Sexuality means the concern with or interest in sexual activity according
to the Oxford Dictionary. The meaning of sexuality changes from time to
time, from land to land, and from people to people. Social historians hold
different points of view about sexuality relating to what the common
people are thinking especially on the relationship between sexuality and
mythology. The majority think that it is impossible to have a sexual
history. However, the social historians state that sexual behaviour and its
significance had changed time to time from their research, and therefore,
they believed that sexuality has history. Sex relationship can be found
among the Greek Gods in the Greek Myths. The Greek myths are an
excellent example of the predominance of sexuality on human creativity.
Since the Greek Gods have sexual relationships, there will be some
similarities and differences between the sexuality nowadays according to
the status of both sexes, sexual desire, and sex behaviour. The sexual
desire in ancient Greece and nowadays are quite similar. In Greek
myths, Zeus is a sexually-active person, "It has been estimated that,
besides his legal wife Hera, Zeus had over 100 women." (Reinhold,80)
Poseidon is also sexually obtrusive. For instance, Poseidon loved
Demeter. When Demeter transformed herself into a mare, Poseidon
changed himself into a stallion and chased after Demeter. Today, the
boys always fond of dating many girls who they love. "From the male's
point of view there simply aren't enough females to go around with and so
a male must compete for sexual success with other sex-seeking males"
(Hutchison,202) They will have sex quite a lot in a short time. In 20th
century, the youngsters are very open-minded to sex and love
relationships. When they like or fall in love with anybody, they will go on
a date with their targets. According to research, 35 percent of teenagers
have had sex in 1976. But in 1985, the total was 58 percent of teenagers
who have had sex. This trend is increasing further. In a statistics of Next
Change Magazine, teenagers have an idea that having sex is an
extremely natural phenomena when one has a girlfriend or boyfriend.
Many boys are eager to have both sex with girls which is the same as
what Zeus and Poseidon did in the Greek Myths. Many girls are also
eager to have both sex with boys which just like Aphrodite. She had sex
not only with her husband, Hephaestus, but also her lovers. By the way,
some of the Greek gods will not really indulge in sex, for instance, Hades
and Hermes. Some people still care about their virginity in this present
time. However, some of the eagerness of sex will result to rape. The
rate of rape is increasing because it is quite often to see it from the daily
newspaper. In Greek Myths, Hades once kidnapped Persephone to the
underworld and wanted her to live with him. It is a kind of rape because
Persephone is not willing to be with Hades "Hades seized her forcibly,
and took her to his palace under the earth. Demeter heard her cry of
terror, but the rape of Persephone " (Reinhold, 88) Ares attempts to
rape Athena too but he fails to do so. Bisexuality was also practised in
Ancient Greece. Apollo is very attractive because of well-built and
good-looking. He fell in love with many boys and not only women. One
of the boys was called Hyacinth. Zeus fell in love with a handsome Trojan
boy called Ganymedes. Zeus brought him to Olympus too. From these
examples, the Greek gods did not care their sex partners form. Their
only concern is to see if they love their targets or not. Bisexuality is also
common based on the statistics in the Next Change Magazine. "Some
men think that women are a tool of giving birth while men are their real
love partners and sexual intercourse happens. What they really want is
the care from others. They love the other man's beauty. Those men are
either lack love from their wives or they love another men as a good
friend, but their wives will be the long-term sex partners." (Next, 35) It
reflects that both men in Ancient Greece and this modern world enjoy the
so-called "target" idea. They love to have sex with women to gain good
feelings or to reproduce. But they will not hesitate to date or fall in love
with another male if they find that man is either physically beautiful or
mentally beautiful (love-care) or both. Incest was frequently
practised in Ancient Greece. Zeus married with his own sister, Hera, and
had sex with her. They had many offspring. In this modern world, incest
also happens. According to research, "as many as 100 million young
girls may be raped by adult men-usually their fathers- often day after day,
week after week, year in, year out." (Women, 65) The statistics also
indicates that one in four families are incestuous among the US,
Australia, Egypt, Israel and India. In the vast majority of cases, about 80
to 90 percent of these girls are being sexually used by their male
relatives, usually their father. The world would not only have
similarities, the differences should not be omitted. The role of men
and women are an absolute difference between the Greek myths and the
present time. The way that men and women are treated is different. The
male gods could have sex with a lot of women even when they had a wife
already. For example, Zeus indulged in having sex with women even
though his only legal wife was Hera. When a goddess, who had a
husband, and had sex with another male, then she would be punished .
