Status Updates From Radical Antiquity: Free Lov...

this is not just a fantastic analysis of class, but of patriarchy and heteronormativity in antiquity. im kinda blown away. over and again, chris shows how integral patriarchal control of women's bodies was to the aristocracy, whether of the greek pater or arabic harem. marriage consolidated class through the mechanism of inheritance. over and again, peasant revolted through collective property and care. its profound.

heh, so on the other pole from celibacy was cynicism, another refusal of patriarchy and marriage, but this time through sexual promiscuity, nonmonogamy, and gender noncomformity. no slavish fixation to the social ladder, to chauvinist norms of honour and propriety, just fucking public in a park cuz it makes you happy and embracing your son's loving marriage to a sex worker 💖

sooo, from antiquity to the medieval period (hell, even to now), celibacy was used to refuse patriarchal injunctions, because marriage centralised power into the patriarch. celibacy was an escape from gendered violence and institutionalised misogyny.