It's Been Three Months Since I Made This Post About Saints Sergius And Bacchus, John Boswell, Classical

It's been three months since I made this post about Saints Sergius and Bacchus, John Boswell, classical Western homoeroticism, and Christian homophobia.

Since then I have read both of Boswell's books on the history of gay/queer people in premodern Christianity (Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality and Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe), familiarized myself more fully with the spectrum of charges against Boswell and his scholarship, and realized that he's been the subject of ideologically-motivated smear campaigns by just about every political/religious/academic faction you can imagine. My conclusion: Professor Boswell is a saint, martyr, and important queer elder who does not get the respect that he deserves, and I'm in awe of the sheer volume of the massive genius brain that was somehow crammed into his little blond head.

ANYWAY. This is an official followup to my original post, now that I've read Boswell's work.

I take back my hunch that Boswell's work was not intersectional. He was, in fact, a pioneer in the field of medieval social history, and utilized a wide range of critical lenses in his work. He was inhibited by the lack of documented evidence about some groups (for example, he was frequently criticized for not writing more about lesbians, but he was open about the difficulties of researching lesbians in history and explained what he was doing as a scholar and as a teacher to mitigate this) but he constantly called attention to issues of class, gender, and other social factors wherever they were relevant.

I was RIGHT in noticing that the slight difference in rank between Sergius and Bacchus seems to be an erastes/eromenos indicator! Boswell spoke at greater length and with greater sensitivity about erastes/eromenos dynamics in history, so if you want a deeper look into that, you should read his books.

I was also probably right in noticing that the legend of Sergius and Bacchus is seeded with various forms of Byzantine propaganda! I really wish that I could talk to him about it. :(

Both secular queer theorists and religious queer theologians seem to be most uncomfortable with the fact that Boswell was reporting on historical facts and observable social forces, not idealized concepts of queer people as somehow being more ethical or spiritual than the straight majority. He included evidence of things like abuse, prostitution, and exploitation not because he thought they were cool, but because they were part of the material reality of queer people's existence in the past, just like they were part of the material reality of his own 70s-80s gay subculture.

That was his bottom line: gay/queer people are a normal human variation, and as a historian, he could provide hard proof of their existence and what their lives might have been like. If his work seems "shallow" or "dated" to some more modern queer researchers, it's only because so many people were willing to dismiss his scholarship, reject his work, and abandon his research leads after he died. But, he was actually super smart and his scholarship was actually meticulous, so even his most dedicated critics have been unable to "debunk" him. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality most recently had a 35th-anniversary reprinting, and he is still being cited as an authority by more recent scholars.

Even though the full strength of the Church and the Academy were leveled against him, his work has proven its own worth. He still deserves to be read and discussed by both professional scholars and enthusiastic hobbyists. And, the Open and Affirming movement in Christianity wouldn't be as strong as it is without his confirmation that "gays and lesbians are normal," as he put it, and not simply a construct of modern society.

Rest in power, Professor Boswell. We won't forget you.

Since I made that post, I have also opened a sticker shop with a bunch of queer Christian saint icons, including Boswell and some of the queer saints he discovered/wrote about. They're pretty cool. You should buy one.

Statistics- Again

men constitute 99.7% of strangulation attacks

men constitute 99.6% of acid attacks

men constitute 99.3% of child pornography

men constitute 99% mass shootings

men constitute 99% of rapist

men constitute 98% of homicide

men constitute 98% of forcible incest

men constitute 96% of child sex abuse

men constitute 95% of molesting cases

men constitute 99% of domestic abuse

men constitute 99% of drugging

men constitute 99% of stalking

men constitute 99% of human trafficking abuse

men constitute 99% of sex trafficking abuse

Men constitute 99% of animal abuse

Men constitute 98% of bestiality

86% of makeup companies are male 99% of advertising male 98% of modeling agencies 92% of fashion media is male 94% of the fashion industry is male

Women are 10x more likely to get raped, yet this is seriously underreported considering the dead bodies

1/3 of women internationally report being sexually assaulted. we know this number to be much higher due to autopsies reported in the census

Women are 400,000,000x more likely to DIE from RAPE

not one man has ever died from rape, accounts for no coroner report ever, whereas tens of thousands of women and children die a year.

50 million women are sex trafficking victims

women make up for 95% of labor trafficking

70% of child soldiers are FEMALE

25 million are forced into child marriages > 5

650 million are in arranged marriages/ marriages consummated below the age of consent

Men make up most 98% on average of every fetish community

99% for pedophilia.

in 70 countries - that comprise 26% of the world population, women need men's permission to learn, work, or travel.

There are 50 countries in which the law states you can sell and buy women into marriage. - These countries, including India and Pakistan, make up 38% of the entire world.

There are 178 countries that do not have the same legal rights for women, where written law specifically excludes women from freedom.

There are 2.4 billion women globally who are born in countries that have written law that restricts them completely, but even more so without a man.

6 billion people believe in a religion that states that women are less human than men

More Statistics Sources

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amoebic3

2 weeks ago

everyone is trying to take your oxford comma away from you. don't give them that satisfaction, reward, or pleasure.

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amoebic3

2 weeks ago

I love seeing other people's ocs and getting snippets of their stories like oh my gosh there's a whole world and narrative in your head that I'm getting a small glimpse into isn't that so cool????

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amoebic3

2 weeks ago

I haaaaaate how porn-rotted men's brains are. You can't even have a normal conversation with most guys these days- especially Gen Z. Almost every word you say to these guys, they'll find a way to make it sexual. Seriously. With no context.

For example- I was telling a male I know about one of my friends who managed to convince an owner of a local bakery to give her one of his popular recipes. ALL I said was, "He wouldn't give her X (most popular recipe) so her gave her the Y." Of course... "that sounds weird!! hahahahaha! He gave her the Y."

Or when you mention the word "stuck" they follow it with something about step-brothers (absolutely vile). God forbid you say the word "size" in reference to anything!

...But noooooo, obviously, porn has no effect on the brain! It totally doesn't make men sexualize every single woman they see IRL.

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amoebic3

2 weeks ago

Get ripped. Eat pasta. Be gay.

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amoebic3

2 weeks ago

justin, i will find you

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amoebic3

2 weeks ago

where is all the art that perfectly appeals specifically to my exact tastes and desires and nobody elses

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amoebic3

2 weeks ago

I’m a lesbian and a Catholic which means the only man I’ll ever marry is Jesus Christ the Son of God Bridegroom to the Church and I eat his literal flesh and drink his actual blood every week through the transubstantiated Eucharist in remembrance of when he was here on earth and looking forward to when he will come back

“You just need the right man” I found him. It’s Jesus. We’re one flesh now. Yeah he died for my sins and in doing so united me to the creator God Almighty. He was dressed up for the occasion and everything. He kissed me on the forehead and led me to my girlfriend and said go love her as I loved you be happy. My husband is seated at the right hand of God from which he will come to judge the living and the dead if you care. Yeah I tried to pray the gay away but he cupped my face in his hands and said “there is nothing about you that needs to be fixed. You are holy as I am holy.” He had me nail my internalized homophobia to the cross and he carried it for me. The Holy Spirit gave me the rizz to flirt with my girlfriend when we met well enough that she fell in love with me and when we get married and she’s my wife I’m going to thank my husband Jesus Christ.

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