scholars take as evidence of the insignifi cance of women to
most men. Confucians believed that in order to maintain
social harmony husbands must be superior to wives, and
brothers must be superior to sisters. Th oughts on sexuality
changed. Confucianism taught that sex was somewhat sin-
ful and should be confi ned to the bedroom; husbands and
wives were not to touch each other outside the marriage bed.
Sexual acts between spouses were restricted to procreation
and meant for the maintenance of family stability. Men were
allowed to have concubines, but Confucianism regulated
the practice with numerous rules, such as those concerning
how frequently men should have sex with concubines and
whether concubines could remain in the bed aft er the sex act
was completed.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 c.e.), Dao-
ism once more became the prevailing philosophy, and sex
was again encouraged. Scholars published sex manuals that
described breathing techniques that could prolong male
performance and increase female response, in an eff ort
to transfer yin and yang energy between the man and the
woman. Sex between men and women was thought to be a
way to improve health and achieve a longer life. During this
time the color red became associated with women and white
with men.
Although they were not considered the equals of men
at any time in China, women could wield a large amount of
power within the household. Th is power came with age and
the birth of sons. Young girls were valued less than boys, and
female infants were more at risk of being abandoned or killed
at birth. Girls were considered an expense because they were
destined to leave home when they married; their parents had
to furnish them with a dowry and could not count on their
daughters’ care in old age. When a woman married, she went
to live with her husband’s family and oft en became a virtual
servant to him and his relatives. She was expected to get up
early and stay up late to carry out all her domestic work and
to make her home and family her only priority, living quietly
and performing her spiritual duties to the family’s ancestors.
A wife had to please her in-laws, especially her mother-in-law,
and could be punished if she protested. She gradually gained
more power as she produced children and grew older. When
a woman’s son married and she herself became a mother-
in-law, she took control of the household and was allowed
to dominate a daughter-in-law. A mother-in-law’s word was
law to her daughter-in-law; unquestioning obedience was re-
quired at all times.
Husbands had duties toward their wives as well. Al-
though men were considered superior to women, people be-
lieved that if men did not act properly, they lost the power to
control their wives. Men and women were supposed to live
in harmony. Men were not to strike their wives, and women
were not to scold their husbands.
In India women married young. Men were expected
to support their wives and were also responsible for their
wives’ behavior. Th ey were not, however, supposed to use
force to maintain discipline, aside from a small number of
blows that did not infl ict damage. India’s caste system pro-
vided many rules for sexual behavior. Female virginity was
highly prized, and violating it could bring serious punish-
ment. A man who had sex with a virgin of the same caste as
his was either heavily fi ned or had his hand cut off. Having
sex with a virgin of a lower caste resulted in a smaller fi ne or
the loss of the man’s middle fi nger. If a woman had sex with
a man outside marriage, she could be fi ned a small amount.
If a man rescued a woman from some danger, such as war,
fi re, or fl ood, he was allowed to have sex with her unless she
was of high caste and had children, in which case she or her
family could pay him a ransom instead. Th e punishment for
adultery depended on the castes of the partners. Th e higher
the rank of the woman and the lower the rank of the man,
the worse the punishment. A low-caste man who committed
adultery with a Brahman (highest caste) woman would be
burned alive, whereas a man of a higher caste would merely
lose his property.
Although very little is known about gender roles in an-
cient Japan, there is some historical evidence that women and
men were considered equals and that women served as pow-
erful religious leaders. Ancient Australians also left little evi-
dence about gender structures, but modern scholars believe
they may have had a fair degree of equality between the sexes
while also dividing work by sex.
Homosexuality existed throughout ancient Asia, with
varying degrees of approval. In ancient China male mastur-
bation and homosexuality were thought to be unhealthy be-
cause they built up an overabundance of yang energy, while
the same practices were encouraged for women. In India the
Vedas (the earliest sacred Hindu writings) and other ancient
texts mention individuals who are neither male nor female
and sometimes refer to hermaphrodites as a third gender. Th e
Pali Canon, a set of early Buddhist scriptures in Th ailand,
mentions a sexual category called pandaka; this category is
traditionally believed to include homosexual male monks.
Modern Th ai scholars have termed these homosexual men
kathoey, the word used to refer to transvestites or transsexu-
als, on the assumption that these monks dressed and com-
ported themselves as women or acted in some other manner
that went against expected masculine behavior. Some his-
torians are now not so sure that these pandaka monks were
indeed transvestites in the modern sense and think that they
might have acted according to the conventions of male be-
havior but engaged in homosexual acts with other men.EUROPE
BY MICHAEL J. O’NEAL
Th e challenge historians face in studying gender structures
and roles in the ancient world is the overall lack of written
records. Gender has no tangible existence as a piece of pottery
or a building does. Gender is a social construct, meaning that
gender roles are assigned and played out in the context of so-498 gender structures and roles: Europe