Sex education in medieval Christianity

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Abstract
The Western Medieval Christian Church adopted an attitude toward sex which reflected the intellectual hostility to bodily pleasures developed by the neo‐Pythagoreans and neo‐Platonists. To inculcate this attitude in the population, most of whom could not understand its theoretical justifications and who were also illiterate, the early medieval Church developed an elaborate penitential system. Sexual behavior was monitored through confessions, and appropriate penalties were administered. Through this negative or punishment‐oriented technique, a consciousness of sin concerning sex was developed. A more positive approach to the same goal was also accomplished by the examples of two kinds of saints; the transvestites and the prostitutes. The oral traditions surrounding these saints emphasized the superiority of the male and the sinfulness of sex.

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