shagging & fucking

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/3/2010 11:00 AM, ronbutters at AOL.COM wrote:
>Yes, well, they were not so hidden that they did not write letters
>to each other about their sodomy.

But they didn't expect the world -- or the magistrates -- to see
their letters.  (They also gathered in gay brothels or inns -- but
would run from constables.)  And on occasion those letters that did
escape were used for blackmail.

>There were also laws against fornication and adultery.

Neither was nearly as serious and condemned as sodomy.  Neither was a
capital crime in 18th century Britain.  Fornicators and adulterers of
the upper classes frequently escaped punishments greater than fining.

>My point was that they did not think of themselves as a special
>psychological type ("homosexual") simply because they enjoyed a bit
>of buggery.

True.  Rictor Norton argues that sodomy (buggery was at that time a
more-inclusive term) was considered in the 18th century an act that
some men did, rather than a predisposition of a psychological type.

>They were just wicked shaggers. I wonder if they screwed sheep as well.

I don't know about England, nor about the "as well", but there are a
few 17th century cases in colonial New England where the offenders
were executed.  One case involved five sheep -- and a mare, a cow,
two goats, and a turkey, by the culprit's confession (or
bragging).  Another involved dogs, horses, cattle, sheep, and
swine.  One shepherd in Connecticut, a boy of 15, apparently
preferred his sheepdog to his sheep.

>it is clear that effeminacy was recognized as a psychological
>category, and this intersected often with male-male sexual
>preference, but by no means always.

Again, Norton argues that in the 18th century effeminacy was
considered an act rather than a psychological category, and points to
cross-dressing indulged in by heterosexual males, e.g. in theatre, at
masquerade balls, etc.

Joel

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