# Recreational origies in ancient times. Did women participate consensually in historical orgies? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recreational-origies-in-ancient-times-did-women-participate-consensually-in-historical-orgies/714557 "2015-03-08T22:49:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recreational-origies-in-ancient-times-did-women-participate-consensually-in-historical-orgies/714557/21 "2015-03-09T20:20:33Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > The American South obviously didn’t Actually, they did. The laws were more to prevent race-mixing than to protect the slaves, but they did exist. > **[Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation_laws_in_the_United_States)** > > In the United States, many U.S. states historically had anti-miscegenation laws which prohibited interracial marriage and, in some states, interracial sexual relations. Some of these laws predated the establishment of the United States, and some dated to the later 17th or early 18th century, a century or more after the complete racialization of slavery. Nine states never enacted anti-miscegenation laws, and 25 states had repealed their laws by 1967. In that year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled i Th... ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recreational-origies-in-ancient-times-did-women-participate-consensually-in-historical-orgies/714557/22 "2015-03-09T23:26:26Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Cite? Because, you are presuming that Hale’s assertion (History of the Pleas of the Crown, 1st ed. (1736), vol. 1, ch. 58, p. 629) that a wife could not refuse consent to intercourse was uncritically the position all over the world, when it was doubted even then by jurists and also well before the modern era (for instance Reg. v. Clarence (1888) 22 Q.B.D. 23.) There is this thing called “generalization”, which I employed rather than an exhaustive listing of every ancient civilization I am aware of which would have no doubt bored everyone to tears. Not to mention all the ones I don’t know about. I’m assuming most men were not into raping their wives and would accept a “not tonight dear” if she felt ill or whatever. If he did force himself upon her, though, it would have been quite a struggle to assert a right to say “no” through most of history. As far as high status/powerful women participating in orgies - likely not, due to concerns about paternity. That’s not to say there were no exceptions, but they would be just that, _exceptions_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recreational-origies-in-ancient-times-did-women-participate-consensually-in-historical-orgies/714557/23 "2015-03-10T03:27:05Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > As it is the Romans did criminalise forcible intercourse, they called it _strupum_, which was distinct from _raptio_ which was taking away a person from lawful guardianship, the word is confusingly the basis of “rape” even though the act is more akin to our kinapping). _Stuprum_, r was in the wrong place. Gives a variety of words related to “sexual misconduct” in Romance languages. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recreational-origies-in-ancient-times-did-women-participate-consensually-in-historical-orgies/714557.md?page=1)