| sodomy | |
Coined around 1050 by St. Peter Damian to denote sexual activity between men, "sodomy" is a shortened form of "the sin of Sodom," referring to the Genesis account of the men of Sodom who tried to have intercourse with two angels and were smitten with blindness. Historically, the exact meaning of "sodomy" has varied across time and place. Although in the early modern periods it often referred to undifferentiated vice, including heresy and treason, its meaning gradually became more specific, referring usually to sex between men--especially anal intercourse. But in some countries at varying times it has also been applied to oral sex, anal intercourse between men and women, sex between women, and even bestiality. Until 2003, when such laws were declared unconstitutional, at least in regards to non-commercial, concensual relationships among adults, the term was still used in the law codes of some American states, where it most often referred to sex between men, either anal or oral, but occasionally also to lesbian acts and anal and oral intercourse between men and women. Recently, many historians and literary critics, in an attempt to avoid anachronism, have used the words "sodomy," "sodomitical," and "sodomites" to refer to male-male sexual acts, same-sex relationships, and individuals engaged in male-male sexual practices during periods prior to the development of a homosexual identity in the late nineteenth century.
