Thursday, August 9, 2012

Sexytown, USA

Question: How do your gods view modern sexuality in, say, America? The Aztecs (Tlazolteotl) and Japanese probably hate it while the Greeks see it as trying to get back to what they had going on long ago.

This is one of those questions that's too broad to succeed. I wouldn't make any generalization about its answer, for two reasons:

A) Every god has different opinions and views on sexuality, even within the same pantheon, so it's impossible to say what a "pantheon"'s views are, and
B) The United States is enormous and encompasses a huge number of different social norms and customs relating to sexuality, and saying that it's all the same, as if what's normally accepted in New York City is also normally accepted in rural Alabama, is equally ridiculous.

Gods are not all the same, after all; sure some of the Dodekatheon are serial philanderers, but others are career virgins. Some of the Aztlanti (Tlazolteotl, as you noted, being the most violently obvious) are extremely stringent about sexual taboos, but others (for example Xochipilli, who is associated with things like homosexuality and prostitution) are more relaxed.

Godly sexual practices are generally beyond the scope of human law and custom, anyway. Human sexual taboos and practices, even in most parts of the modern-day States, don't begin to cover all the weird bullshit that gods do for the sake of nookie; even in ancient societies, it was understood that gods were going to do things that mortals aren't allowed to, because they're gods and they will smite your face off if you argue with them. The ancient Greeks didn't view bestiality, for example, as a socially acceptable way of getting your rocks off, but that doesn't stop the likes of Pan or Poseidon from having stories in which they indulge. Very few people in modern societies consider casual rape a normal and accepted method of getting laid, but that doesn't stop gods from doing it all over the landscape in a lot of different cultures.

The gods may be outgrowths of a particular society's viewpoint and customs, but that doesn't mean they always follow the same rules as their people. More often than not they're the divine example that reminds mortals not to behave likewise. Each god views sexual behavior in their own way for their own reasons, and it's impossible to judge them based on human society's norms anyway.

But you are so right, Tlazolteotl would probably come down on most modern people in the Americas like the fiery syphilitic fist of heaven if her pantheon didn't keep her occupied with more important things.

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