Ancient societies portrayed deep, intense, passionate love between 2 men, like Gilgamesh and Enkidu & Achilles and Patroclus, not because of like... gayness per se, but because gender divisions were so severe and cultural opinions of women so low that it was believed men could only achieve deep, real love and form lasting, powerful relationships with other men. Ancient Greeks practiced pederasty and male/male companionship not because the whole society was gay asf (unless...................?) but because it was the bond between 2 men or a man and a boy that was considered the most important emotional bond a man could have, and formed a large component of his socialization and cultural learning. Women in these societies were not social, cultural equals on any level. There was an idea that an Athenian woman should only leave her home twice: once to go to her husband's house on the day of her wedding, and the second time as a corpse to be buried. In ancient Mesopotamia, a woman or girl who was physically outside the home was considered sexually available, equivalent to a prostitute, with no social clout or value. (None of this means, btw, that women never left the house, etc. but these were the cultural attitudes all women contended with regardless of class.) It can be frustrating to see people on Timblr weeping and moaning over the power of these love stories--which, I can relate to, I cried the first time I read the Iliad! But given the intense misogyny on this site as a whole (funny since it's the female website), it feels like yet another symptom of the closed-circuit minds on here that identify most passionately and intensely with men and relate to men's struggles, men's feelings, men's partnerships with each other, in a way that they can't or won't begin to do for women.
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