Biil's answer is hilarious!...
Please, Phil... do you know more about pirates of the 18th century?... Is it a non-sens to speak about spanish or Portuguese pirates?... lol.
...
Sparta? Oh... I thought that the Spartan were against homosexuality... as explained in the movie 300... lol...
Could you tell more about it too?...
Thanks Bill...
Thanks Phil...
Like a lot of cultures, what they SAY is not the same as what they DO.
Straight men in the West SAY they only have sex with women- But one third of them HAVE had sex with men.
In both Sparta and Thebes, Boys were separated from their mothers at an early age and went to live in a dormitory where they were expected to learn to be warriors.
Part and parcel of their existence there was to sexually service the older boys and young men.
This not only dealt with the sexual energies of the teen and young men, but also inculcated a culture of masculine affinity- The preference for male company, male physicality and male interests.
However, in Both city states, they expected a young man to Cease having sex with boys or other men when they were married, because at that point their duty to the state became to produce more warriors.
However, it is clear that most of them continued to enjoy male on male sex - especially when on campaign- regardless.
And it is true that the transition from the dormitory to married life was difficult because they had been acculturated to sexually respond to boys. SO it was not unusual for a young bride to get the advice to try and look boyish on her wedding night.
But both Sparta and Thebes suffered from a LOW birthrate- which has largely been attributed their culture separating men from women and raising men to prefer everything male.
As to pirates. The term "matey" was coined in seafaring men of that era to particularly denote a crew mate who was MORE than just another crew mate. Pirates and others with little access to women would often Pair off onboard ship as special friends with benefits.
Just more evidence that men may well predominantly prefer women... but that their sex drives are more akin to appetites than to orientations.
You may really really prefer Steak over Vegetables.... but if you get hungry enough, you
will eat shoe leather.