Volume 37, Number 5 · March 29, 1990
Love and Sex in Greece
By Jasper Griffin
One Hundred Years of Homosexuality and Other Essays on Greek Love
by David M. Halperin
Routledge, 229 pp., $13.95 (paper)
The Constraints of Desire: The Anthropology of Sex and Gender in Ancient Greece
by John J. Winkler
Routledge, 269 pp., $14.95 (paper)
When Michel Foucault set out to write his History of Sexuality[1] , he found that it was impossible to begin with the recent past. Modern attitudes could be understood only in the light of earlier ones, and the investigation of sexuality in the Christian period led inescapably to the world of pagan antiquity. By 'sexuality' Foucault meant not facts or actions of the biological order but the 'complex political technology' by which society categorizes, discusses, and so creates, the sexual behavior of its members. His book aimed to show that this behavior, and the group of ideas and desires that controlled it, was less a natural than a culturally created affair.
Review, 6131 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |