendom. Een paar citaten.
"In the early days of Islam women had more independence than later."(173)
"The Bible had a strong patriarchal emphasis, from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with their plurality of wives, and this helped male dominance. Legally women were in a position of inferiority and the wife was 'possessed' by her husband.(...) Man was chiefly responsible for carrying out the precepts of the Torah, whereas woman had domestic obligations." [mijn nadruk] (184)
"In sexual matters harsh penalties were decreed against those who deviated from the 'normal' man-woman relationship which should culminate in marriage. Practices that were considered to be against nature as designed by God, were commanded to be given stern condemnation and punishment." [mijn nadruk] (186)
"Every religion has some distinctive characteristics and Christianity is the only major religion which from the outset has seemed to insist upon monogamy." [mijn nadruk] (202)
"The subjection of women to their husbands was taught in various places: they were the weaker vessels, told to learn in silence, not to teach in church, to be modest in ornament, and reminded that Eve was the first to be deceived into transgression ..." [mijn nadruk] (214)
"Sexual and marriage questions were not greatly debated in the early Church, but there was a world-renouncing attitude and Gnostic anti-sex feelings were shared by many of their opponents. Marriage was not condemned, for it was blessed by Christ and instituted by God, but it was regarded as inferior to virginity. Celibacy was the ideal for those who would be perfect, and clerical remarriage after the death of a spouse was forbidden." [mijn nadruk] (219)
"Again and again theologians spoke of the dangers and inferior nature of sex, but Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in north Africa in the early fifth century, was one of the most influential and disastrous teachers on the subject." [mijn nadruk] (222)
De rolverdeling tussen mannen en vrouwen is al duizenden jaren hetzelfde. Mannen spelen de baas over vrouwen en vinden vrouwen inferieur. De dubbele moraal gaat daarmee samen: de kuisheid van vrouwen wordt door die mannen erg belangrijk gevonden, maar zelf hoeven ze het niet zo nauw te nemen en mogen ze seks hebben buiten het huwelijk (er bestaan allerlei vormen van vermaak door vrouwen).
Met de opkomst van de vrouwvijandige en seksvijandige monotheïstische godsdiensten (met name christendom en islam) in het Westen en de kolonisatie door het Westen van allerlei andere werelddelen zie je historisch gezien de verpreutsing toenemen. Naaktheid mag niet meer, erotisch getinte dansen en afbeeldingen mogen niet meer, het huwelijk en monogamie worden nog belangrijker gemaakt.