Perhaps it is from my religious upbringing, but from everything I know about the word, it means first and foremost “sexual acts considered abnormal and unnatural.” In most places this includes anal sex, bestiality, and more. I have never considered it to be a synonym for gay sex, though perhaps I really am in the minority there.
But I disagree that using it openly is saying that the acts aren’t bad. Sodomy specifically means acts that are unnatural and abnormal. Using it openly means that you are telling everyone that gay sex is unnatural and abnormal.
My view on the issue is that sodomy is an out of date word, and we should let it die. Less and less people consider anal sex or oral sex to be unnatural and abnormal, so why do we still call them by a word that means exactly that, and links them with bestiality, which is completely different?
Why not be completely open about how good gay sex is? Why not be outspoken about how it is natural? Isn’t that better than calling it a word which means abnormal and unnatural? Again, this is only my opinion. Different people obviously have different connotations with the word.
moriah:
To what are you referring? I applaud being completely open about gay sex being a good thing. I applaud gay pride.
I don’t applaud the word sodomite used to refer to gay sex, because sodomy means “considered unnatural and abnormal” and I do not believe that gay sex is unnatural or abnormal. I would rather the word sodomy just died.
I don’t applaud the word breeder used to refer to heterosexuals, because it is a very mean-spirited and innacurate word. I lose respect for people that use it in that way.
I’m not sure what you are saying here. I believe that gay sex is natural, and therefore should not be called sodomy, which means unnatural. Gay sex should not be put into the same category as bestiality. Is that not clear enough?
Dead wrong, and completely bass-ackward. Sodomy IS a negative. It is a word that describes the “unnatural and sinful acts that caused God to destroy Sodom.” There are a great many gay Christians who will deny (quite rightly) that God has anything against them whatsoever; to them, describing their lives and loves as “sodomy” is, at best, misinterpreting scripture.
The thing is – no one knows exactly what the Sodomites did, only that it was pretty awful. So it just gets attached to acts so “terrible” (in the labeler’s mind) that they mustn’t be spoken of directly. Would a 19th-century Georgia legislator want “anal sex” to appear in their lawbooks? Would he want to utter it in public debate? No! “Let’s call it ‘sodomy’ instead.”
Airman Doors is quite correct in associating “sodomy” with “bad”; it’s a term of opprobrium, and laws do not take that away. What we should be working toward is a society in which “sodomy” is a literary peculiarity, and sex is just sex. In such a society, no one (who wasn’t trying to stir something up) would call himself a sodomite, any more than Protestants would refer to themselves as “heretics.”
However, we’re not there yet, and it’s only natural to want to taunt the opposition a little. But as an English Usage Nazi, I’d hate to see “sodomy” not to mention “sodomite”) redefined to eliminate its negative connotations. Instead, I’d rather see us disassociate it from specific sex practices.
Anyway, I hear San Francisco’s Gay Pride Parade was pretty special this year!
Before I came to the SDMB, I always heard “sodomy” as meaning “sexual abuse”, not gay sex, not anal intercourse, or anything but missionary intercourse for procreation only.
Depends, I guess. I wasn’t always a godless heathen, and when I heard the word “sodomy”, my religious leaders were always referring specifically to gay sex.
I’ve only been a poster on the SDMB for a couple of months now – and I just have to say: sex is wonderful… straight, gay, does not matter. However, when I signed on, I didn’t envision having to worry about whether my internet site visit could be intercepted by the HR dept.! I was one of the first visitors to Cecil’s website way back when, have all his books, read all his columns. Sometimes I just wonder if all the obscene language and vivid discussion of sexual issues are in keeping with the vision Cecil had for this board. I am absolutely not a prude, but, well - never mind. Free speech folks can bury me now.
Homophobes need to be riled up. That way honorable people can spot them and know them for what they are, namely, bigoted intolerant assholes who have no place in a civilized society.
