Pederasty

Pederastic relationships have been documented in many cultures throughout our history including, Greeks, Romans, Thracians, Celts, Plutarch, Melanesian, Koreans, Persians, Islamic, and the Japanese (Percy, 127). The most common understanding is 'age structured homosexuality.' The word derives from the combination of 'paides', Greek for "boy", with erasteio, Greek for 'to long for' (Dover, 492). " The difference between pedophilia and pederasty is that pedophilias exploit a child's immaturity. Pederastic relations can have widely dissimilar manifestations - they can be spiritual or materialistic, lawful or transgressive, chaste or sexual, loving or commercial - the direction of a person's inner sexual-object orientation is neither described nor contended"(Percy, 12). Therefore the cultures that have practiced pederasty believed it to only be beneficial, seeing no negative effect on the phycological development of their youth.

The first culture to institutionalize pederasty was the Greeks. Ancient Greeks believed that semen was the source of knowledge and that the adult was merely passing wisdom to adolescent. Therefore rarely is there depiction of actual intercourse between a man and a boy (Rocke, 29). Greeks had two types of pederasty, Chaste and sexual, were the difference is weather the adult actually consummates the relationship. It was commonly believed there was no love greater or bond no stronger than the chaste pedestry because of the tremendous will and restraint shown by the adult (Percy 118).

The Spartans were documented as making pedestry a state requirement of all adult men. Aristotle claimed that Spartans encouraged this behavior as a means for control of the population by directing love and sexual desire away from procreative channels (Bleibtre- Ehrenber). Plato however wrote to devalue and finally condemn sexual intercourse with young boys saying "generally in countries which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be dishonorable; loves of youths share the evil repute in which philosophy and naked sports are held, because they are inimical to tyranny; for the interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in spirit, and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience; for the love of Aristogeiton and the constancy of Harmodius had a strength which undid their power" (Plato, Symposium).

In many societies, the relationship was identified with the upper class, or the difference of class between the adult and the adolescent. This was seen as a way for a poor boy to move up in society and become a man through networking with the most partners. Greek boys entered the relationship and were courted by the other adult males allowing them to choose their mate. Their sisters were given in marriages and therefore lead them to be used for economic and political advantage. The more mentors a boy could obtain at a young age the more important positions he could obtain in society. The acquisition of a young desirable boy was seen as a very valuable item and those who sold themselves for their favors were often prohibited from performing official functions (Dover 57).

Koreans have the 2nd earliest documented cases of pedistry with Gongmin of Goryeo (r. 1351-1374). He was famous for his attraction to young boys and used it to suffice for the loss of his wife when she died. Koreans where not inhibited by the act, and it was often publicly displayed, and used as a means of recruitment of the youth in becoming Buddhist monks.

'Shudo' was the way of the young, and especially common in religious communities and samurai societies. 'Shido' was the Japanese version of pederasty and was seen as a symbol for the power of loves ability to transcend class distinctions (Percy 128)."

In tenth-century China courting male couples consisted of the older 'ch'i hsiung' and the younger 'ch'i ti'. (The terms mean, literally, sworn elder brother and younger brother. It is very common in the Chinese culture to conceptualize many kinds of alliances as fictive kinship relationships). Boy marriages, which lasted for a set period after which the younger partner would find a wife, often with the help of the older one, appear to have been part of the culture in the province of Fujian in pre-modern times. The marriages were said to have been celebrated by the two families in traditional fashion, including the ritual 'nine cups of tea'. The popularity of these pederastic relationships in Fujian, where they even had a patron god, Hu Tiambo, gave rise to one of the euphemistic expressions for same-sex love in China, 'the southern custom'. Men's sexual interest in youths