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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Claude Raines" data-source="post: 28000" data-attributes="member: 416">Lesbians unknown to the Greeks? When we get the word Lesbian from the Greeks? According to the Greeks, on the Island of Lesbos, all the women prefered women to men. The people who lived on that Island were called Lesbians.Now this doesn't mean that the Greeks were right. Ancient cultures often misrepresented (and often on purpose) other cultures outside their own. Lesbians were definitely known to the Greeks just as they are known to all cultures, whether the practice is repressed or not.Second, even though many Athenian men took young boys as lovers, the idea that heterosexual intercourse was only for procreation or that heterosexual behavior  was somehow scandalaous is rediculous. I'm sure that many Athenians did love and desire women. In fact, the great love myths and stories are all heterosexual myths, not homosexual. The fact that homosexual practices were permitted in some aspect of Greek culture does not mean those same people shunned heterosexual activity except as a means of procreation.Third, no society has ever penned up women to such an extent, not even the Taliban regime. It just isn't practical. Women have to go out and about to do many tasks. Not everybody can own slaves to take care of everything.Finally, don't downplay the role of biology in what is considered beautiful. Certainly culture has a large and visible impact, but across every culture biology plays an important part in what we think is beautiful (why do you think heterosexual men as a group are attracted to large breasts - large breasts indicate they will be able to  feed children meaning the healthy continuation of one's DNA). Biology also has a large impact on beauty and desire.</blockquote>

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