HIST213: History of Sexuality in America Date: October 11, 2013 Lara N.

Hodak

Marriage and reproduction were necessary components of life in Colonial America. Write an essay that compares the attitudes towards marital and non-marital sex in Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and Virginia between 1607 and 1750.

There were a lot of different attitudes toward marital and non-marital sex during Colonial America. Marriage and reproduction played an essential role in the lives of the citizens and their opinions on how to regulate it became a priority. Specifically, in Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and Virginia, these colonies had similar and different attitudes toward marital and non-marital sex and how it should be regulated. To begin with, Massachusetts during Colonial America had very strict views and regulations toward marital and non-marital sex. A major belief that was enforced was that sex was only acceptable within a marriage; in other words, non-marital sex was not allowed and made illegal. Sex in their eyes, was believed that God ordained relations between a husband and wife to procreate and to show affection. Non-marital sex was seen as deviant behavior and therefore would not be tolerated within the community. Other sexual acts that were also condemned by the people of Massachusetts were sodomy, whoredom, bestiality, incest, adultery, and masturbation. Between 1641 and 1660, these acts were punished by mainly by execution with the exception of possible jail time, fines, or whippings (MP, pg. 71) Although same-sex marriage was not legal at the time, sodomy and any sexual acts between the same sex was still illegal because it went against the social norm as well as what was written in the Bible. As the years went on, the society changed their form of punishment from executions to penitentiaries, where sexual

criminals would go to institutions where medics would try to cleanse them from the desire to act out sexually. However, we later find out that these institutions were not successful. Marital sex was acceptable by society because under the bible, sex within a marriage was customary. During this time period, religion was the fundamental basis for every decision that the society made, and within the bible, non-marital sex was a sin. During an engagement, the society participated in the practice of bundling which occurred while a couple of engaged. It was said that the families of the couple would bundle the couple in blankets so that they would not be able to have sex, however, it was still assumed that once a couple was engaged, they were sexually active. In this case, non-marital sex was acceptable because the couple was going to be married. This explains the reasoning behind the societys attitudes toward marital and non-marital sex. In Philadelphia, there were similar attitudes toward marital and non-marital sex. Philadelphia began to regulate sexuality because of the increase in bastardy, prostitution and whoredom, intimacy across the color line, monogamous relationships outside marriage, self-divorce, and the circulation of bawdy print. Because the people began to see this acts to become popular, regulation was put into place. They believed that masturbation, bestiality, and sodomy were sinful, in which then became illegal. Masturbation was seen as a self-polluting and a cause for divorce, and in order to prevent them from occurring, the society made it illegal. As for non-marital sex, it was seen as unnatural filthiness, in which was also looked down upon, and was made illegal. However, the punishment for these actions was not the death penalty. In Philadelphia, they believed that the source of these crimes were excessive passion, and in order to prevent them, they most attempt to restrain sexual desire and use rehabilitation in order to

cure the criminals. In which case, the society built penitentiaries that would teach redeeming self-discipline, sexual abstinence, and to dampen passion. However, these institutions were found to be unsuccessful in the long run. As for marital sex, general attitude was that it was acceptable as long as it was within the marriage with the person you were married to. Lastly, when comparing the attitudes of martial and non-marital sex in Virginia, the societys attitudes are a little different than the previous colonies discussed. When the Virginia Company first arrived to what is now known as the United States, there was less policing of sexuality than the other colonies. In 1650, it was said that 30% of the children born were bastard children. This statistics enforces the idea that non-marital sex was common during that time period and was not regulated. In Virginia, martial and nonmarital sex was regulated more socially than legally. Although the law did not regulate non-marital sex, society still looked down upon those that were having pre-marital sex. It wasnt socially acceptable to practice sodomy, non-marital sex, adultery, or rape. At the beginning of 1642, Virginia established a set of laws that were only in relation to servants and the sexual activity they committed. They were not allowed to have non-marital sex and a punishment would be put into place if it resulted in a bastard child. Under these laws, one law was toward white Christian women, and it stated that interracial sexual activity was forbidden and was punished if resulted in a bastard child (MP, pg. 72-73). After discussing the three colonies and their attitudes toward marital and nonmarital sex, it is clear that there are ideas in which overlap with each other and there are ideas that do not coincide with each other. As discussed, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and Virginia all believes that non-marital sex is wrong and that marital sex is the only

form of sex that is acceptable. However, the way each of these colonies regulate and handle the actions committed within their societies are where they do not coincide with each other. In Virginia, the society did not regulate sexuality as strongly as Massachusetts and Philadelphia. In Massachusetts, sexual crimes were punished to the extreme, resulting in the death penalty. However, both Philadelphia and Massachusetts developed penal reform and established penitentiaries in order to reduce sexual crimes in their societies. In a larger perspective, it is clear that Massachusetts and Philadelphia had similar attitudes toward marital and non-marital sex while Virginia had its own ways of handling their sexual issues. In conclusion, the overall attitude that we can find between the three colonies is very similar. The three colonies agree that non-marital sex is wrong and against what the Bible teaches as right and wrong, while marital sex is acceptable and has a purpose of procreating and sharing affection between a husband and wife. With that being said, although the three colonies have the same basis for setting up their societies, each colony has a different way regulating these opinions in their societies.