Once Hephaestus knew the clandestine meetings of his wife with
Ares, constructed a skilfully woven net which he hung invisibly over the
pair's bed. Here it fell upon them in their lovemaking and entrapped
them. Hephaestus then summoned all the other gods to see and
laugh at the helpless pair. (Reinhold,100) In addition, it was not allowed
for women to be lesbians. Lesbians were punished harshly. Also, the
Greek myths had an idea of "the earth is female, mother earth, and the
sky is male" As a sex historian says "The base of many [sexual]
assumption often appears in the creation myths." (Highwater, 8) It shows
"attitudes arise out of various mythologies and are then socialised in
Custom" (Highwater, 8) Men should be at the top and women should be
at the bottom when they have sexual intercourse. Men dominant over the
women in sex. In modern societies, women play an important part in
sex. Women break free from the repression, fear and anxiety following
the sexual revolution. Some of the women in America tried to break free
from the male-dominant society by discussing their feeling about sex with
other woman. Education leads them know more about sex. There are
handbooks teaching women masturbation technique because
"masturbation, in fact, could increase the power of women. Women could
arouse and satisfy themselves, males would no longer be required, or, if
allowed to participate, would no longer be in charge." (Hutchison, 41) It
shows that women can now be "self-served" and the necessary of the
man to exist can be neglected. Now, women have the right to choose
and not subserient to what the men said. It is because there is an
alternative for woman to fulfil their sexual desire which is masturbation.
They can achieve sex by themselves and may get a better feelings. They
can now enjoy it and it is not sex is for men to enjoy" (Women, 61)
"Marketing surveys and a variety approaches convinced publishers that
women were also eager for sexually arousing materials" (Hutchison, 48) It
further implies that sex is not only for the men but also for the women.
Woman are starting to refuse to force their bodies into the
fantasy-forms of male-defined sex are searching instead for that rare
man who is willing to forsake the the divisive power of pornographic sex
for the confusing, frightening, vulnerable intimacy of eroticism.
(Women, 68) After the second sexual revolution, female could refuse the
men's sexual needs. Som of the women turned to each other during the
second sexual revolution to explore lesbian sex. Women were not
punished. Sodomy is not uncommon in Greek myths. The Greek Gods
would have intercourse with animals in the form of an animal, "Zeus
approaches Leda as a swan, Persephone as a snake: pasiphae falls in
love with a bull and has intercourse with it, and the fruit of this passion
was the Minotaur." (Licht, 504) In this world, sodomy sometimes occur
but people will not indulge in it. Homosexuality is quite different
between the Ancient Greece and 20th century. In Ancient Greece, the
Gods love men owing to the boy's beauty. "Zeus the handsome young
Trojan Ganymedes, with whom he had fallen in love" (Reinhold, 81)
There is a line by Athenaeus, "Boys are beautiful, For as long time as
they look like women." In Western point of view, "think of sexuality in
terms of binary opposites: male and female, heterosexual and
homosexual, marital sex and pre- or extramarital sex. And in every case,
one of these pairs is privileged, is seen as the normal" (Highwater, 15)
Quite often, the gay people think that women are insecure to love
because women are becoming more and more independent. Moreover,
an old man could have a lot of boys but a boy can't have a lot of boys or
old men. Nowadays, gay people are mostly found not having a great
age-gap. The disallowance of a boy to have a lot of boys or old men is
not common or even exist. There are similarities and differences in
sexual attitude, sexual behaviour and sexual desire between the Ancient
Greece and this modern societies. The attitude and behaviour of
homosexuality and some of the Greek's sexual behaviour, for instance,
sodomy, will be different from what it is nowadays. The Greek Gods very
concern only about the beauty while people will not only concern about
the beauty. In Ancient Greece, sex was necessary to men and there was
less concern about the satisfaction of women in sex. Women was
unfairly treated. In this modern world, women will fight for their rights and
they are more independent. They can masturbate to achieve their own
sexual climax without the need of men. The laws protect women
because the laws always achieve the goal of "fairness". No men can
dominate over women. The sexual desire of men to women is still very
strong nowadays which is the same as what it was in Ancient Greece.
They love having sexual intercourse. They only concern about their
targets. From the trend of sexual needs nowadays, the idea of having
sex will become more and more open. The importance of women's roles
in society will eventually increase.
BibliographyHighwater, Jamake. Myth and Sexuality. USA: Meridan,
1990.Reinhold, Meyer. Past And Present. Canada: Makkert, 1972.
Hutchison, Michael. Anatomy of Sex and Power. New York: William
Morrow & Company, Inc., 1990Licht, Hans. Sexual Life in Ancient
Greece. New York: Dorset Press, 1993 Women: A World Report.
Great Britain: Methuen London Ltd, 1985 Next Change Magazine.
Hong Kong: 1996End
. Sexuality means the concern with or interest in sexual activity according to the Oxford Dictionary. The meaning of sexuality changes from time to time, from. historians hold different points of view about sexuality relating to what the common people are thinking especially on the relationship between sexuality and mythology. The majority think that. therefore, they believed that sexuality has history. Sex relationship can be found among the Greek Gods in the Greek Myths. The Greek myths are an excellent example of the predominance of sexuality on human