Sodomy
|
This article about lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender issues Also see the article on Sexual orientation |
the Wiktionary free dictionary.
Sodomy is a term of biblical origin used to characterize certain sexual acts that have been attributed to citizens of ancient Sodom. The term is most commonly used to describe the specific act of anal sex between two males or a male and a female. The term "sodomy" also may include non-coital sexual acts ranging from oral sex to paraphilia. It is sometimes used to describe human-animal sexual intercourse (also known as bestiality, zoophilia); this is the primary meaning of the cognate German language word Sodomie. Sodomy laws forbidding certain types of sex acts have been instituted in many cultures.
The English term buggery is very closely related to sodomy, in concept, and often interchangeably used in law and popular speech. In the various criminal codes of United States of America, the term "sodomy" has generally been replaced by "deviant sexual intercourse", which is precisely defined by statute. The remaining criminal interest is largely confined to acts where the victim did not or could not legally consent.
Sodomy in Europe
Examination of trials for rape and sodomy during the eighteenth century at the Old Bailey in London show the treatment of rape to have been lenient, while the treatment of sodomy to have been generally severe. From the 1780s the number of cases grew. Blackmail for sodomy also increased and was made a capital crime.
In France in the eighteenth century, sodomy was still theoretically a capital crime, and there are a handful of cases where sodomites were executed. However, in several of these, other crimes were involved as well (for instance, one man, Pascal, had supposedly murdered a man who resisted his advances). Records from the Bastille and the police lieutenant d'Argenson, as well as other sources, show that many who were arrested were exiled, sent to a regiment, or imprisoned in places (generally the Hospital) associated with morals crimes such as prostitution. Of these, a number were involved in prostitution or had approached children, or otherwise gone beyond merely having homosexual relations. Ravaisson (a 19th century writer who edited the Bastille records) suggested that the authorities preferred to handle these cases discreetly, lest public punishments in effect publicize "this vice". Periodicals of the time sometimes casually named known sodomites, and at one point even suggested that sodomy was increasingly popular. This does not imply that homosexuals necessarily lived in security - specific police agents, for instance, watched the Tuileries, even then a known cruising area. But, as with much sexual behavior under the Old Regime, discretion was a key concern on all sides (especially since members of prominent families were sometimes implicated) - the law seemed most concerned with those who were the least discreet.
Between 1730 and 1733, Holland experienced a sodomy scare, in which 276 men were executed.
In the Middle Ages, the terms "sodomite" and "buggery" were defined as homosexual practices, and the arguably gay Richard I of England was ordered by a priest to keep in mind "the sin of Sodom".
Sodomy laws in the United States
Sodomy laws in the United States
From the earliest times in the United States, sodomy (variously defined) was prohibited in the United States, although some historians feel that early sodomy laws were mainly used to address issues of non-consensual behavior, or public behavior. 18th and 19th century judges often editorialized about the act of sodomy as they handed down their rulings. "That most detestable sin", the "horrid act", "the horrible crime", "that which is unfit to be named among Christians" characterized some of the colorful language used by British and American jurists when punishing sodomites. Indeed, emphasis is usually on the notion that the act of anal intercourse is so abominable and offensive "to God almighty" that the term Sodomy (literally, that which occurred in Sodom) is the only appropriate way of designating the activity. In other words, it was understood that when reference was made to "an unspeakable act" having occurred, it was clear that the act in question was none other than anal intercourse. Some say, however, that the "Sin of Sodom" accurately referred not to anal sex but rather to the agglomeration of ALL the unholy activities said to have occurred in Sodom and that it is thus inaccurate to imply a one-to-one relationship. Historians also note that not until the 1970s did sodomy laws concern homosexual acts exclusively.
In the 1950s, all states had some form of law criminalizing sodomy, and in 1986 the United States Supreme Court ruled that nothing in the United States Constitution bars a state from prohibiting sodomy. However, state legislators and state courts had started to repeal or overturn their sodomy laws, beginning with Illinois in 1961, and thus in 2003, only 10 states had laws prohibiting all sodomy, with penalties ranging from 1 to 15 years imprisonment. Additionally, four other states had laws that specifically prohibited same-sex sodomy. That year the United States Supreme Court reversed its 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick ruling and in Lawrence v. Texas, invalidated these laws as being an unconstitutional violation of due process, with Sandra Day O'Connor's concurring opinion arguing that they violated equal protection. See Wikipedia:Sodomy law.
However, Lawrence v. Texas has not changed the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Article 125 that bans all servicemen and women from engaging in “sodomy”. The United States Armed Forces Code defines the offense thus:
- Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.
Buggery
the Wiktionary free dictionary.
The English term buggery is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, and is often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. In English law, "buggery" was used in the Buggery Act 1533, while section 61 of the "Offences Against The Person Act 1861" used "sodomy" in the heading but "buggery" in the text. The word bugger is still commonly used in modern English but with a different emphasis of meaning. Originally, it was derived from the word "Bulgarian", meaning the medieval Bulgarian sect of the Bogomils, which spread into Western Europe and was branded by the established church as particularly devoted to the practice of sodomy.
See also Autosodomy
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root