I find it really hard to fault anyone in the gay community who is celebrating the overturning of this discriminatory and unconstitutional law. All such remnants of illegitimate puritanical and Judeo-Christian slanting in our law need to be expunged post haste. Sadly, the current administration is doing exactly the opposite. For this reason alone, I view Shrub and his gang as seditious and treasonous defilers of our noble Constitution.
I raise a toast to the gay community’s new found freedom from unjust persecution. I am also just cynical enough to remark on how amazing it is that the Supreme Court was able to shrug off their own right wing views just long enough to uphold the rights of our population to engage in whatever the Hell two consenting adults feel like privately engaging in. True conservative doctrine protects the rights of individuals. I wish I could give due credit to the court for doing so. I just happen to feel that they had no choice, since upholding such a clearly discriminatory law would be the utmost in hypocrisy.
Congratulations to gay people everywhere on this timely and much needed victory.
I know it’s simply an anecdote and worthless as such, but I’ve been on the fence and am on the fence, and I have weighed the pros and cons of it.
I have to fight my own bigoted thoughts about gay people almost every day. I’m tired enough from that, let alone others being angry that I might ever think a bigoted thought. I’m trying to overcome the bigotry and prejudice against gay people that I was taught, but it appears that I can’t ever do it well enough.
Fuck it. Just fuck it. I really want to take the easy way out and be anti-gay, just like I was raised to be. I don’t want all this guilt over every anti-gay thought eating me alive anymore. Maybe I’m supposed to be an anti-gay uncivilized savage or something, I don’t know.
They call me Sodomite Pete
I’m the King of the Rumba beat
When I play the morracas
I go chick-chicky-boom
Chick-chicky-boom
Yes, Sir, I’m Sodomite Pete
I’m the craze of my native street
When I start to dance
Everything goes chick-chicky-boom
Chick-chicky-boom
There Senoritas they sing
And how they swing with the rumbero
It’s very nice so full of spice
And when they dance and they bring a happy ring of vaqueros
Singing a song all the day long
So if you like the beat
Take a lesson from Sodomite Pete
And I’ll teach you to chick-chicky-boom
Chick-chicky-boom, chick-chicky-boom
I wasn’t attempting to slam anyone about particular posts, was just posting an opinion (admit it’s based on only 2 months of experience).
I do wonder if Cecil lurks these boards, though. His approach to the questions of the universe (yes, I have read them all) seem very out of sync with the SDMB board subjects. Again, this is only MY opinion, so don’t be bitchy about disputing it.
Could this be summed up like this: Gay people don’t want any special priviladges. They just want to get on with life with the minimum amount of shit from bigots. And if bigots can be educated so that they are more tolerant, all the better.
I’m not gay but I think I understand where gobear is coming from.
I’m very confused. I read this OP, and then read the linked OP, and then read the new website in the linked OP. I was expecting - I dunno, porn or something.
Instead we have a friendly faced guy listing some (totally non-sexual) interests, hobbies and e-mail contact info.
Color me confused - you object to the name? You object to the idea of gay dopers posting a site for themselves? What - I really don’t get it.
I will point out that such a site could potentially be very helpful to young dopers unsure about their sexuality and confused about their feelings. I think that knowing they can belong to a proud community, even if it is an online Dope community, would go a long way in helping with self-acceptance. It’s much easier to deal with tough things if you know you’re not alone.
Anyhow - I’m totally confused. I know from previous posts Airman, that you’re conservative, but this is such a fun, harmless, potentially helpful site I really don’t get your ire.
Actually, I hope you don’t mind if I like you. I’ll just have to fight my own mind telling me things about you because you’re gay. When I put it that way, it sounds completely irrational, but yet I don’t know if I can stop my thoughts. I just don’t know what to do – every fucking day I think “So-and-so is gay. Are they trustworthy? Do they do bad things?” I just can’t take the guilt with trying to fight those thoughts any more.
Huh? Did I miss a post? I’ve been searching other threads, but I can’t find anything about matt and Potter getting married. Anyway, let me extend my congratulations and best wishes for a happy future.
