Sodomy
Sodomy is a term used to characterize certain sexual acts. The term is most commonly used to describe the specific act of anal sex between two males, or between a male and a female. The term "sodomy" also may include non-coital sexual acts ranging from oral sex to paraphilia. It is sometimes used to describe human-animal sexual intercourse (a.k.a. bestiality, zoophilia or interspecies erotica), and in the German language, this is the primary use of the term. Sodomy laws forbidding certain types of sex acts have been instituted in some cultures.
The term “sodomy” derives from the name of the ancient city of Sodom, which according to a common interpretation of the Bible, was destroyed by God for its sins (see Sodom and Gomorrah).
The English term buggery is very closely related to sodomy, in concept, and often interchangeably used in law and popular speech. In the various criminal codes of United States of America, the term "sodomy" has generally been replaced by "deviant sexual intercourse," which is precisely defined by statute. The remaining criminal interest is largely confined to acts where the victim did not or could not legally consent.
Understandings of "The Sins of Sodom"
It is commonly believed that Leviticus 18 lists sexual crimes that, if followed, would result in the land being "defiled." (27 for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled; 28 otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.) This idea is vividly brought to life in the popular interpretation of the story of Sodom, where the people were prone to gross sexual immorality, and as a result were destroyed.
However, there is strong textual support in Christian and Jewish scripture for the belief that the sins of Sodom were not sexual in nature. In the Book of Ezekiel, God speaks through the prophet saying, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good." (16:49-50, KJV).
According to recent critiques by some liberal Christians, the sins of Sodom were related more to violation of hospitality laws than sexual sins. In the King James version of the Bible, the term "sodomy" is used to translate a heterogeneous group of original-language terms, thus linking them to the Biblical account of Sodom and "sodomy" as currently understood in ways that may not have been intended by the authors of the original texts.
This view of the story may be new in the Christian tradition, but it has been the mainstream interpretation in Judaism for many centuries. The thirteenth-century Jewish scholar Nachmanides wrote, "According to our sages, they were notorious for every evil, but their fate was sealed for their persistence in not supporting the poor and the needy." His contemporary Rabbenu Yonah expresses the same view: "Scripture attributes their annihilation to their failure to practice tzedakah (charity or justice)." [1]
According to some translations, in Genesis 19:5, the Bible says, "They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." The men are allegedly angels who had come to visit Lot, and the Bible also says in Genesis 19:4 that "all the men from every part of the city of Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house." Some scholars argue that the Hebrew text was mistranslated. The word for "have sex" can also simply mean to "do violence to." However, in Genesis 19:8 (KJV), Lot offers his virgin daughters to the mob in place of the angelic guests, which supports a sexual context. Another claim is that while the gender of the term for strangers in the text is male, that it does not necessarily denote the gender of the strangers themselves.
A more explicit scriptural connection between homosexual aggression and Sodom is also found in the Qur'an, though the city name 'Sodom' does not appear there. The Sodomites are referred to as "the people of Lut (Lot)." Lot is the nephew of the Hebrew/Arabic patriarch Abraham and, in the Judaic Sodom stories, is head of the only family allowed by God to survive Sodom's destruction. In the Qur'an, he is also the divinely appointed national prophet to his people. Since their national name was unrecorded and "people of Lot" was the only available designation, the Islamic equivalent of 'sodomy' has become 'liwat,' which could be roughly translated as "lottishness" (see Homosexuality and Islam).
First century Christian and Jewish opinions
The Epistle of Jude in the New Testament echoes the Genesis narrative and recalls mainly the sexually immoral aspects of Sodom's sins: “…just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (v. 7, English Standard Version). The phrase rendered “unnatural desire” is literally translated “strange flesh”, but it is not entirely clear what it refers to. The ESV translators supply one plausible paraphrase in making the phrase refer to the illicit sexual activity of the Genesis account (cf. the language of the epistle to the Romans 1:21-32), but another theory is that it is just a reference to the “strange flesh” of the intended rape victims, who were angels, not men.
The Jewish historian Josephus used the term “Sodomites” summarizing the Genesis narrative: “About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, in so much that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices” (Antiquities 1.11.1 [[2]] — circa A.D. 96). The final element of his assessment goes beyond the Biblical data, even in the New Testament. Nonetheless, this meaning is the primary one used today.
Sodomy in Europe
Examination of trials for rape and sodomy during the eighteenth century at the Old Bailey in London show that the treatment of rape to have been lenient, while the treatment of sodomy to have been generally severe. From the 1780s the number of cases grew. Blackmail for sodomy also increased and was made a capital crime.
Between 1730 and 1733 Holland experienced a sodomy scare, in which 276 men were executed.
In the Middle Ages, the terms "sodomite" and "buggery" were defined as homosexual practises, and the arguably gay Richard I of England was ordered by a priest to keep in mind "the sin of Sodom."
Sodomy Laws in the United States
From the earliest times in the United States, sodomy (variously defined) was prohibited in the United States, although some historians feel that early sodomy laws were mainly used to address issues of non-consensual behavior, or public behavior. 18th and 19th Century judges often editorialized about the act of sodomy as they handed down their rulings. "That most detestable sin," the "horrid act," "the horrible crime," "that which is unfit to be named among Christians" characterized some of the colorful language used by British and American jurists when punishing sodomites. Indeed, emphasis is usually on the notion that the act of anal intercourse is so abominable and offensive "to God almighty" that the term Sodomy (literally, that which occurred in Sodom) is the only appropriate way of designating the activity. In other words, it was understood that when reference was made to "an unspeakable act" having occurred, it was clear that the act in question was none other than anal intercourse. Some say, however, that the "Sin of Sodom" accurately referred not to anal sex but rather to the agglomeration of ALL the unholy activities said to have occurred in Sodom and that it is thus inaccurate to imply a one-to-one relationship. Historians also note that not until the 1970s did sodomy laws concern homosexual acts exclusively.
In the 1950s, all states had some form of law criminalizing sodomy, and in 1986 the United States Supreme Court ruled that nothing in the United States Constitution bars a state from prohibiting sodomy. However, state legislators and state courts had started to repeal or overturn their sodomy laws, beginning with Illinois in 1961, and thus in 2003, only 10 states had laws prohibiting all sodomy, with penalties ranging from 1 to 15 years imprisonment. Additionally, four other states had laws that specifically prohibited same-sex sodomy. That year the United States Supreme Court reversed its 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick ruling and in Lawrence v. Texas, invalidated these laws as being an unconstitutional invasion of privacy, and violating the equal protection clause. See Sodomy law.
However, Lawrence v. Texas has not changed the Uniform Code of Military Justice Article that bans all servicemen and women from engaging in “sodomy”. The United States Armed Forces Code defines the offense thus:
- Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.
Evolution of the term in other languages
In modern German, the word “Sodomie” has no connotation of anal or oral sex, and refers specifically to zoophilia. (See Paragraph 175 StGB, version of June 28, 1935.) The same goes for the Norwegian word “sodomi”. “Sodomy”, therefore, can be considered being a false friend.
Popular use
A 1924 entry in Evelyn Waugh's diary states that an English High Court judge presiding in a sodomy case sought advice on sentencing from Lord Birkenhead. "Could you tell me," he asked, "what do you think one ought to give a man who allows himself to be buggered?" Birkenhead replied without hesitation, "Oh, 30 shillings or £2; whatever you happen to have on you."[1]
See also
References
- Robert Purks Maccubbin (Ed.), 'Tis Nature's Fault: Unauthorized Sexuality During the Enlightenment (Cambridge University Press, 1988)