Classical Studies 3400E Lecture Notes - Sexual Penetration, Hubris
18 Nov 2011
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This all has to do with the democratic ideology of athens, and a certain image the. Athenians had of the male citizen and his body. The inviolability of the male citizen body was what distinguished the citizen from metics or slaves. Citizens by law could not be abused, tortured, or sold into slavery. Hubris or violence against a citizen therefore becomes an anti-democratic crime, since assaulting the body of a citizen meant assaulting the athenian democratic body. A free citizen man who thus willingly subjects himself to hubris/ sexual penetration for money or indiscriminately is letting his body be treated as that of a woman or slave. Social and sexual roles are collapsed; sexual penetration = social domination. Anyone who prostituted himself indicated his autonomy was for sale. He might subject the city to foreign influence or corruption. Servility and greed were this man"s dominant features.
