> whereas christian theologians tried desperately to talk around sodomy, old norse gives us several words that circle around a semantic field of male-male sexual behavior. i want to talk especially about argr or ragr. its primary meaning is "cowardly, unmanly, effeminate, with regard to morals or character" (sorensen 20). a secondary meaning is, essentially, a man who is inclined to take the passive role in sex with other man. > so you can see a couple of things. first of all, that being the receiving partner in a male-male sexual encounter is considered the height of unmanliness. it is the same word as "effeminate;" it's equated with cowardice. there's no question that there was a massive stigma attached to that status; that this was a phrase slung at people rather than claimed proudly or even used neutrally. but what kind of stigma? the application of the feminine form, org, to women can start to clue us in. rather than referring to lesbianism, or to having piv sex with a man, it's roughly equivalent to modern "slutty"--including the derogatory nature. we're dealing with violations of muscular masculinity and chaste femininity, of course, but at the same time--and inseparable from the gender roles--these acts are violations of fundamental personal honor.
Bosnia and Herzegovina