Sexuality
Religion has always played an important role in the life of human, society and the entire states. If we talk about Christianity, namely Catholicism, the peak of its influence was during the Middle Ages. In this period of human history, Europe was sick of the religious fever. Religion affected all aspects of society. The church was dictating its own inhumane rules, imposing certain worldview and lifestyle on people.
Religion has never been indifferent to the sexuality and Catholicism especially! Catholic dogmas do not cease to astonish or even shock by its finality and severity. Of course, at the present stage of development of society religion does not play a key role (at least in most cases). Religious dogmas and prohibitions, to a great extent, have ceased to affect contemporary people (that pleases).
However, religions continue to exist and therefore there are their attitudes to a wide variety of things, including sexuality. So let's make an attempt to analyze the relationships between sexuality and Catholicism, which was raging in the medieval Western Europe, burning at the stakes all dissidents.
We can safely say that out of all Christian branches namely Catholicism was the most intolerant of the sexuality. In the medieval Europe sex was associated with the devil, evil, with something dangerous and impure. The Catholic Church urged a human to fight against his own flesh and thereby deny his own nature. “During the Middle Ages several institutions developed within Roman Catholic Christianity that would eventually have a major effect on the regulation of sexuality”.(Wiesner 39)
Sexual life in marriage was strictly regulated by religion. The fact that sex before marriage was prohibited and unacceptable in general goes without saying. It was impossible to be engaged in sex on Sundays and holidays, Wednesdays and Fridays, during fasts, etc. Moreover, sometimes complete abstinence of spouses could be considered to be an ideal. From this follows the question of how people in the Catholic Europe did not become extinct. They did not become extinct because dogmas and rules established in order to break them. Furthermore, no matter how fierce the Catholic Church was, the human nature is stronger than any religious prohibition and intimidation. As V. Genovesi has pointed out, “sexuality is a fundamental and integral dimension of the human personality”.(Genovesi 168)
Of course, the closer to the XXI century, the less Catholicism influenced the sexual life of its followers (thank god for that). But even now in some Catholic countries abortions are prohibited, for example. However, is it possible to be surprised at this, if the Vatican only in 1992 has officially recognized that the Earth is not a motionless and really revolves around the sun!
Certainly, modern Catholicism is not so radical, or rather contemporary Catholics are not so obsessed with their religion and its harsh dogmas. True followers of Catholicism have to think (if they think so in fact – that is another question) that the main and even the only function of sexuality is procreation. They believe that sexuality does not exist for pleasure, but only for procreation.
It can be assumed that this hostility toward sexuality was spawned by the preoccupation of supporters of Catholicism with priests that hated sexuality because of their impossibility (or inability) to use it. In connection with this it’s worth recalling that all Catholic priests have to observe celibacy. They are not allowed be engaged in sex, and of course, get married.
Consequently, without having the right to sexuality, the Catholic priests over the centuries were trying to eradicate it, by replacing a natural human desire with certain stern doctrine, which implied a renunciation of earthly goods and dedication of oneself to the afterlife and therefore death. By this can also be explained the notorious witch-hunt, that in actual fact, was a large-scale campaign of misogyny. Moreover, not only the body was considered dirty and sinful, but also a woman (with her attractive body, of course). Catholic priests probably think so till now, after all, celibacy wasn’t canceled.
In Catholicism sexuality was demonizing for a long time. The main reason for this hostile attitude not only toward sexuality, but also to the human body, was the belief that body is filthy and provokes a person to commit sins. And certain invisible soul was considered the most sacred, or rather its salvation was the main goal of a convinced Catholic.
So, for a contemporary person it’s difficult to understand and explain such a hostile attitude towards sexuality. The denial of human nature is bewildering and even frightening. There is an impression that all these dogmas were created by scared, but influential people, who more than all suffered from complexes and obscene fantasies. However they were afraid to implement them and therefore expressed their dissatisfaction and anger on the society, burning and torturing a lot of its members.
Works cited
Genovesi, Vincent J. In Pursuit of Love: Catholic Morality and Human Sexuality. 2nd ed. Collegeville, Minnesota: M. Glazier, 1996. Print.
Wiesner, Merry E. Christianity And Sexuality In The Early Modern World. 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2010. Print.
