What did the Romans Think of Lesbian Sex?
Acta Populi - Number XIV
Now here’s a subject that’s going to get your attention! There’s going to be some exciting language in this, which I have kept a bit adult, because that is very much the context in which it was meant. So be warned!
In Roman society, sexual activity was understood primarily in terms of dominance, power, and social order rather than boring old personal pleasure on its own. Roman discourse on sex frequently emphasised penetrative acts, hierarchical roles, and the public perception of sexual morality. Female-to-female sexual acts, therefore, were judged through this slightly skewed view of activity and power.
For Roman authors, sex was often defined in quite functional and hierarchical terms. Penetration was the central concept, frequently associated with the active, dominant role of the penetrator. Sexual acts without penetration were sometimes dismissed as incomplete or ineffective in establishing social meaning (Veyne, 1990). As these acts were seen to be incomplete, it was considered that sex had not really occurred. This central concept still remains in some Western laws, such as in the UK, where ‘rape’ is defined as penetration with a penis. Anything else is ‘sexual assault’.
The framework of dominance and submission was integral to Roman sexual ideology: the penetrator held power, while the receptive partner assumed a subordinate position. In this context, sexual acts between women presented an ambiguity, as neither partner fit the traditional hierarchy. Both could be dominant, both could be subservient, both could be neither, and to Romans, this made no sense as a sexual act. It was, in effect, ‘messing around’.
Martial’s Epigrams provide some of the most direct literary references to female-female sexual acts. In Epigrams 7.67, Martial writes of Philaenis, a lesbian, who has fun getting up to all sorts of mischief with boys and girls. She sodomises boys, refuses to give men blow jobs, gets roaring drunk, stuffs herself full of cakes, and engages in all sorts of lustful behaviour.
