Quotes from:
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Augustine, St. Confessions (A.C. Outlere, Ed. and Transl.) London: SCM Press, 1955 | |
Bullough, V. and Brundage,J Sexual Practices and the Medieval Church Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1983 |
A [...] figure illustrating the same theme is the prophet Muhammed [570-632], who has married his first wife, Khadijah, when she was around 40 years of age and he was 25. At her death, Muhammed seemed inconsolable, and his friends advised him to marry again so that he might more easily overcome his grief.
Although reluctant to agree, the prophet eventually married Ayesha, a young prepubertal girl. It was said that just watching her play with her dolls proved to be a consolation to him. Most islamic authorities agree the marriage was not consummated until Ayesha began to menstruate, the traditionally acceptable time for intercourse, but there was still a marriage to a girl that many say was only 7 (Bullough, 1973)
Bullough V. The subordinate sex Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973 |
Mahatma Ghandi [1869 - 1948] [...] was married at 13. Though he took a vow of sexual abstinence at 37, a vow that he found difficult to observe and that he once described as "walking on the sword's edge," this vow did not stop him from later fondling girls, both pubescent and prepubescent.
In his later years, Ghandi took to taking such girls to bed with him to overcome his "shivering fits" in the night. His female companions, who came from his inner circle - all certified virgins or young brides - entered his bed naked in order to warm him with their bodies. Some of them also administered enemas to him. Among the young girls, there was a rivalry as to who would sleep with him, and one of his girl disciples reported that his bed companiong had a difficult time in restraining themselves and repressing their sexual impulses since he often rubbed against them and touched them (Bullough, 1981).
Though his disciples were fearful of public reaction if news of these "pedophiliac sexual" interactions was publicized, Ghandi continued to engage with them until his death. Here, there was no sexual intercourse, and most of the girls were postpubertal, but some were younger. In modern Western society, such activity would be a criminal offense.
I like boys a lot, but the girls are even nicer. If I tire of her as a girl, she'll play the boy for me as well.
Goethe, J.W. Notizbuch von der Schlesischen Reise im Jahre 1790. In F. Zarukein (Ed.), Goethes Werke. Leipzig: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt E. Hallberger, 1984, p. 255. |
George Gordon Byron [1788-1824], or Lord Byron, was attached to Nicolo Giraud, a young French-Greek lad who had been a model for the painter Lusieri before Byron found him. Byron left him 7,000 pounds in his will. When Byron returned to Italy, he became involved with a number of boys in Venice but eventually settled on Loukas Chalandritsanos, age 15, who was with him when he was killed (Crompton, 1985)
Crompton, L. Byron and Greek Love. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985 |
Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female; Saunders, Philadelphia (1953)
24% [of his female subjects] had had prepubertal experiences ("prepubertal" being defined as "age 13 or under") in which an adult male has established sexual contacts with them or appeared to be making a sexual type of approach.
The most frequent type of contact made by the male was that of showing his genital organs, which occurred in approximately 52% of the cases reporting contact with adults.
In 31% of the cases, the adult patted the child in an intimate way but did not touch the sex organs, and in 22% of the cases, there was contact with the child's sex organs (The total is more than 100% because some had more than one contact.)
Approximately
80% of the women who reported having sexual contacts with adults as children as defined by Kinsey (under 13 and making approaches) had but 1 experience in childhood, | |
15% had less than 6 experiences, and | |
5% had 10 or more as preadolescents. |
Kinsey reported that when repetitions did occur (usually with adult relatives living in the same household), the child was aggressive in seeking the experience. Again, few contacts (only 0.7% of the total female sample) involved actual penetration (p.116-122).