Love between women : early Christian responses to female homoeroticism
Bernadette J. Brooten (Author)
"Bernadette J. Brooten examines female homoeroticism and the role of women in the ancient Roman world. Employing an unparalleled range of cultural sources, from magical spells and medical texts to astrological horoscopes, Brooten finds evidence of marriages between women and discusses the surgical procedure of clitoridectomy as a method of controlling female homoeroticism. She incontrovertibly establishes the fact that condemnations of female homoerotic practices were based on widespread awareness of sexual love between women. Culling significant information from her sources to illuminate the lives and beliefs of myriad ancient Mediterranean peoples, she gives a tour, at once delightful and distressing, of Roman-world attitudes."--Jacket
History
xxii, 412 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780226075914, 9780226075921, 0226075915, 0226075923
34322848
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Technical Terms, Short Titles, and Keys to Symbols 1: Introduction 2: Introduction: Of Sappho, Woman-Woman Marriage, and the Ways of the Egyptians 3: "Inflame Her Liver with Love": Greek Erotic Spells from Egypt 4: Predetermined Erotic Orientations: Astrological Texts 5: Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments 6: Unnatural Love: Classifying Dreams 7: Introduction: Of British Schoolteachers and Romans 8: Paul's Letter to the Romans: Interpretive Frameworks and Female Homoeroticism 9: Romans 1:18-32: A Commentary 10: Intertextual Echoes in Romans 1:18-32 11: Tortures in Hell: Early Church Fathers on Female Homoeroticism 12: Conclusion Select Annotated Bibliography on Roman 1:26f and the New Testament and Homosexuality Generally Indexes Glossary Index