Sodomy and Heresy in Colonial New England

September 14th: “Strange Flesh”: Sodomy and Heresy in Colonial New England Lecture Outline: ●​ Why did the colony of New Haven execute two men for sodomy? (A: against biblical law) ○​ Nicholas Sension, Windsor, CT, 1640-77 1.​ Puritans’ understanding of Biblical law a.​ The Puritan colonization of New England i.​ Plymouth, 1620 ii.​ Massachusetts Bay, 1629 iii.​ New Haven, 1638- a heavily extreme theocratic state 1.​ William Pain executed 2.​ Yale founded 2.​ Why punish sodomy? a.​ The Puritans' understanding of the Bible: The behavior prohibited in Leviticus 20:13, Genesis 19: Destruction of Sodom, and Ezekiel 16:49 b.​ The only reason sodomy was condemned was that Christian theologians started to do so in the 11th century. In the 13th century, Thomas Aguainis identified any sexual act that produces orgasm besides penile-vaginal contact as sodomy. The English Reformation Parliament recast sodomy as anal sex between men and men, and women, and animals ( all of this defined as buggery), but sex between two women was not condemned. 3.​ Why were sexual acts so criminalized? a.​ Puritans' understanding of biblical law b.​ Lust or wild sex fostered disobedience and disorder, reducing humans to untamed beasts. i.​ Lust was seen as anything that caused people to stray from God, but “Wild Sex” was seen as worse. ii.​ One of the ways that Europeans distinguished themself from the Africans they enslaved was by propagating the idea that black men had no self-control or sexual control. 1.​ Black women: “lusty wenches” controlled by sexual passion c.​ Everyone is a sinner, subject to all sexual temptations, i.​ The concept of homosexuality was utterly alien at that time. In Puritan theory, as children of sinners, we are all susceptible to evils, not a distinct few that we label today as homosexuals. d.​ Unnatural “going after strange flesh”/beastiality i.​ Bestiality was a major occupation, seen as Satan’s influence. In Sweden, hundreds of men were executed along with the animals they fornicated with. This was seen as such a danger that only girls were allowed to milk cows. e.​ The Puritan covenant with God i.​ The Puritans fled England because they believed the country’s wrong ways would be punished by God just as Sodom was. ●​ Why were only two men (William Plaine, 1646 - masturbation accusation AND John Knight, 1655 - sexual actions with sermon boys) executed for sodomy in all of colonial New England? Why only 20 prosecutions? And 4-5 executions ○​ Two witnesses required to have seen penetration ○​ Ordinary people were less concerned and more forgiving. ○​ Why not Nicholas Sension, Windsor, CT, sexually active 1640-77? ■​ Nathaniel Pond, died 1675, and had sexual relations with Windsor-> indentured servant. ■​ Everyone knew, but took it less seriously than the ministers implored ■​ They had a hard time connecting sodomy to a well-liked member of society ■​ Men with authority and power had a level of immunity. ●​ It only became a problem when Sension approached the sons of other wealthy men when legal action was taken against him ●​ Sodomy laws were harsher on paper and often tolerated, especially if social order was not being disrupted. ●​ Certain degrees of freedom for those in power. ○​ Rev. Stephen Groton, Lew London, CT, sexually active 1726-56 ■​ Allowed to remain a popular minister on the pulpit for 30 years and was allowed to come back after a brief suspension with “prayer.” ●​ What was sodomy? Why did sodomy ≠ homosexuality? ○​ Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) upheld the right of Georgia and any other state to criminalize homosexual sex, as well as anal or oral sex between married couples. ❖​ Argues that Sodomy is not the same thing as homosexuality, and when we think of it as such, we project the modern perspective onto the past. ➢​ alterity ❖​ What can we learn from the Puritan conception of sodomy? ➢​ The alterity of the past. ■​ Sexuality and homosexuality did not exist then as it does now. Sex between two men was not a personality or someone’s defining feature, but just the product of temptation ➢​ The Sension case reminds us that no society is monolithic in its views. ➢​ The public, political significance of “private” sexual behavior. ■​ Sex and often homosexuality ➢​ Sex reinforces ideas of social difference and inequality ■​ Central Park 5, boys described as a Wolf Pack ➢​ Religious understandings of sex persist, in conflict with modernist views. ■​ The tension between fundamentalist and modernist views on sexuality will dictate much of the discourse we encounter throughout the rest of the course September 16th: Love, Friendship, & Bed Sharing: Abraham Lincoln and His Contemporaries Lecture Outline ●​ Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed ○​ Rumored to have slept with him for three years, met in 1837, and had an intense romantic affair. ○​ They both would end up getting married to women, but constantly communicated with each other, expressing concerns about being able to have sex with women. They sometimes talked about women as if they were aliens from a different planet. ○​ Not even the label of bisexual would cover the complexities of Lincoln's circumstance ■​ As historians, we must try to understand his sexuality in the context of those times, and how it unsettles our own sexual categories. ■​ For heterosexuality to exist, homosexuality must. ○​ The bed sharing: it was economical and kept people warm—- a normal thing. But what does it mean that this is normal? ■​ It means that a degree of physical intimacy was expected between men, which would be wildly inappropriate today. ●​ Love and bed sharing at Yale ○​ Edward Sheffield and Asher Wilcox, 1859 ○​ Albert Dodd and friends, 1837 ●​ Christian love vs. carnal lush ●​ Columbia football players ●​ Smashes at Vassar and crushes at Barnard In lieu of a 19th century song… ●​ Chet Baker, My Buddy (1939/1956) ●​ Mary Lambert, She Keeps Me Warm (2013) 5 pieces of evidence ●​ Yale students 19c ○​ Edward C. Sheffield, Yale 1859, & his diary. ○​ Asher Wilcox ○​ Bed sharing was seen as a test of a friendship and provided an impetus to their friendship as it confirmed how deep their attachment already was ○​ Edward’s diary reveals that spending a night with Asher allowed for deep intimacies to be shared and their relationship to deepen. ○​ In the academic setting, many men were isolated and burdened by the competition. Having these “special friends” was reprieve. ○​ Albert Dodd, Yale class of 1839 ○​ “Romantic Friendship,” where young men and women try to express their deep fervent love for each other. ■​ They didn't question if they were queer or abnormal, because such an “other” category did not exist then. ○​ Agape/Christian love vs. Carnal lust. What were the physical boundaries of the intimacy between two men who were not sodomites? ●​ Gold rush miners mid-19th c ○​ By 1850, 97% of the non native people were men in mining camps/ in the surrounding area. ○​ Miners embraced sleeping with each other. ●​ Photographs of special friends, 19c ○​ Intimate ●​ Columbia athletes, later 19c ○​ Show us that such intimacies existed in the world of the elite and the most manly of men. ●​ Barnard students, early 20th century ○​ Vasser friends— “smashing”