One of the chess sets that makes many a visitor chuckle is the penis chess game. The penis pawns are on the board in all their glory, waiting for someone to pick them up. This naturally causes many a cheek to flush bright red…
The penis chess game looks like prehistoric art with symbols of male virility. However, since this week sees the celebration of Gay Pride, the most famous gay festival with its extravagant boat parade on the canals of Amsterdam, the history of the homosexual subculture is this month´s theme. It makes for an appropriate connection to this chess set.
From sinful pleasure to disease
The term homosexual hasn´t been around very long yet: it was most likely the invention of a 19th century journalist. It applied mainly to men who were attracted to other men, hence homo. In old Greek this means ´man´ or ´equal´. The 19th century saw an increased interest and professionalism in medical and psychological research. Doctors started looking for the best treatment: they were convinced that a same-sex preference could be cured.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorra (John Martin, 1852)
How very different it was in centuries past. In monotheistic cultures having sex with someone of the same gender was considered a cardinal sin, based on the (wrongly interpreted) Biblical story of the cities of Sodom and Gomorra, both punished by God. In these towns everything that God had ever forbidden happened, including sodomy. This term that originates in the Bible story, not only implied sexual relations between two men or two women, but also bestiality, oral sex, incest and sex between Jews and Christians.
Opinions about the meaning of sodomy varied depending on the place and time in history. What stayed the same was the fact that someone who committed sodomy wasn´t seen in the same light as the later homosexuals: men who only had sex with other men because that was what they preferred and desired. It also means men who lived in a special subculture with its corresponding customs.
No say in bodily matters
Although sodomy was punished with the death penalty, few cases went to court, especially in the Netherlands. Most cases of sodomy, as court papers show, were considered a one-time occurrence or an abuse of power. This could mean men who were trapped on a Dutch East India Company ship with only other men on board, for months on end. It could also refer to monks with sexual needs or masters and their servants.
Monks accused of sodomy are executed in Gent, 1578
Until the end of the 17th century a master was literally the boss of his servant, who could not just leave without permission and if his master wished to have sexual relations with him, he would just have to obey. Also, men who had sex with other men usually had intercourse with women as well since most of them were married. It was all about sexual acts, not a different sexual identity.
Prudishness as we know it from the 19th century did not exist before that. In guest houses it was very common for men to share a bed with strangers and then certain things could happen… Men and women also lived and worked much more separately from each other than they do today.
Witch hunt for homosexuals?
The year 1730 saw a change. In previous years, sodomites had started to look for quick sex with other men more and more publically. Every city had its own designated locations for the occasion such as public toilets, shrubberies or certain pubs. Pub-owners usually rented out rooms for short periods of time, so the men could have some privacy. They didn´t necessarily want said privacy for two: in several cities groups of men came together to play masturbation games and if it came to anal sex, the most important member of the group got to go first. In that sense social hierarchy hadn´t disappeared yet.
In 1730, these practices were accidentally discovered in Utrecht, and when the arrested sodomites mentioned the names of other men, the court of justice realised that these events occurred nationwide, including men of all ages and social positions. Within a period of three years nearly 300 sodomites were arrested and nearly 100 of them were sentenced to death. The Reformed Church blamed sodomites for inundations and other ´punishments of God´ that were plaguing the country.
For a long time the chosen tactic had been to punish sodomites behind closed doors so that people wouldn´t get any sinful ideas into their heads. A number of towns now began to think differently, because of the widespread subculture of sodomites. It was impossible to tell if men were sodomites just by looking at them – the later ´typical´ effeminacy was still considered a trait of womanisers- so their punishment became a public warning. Everyone could be deemed a sodomite and sodomy was the greatest of all sins. If you started playing dice, drinking or committing adultery, you would end up being a sodomite. And you would try to lead other men into temptation too!
No quick sex but relationships
During the 18th century the perception of sodomites changes and, more importantly, sodomites start to see themselves in a different light. There are letters in which we can read that men only wish to sleep with other men and are looking to form relationships with another man. Marriage to a woman is no longer an option to them. They justify their behaviour and their being as though they were a third kind of gender, neither female nor male, a gender God would not have created if it were a bad thing. Sodomites of all ages and social brows keep visiting their meeting points, public or private, in spite of the possible death penalty. They develop their own vocabulary and gestures. A subculture is born.
