Sex in Colonial Mexico

This week in class, we discussed sexual sins and the Catholic Church’s response to them. The Church had strict guidelines regarding the most intimate details of married couples’ sex lives. The standard acceptable template laid out three overlying rules for sex. First, sex must be consensual. We learned about this aspect in last week’s class and by reading about it in Patricia Seed’s book. Marriage must be between two consenting adults, who married on their own free will, and not of their parents’. The second was that sex should only happen with the sole purpose being to procreate. The third rule was that sex should be unadventurous. If the sex was enjoyable and not purposeful and to the point, the couple had committed a sexual sin in the eyes of God (i.e. the Church). This rule is hard to understand viewing it in today’s eyes where just the opposite is the case. It seems like today, the number one reason/goal of sex is for enjoyment and the second, or “side effect” of sex is procreative. Of course these rules seem unrealistic and I wonder just how many couples obeyed them in the intimacy and privacy of their homes.

In our discussion groups, we discussed the court cases brought before the Church involving sexual sins. My group discussed the deflowering of Maria by Juan. In our eyes, this was just one example of how easily women claimed sex as a reason to sue a man over “lost virginity” and honor. Although it did not work out quite as Maria and her family had wished.

This week’s lecture and discussion topics were probably the most interesting materials so far this semester. It is so interesting to see the strict values the church hold the people to at the time and the court cases that result with those preconceived values.