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Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Homosexuality

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Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Homosexuality
HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVES
PSY/265
Ana Diaz
10/20/1012
Kavita Kostek

The way we view homosexuality has very much to do with how we were raised and taught depending on where we are from, our parents beliefs and what others around us tell us. Because of this we believe what we believe and will stand by them unless we ourselves come to a different conclusion as we grow older. I was raised a Catholic and was taught by the Bible teachings that homosexuality was wrong and will go to hell if that is what you practiced. In this paper we will look a little at the historical and scientific perspectives of homosexuality.
We will first be starting with the historical view which has much to do with what the bible teaches on homosexuality. When we look back at ancient Greece where homosexuality was really not that big of a deal, older men would have relationships with adolescent males’ right at the time when they grew their first beards (online text pg. 28). Then we can go to Rome where there were men that were very feminine and walked around certain parts of town looking for men to bed. In Florence which was a very Christian city had many sodomites (this is a Jewish and Christian word that signifies the connection between sodomy and the city of Sodom in the Bible which supposedly God destroyed (Genesis 19). I remember watching a movie called “Caligula”. This movie depicted how free the Romans were with sexual favors and bedding with those of same sex was an all-time occurrence especially male with male (online textpg.287). Sodomy was such a natural thing but it bothered the governors at the time so they created a group called “The Office of the Night in 1437 to enable its citizens to be able to accuse others anonymously of sodomy (Human Sexuality pg. 287). Once the Roman Empire ceased to exist, throughout Western Europe Christianity spread and its beliefs were made part of secular laws.
Next we can take a look at homosexuals through the cross-species



References: Human Sexuality online text .

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