Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome

[ikhet_sekhmet]

Dropping in with a snippet from Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome which I have to return to the library yesterday. I've commented before that I keep coming across the idea that "androgynous" and "neuter" are somehow synonymous. Discussing Dionysus, Michael Jameson contrasts Dionysus' strong association with sex with the god's own seeming lack of interest in it: "One can refer to the god's detachment as 'asexuality' [but] one might also speak of his bisexuality, the coexistence of elements of both genders that may, in effect, cancel each other out, or even of his transcendence of sexuality." No time to outline Jameson's full argument here, but there are two possible explanations for why, according to some thinking, if you're both sexes then you're neither. (Jameson also compares Dionysus to the male lead singer of a rock band, "neither traditionally masculine nor yet effeminate". :)

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Jameson, Michael. "The Asexuality of Dionysus". in Golden, Mark and Peter Toohey (eds). Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome. Edinburgh, EUP, 2008.

Comments

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

Gah, even knowing the origin of those lyrics and their self-mocking meaning, they're still so harsh when put down in black and white (or purple and white :). Here's a more playful take on the issue:

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[klgaffney.livejournal.com]

i'm guessing it has to do with the idea of gender as polar absolutes, instead of just a collection of quasi-random social associations attached to genitalia?

it's kinda funny, 'cause on one hand, there's the androgyny being equated to asexuality, and then there's the androgyny that's equated with over-sexed.

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

the androgyny that's equated with over-sexed

Oh, that's a really good point! Like the stereotype of the promiscuous bisexual.