The History of Sexuality

Microblog

Sexuality goes a long way

“Sexuality is a word we use to talk about how we understand our bodies and how we understand our relationships. This understanding includes all aspects of who we are – our values and beliefs, bodies, desires, relationships, gender and our thoughts and feelings about all of these”

We seem to be in a never-ending cycle of sexuality acceptance and denial since the beginning of time. There are facts and stories that tell us about humans and how we all explore our sexuality one way or another. Dating back as far as 15,000 BCE, there have been cave paintings found which appear to be showing a man wearing a “stone age condom”. Following that, we come to the world's oldest profession, one that will never die, as sex sells whether it is legal or not there's always a way around it.

“In 186 BCE, the Roman senate put an end to Bacchanalia festivals and celebrations to honour the Greco-Roman god of wine, winemaking, intoxication, freedom, fertility and ecstasy. These parties began as three women-only events per year but men were later admitted and they became much more frequent. These parties got pretty crazy involving orgies, violence and lots and lots of wine.”

From being shamed for sharing your sexuality openly which could potentially end up with you being institutionalised in the hands of people that think that they can fix you, to having to hide your kinks so no one would know. Sex work has always held the upper hand in being the only job where women are paid but also being one of the most discreet for their customers. By having the simple power of money and spoken trust, we enable one another to share their deepest fantasies.

Kinks

“Kink is defined as “consensual, non-traditional sexual, sensual, and intimate behaviours such as sadomasochism, domination and submission, erotic roleplaying, fetishism, and erotic forms of discipline,” -Samuel Hughes.

Kinks and fantasies are all developed over time depending on how we grow and what we see and seek; what kind of people surround us and what our experience was like growing up and coming of age. We grow and find people that are just like us or people that will teach us something new about our own body being able to feel comfortable in our sexuality.

“It can involve feeling stigma over their kink interests, feeling generally different, realizing that not all of their peers share their interests, worrying there might be something wrong with them, and sometimes actively engaging in research to try to label and understand their interests. Once they realize there might be people like them out there, they can attempt to find others who share their interests, through the internet and popular culture. The last stage of kink development includes engaging in kink interests with others, which usually happens after a kinkster surpasses 18.”