Women's Pleasure in Ancient Times
· side-hustles
The Ancient Roots of Modern Sex Fears
The recent media frenzy over declining sex rates has sparked a nostalgia for ancient times. Articles have been harking back to the supposed “wild and plentiful” sex lives of ancient Greece, glossing over the fact that women were not beneficiaries of this supposed sexual liberation. In reality, the ancient Mediterranean was a place where women’s bodies were subject to control mechanisms, including medical theories like the “wandering womb” and strict social norms governing female desire.
These themes – the control of women’s bodies and the pathologization of their desires – are still with us today. The current obsession with sex droughts and men reclaiming their “deep evolutionary history” to spread their seed is a modern iteration of the ancient notion that women’s sexuality was an illness in need of treatment.
The concept of the “wandering womb,” found in ancient medical texts like the Hippocratic Corpus, suggests this supposedly mobile organ would wander up and lodge itself beneath the diaphragm, causing health problems. The solution? Regular sex to create moisture in the genitals, thus keeping the womb in place. This highlights patriarchal panic surrounding female desire.
Fast-forwarding to modern times reveals a new narrative about women’s sexuality – one that emphasizes their supposedly buried desires, in need of excavation by benevolent partners. This is far removed from the ancient notion that women were hornier than men. Both narratives share a common thread: they’re rooted in ironing out individuality and complexity in human desire.
Studies continue to show that women experience lower levels of pleasure during sex. The fact that accusing a man of going down on his partner was considered an insult in ancient Greece and Rome is a chilling reminder that attitudes towards female orgasm have changed very little over time. Aristophanes’ remark that cunnilingus “pollutes the tongue” highlights the deep-seated disgust with which male-dominated societies view female pleasure.
However, there are glimmers of hope amidst patriarchal nonsense. Sappho’s poems offer a powerful testament to the agency and desire of women in ancient Greece. The anonymous Roman woman who carved her own poem into the walls of Pompeii defied patriarchal norms with a powerful expression of love and pleasure.
It’s clear that our modern sex fears are rooted deep in history. Rather than harking back to some mythical golden age of sex, we should be examining how these ancient narratives continue to shape our attitudes towards female desire today.
Reader Views
- RHRiley H. · indie hacker
What's missing from this conversation is a critical examination of the economic factors that have shaped women's pleasure throughout history. How did ancient patriarchy maintain control over women's bodies and desires? By rendering them economically dependent on men. The article touches on pathologization, but overlooks how capitalism still profits from women's objectification today. Let's not romanticize ancient civilizations without acknowledging the class dynamics at play – it's time to tie historical critique with contemporary economic analysis.
- THThe Hustle Desk · editorial
What's often overlooked in discussions of ancient sex practices is how they varied by social class. The "wandering womb" theory and other medical theories were more likely applied to women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, while those with wealth and status had more freedom to explore their desires. This dynamic has persisted, with marginalized communities still facing restrictions on their reproductive autonomy today. We need a nuanced understanding of how power and privilege have shaped human sexuality across cultures and centuries.
- MLMei L. · etsy seller
It's ironic that the recent nostalgia for ancient Greece overlooks the fact that women's pleasure was not just marginalized but actively pathological. The concept of the "wandering womb" is a stark reminder that women's desire was seen as an anomaly to be controlled rather than celebrated. What's often missing from these discussions is an examination of how our modern obsession with female orgasm and pleasure is still rooted in patriarchal norms, specifically the expectation that women need to be "fixed" or "liberated" by their partners.