The comment on Oman, I believe, is referencing when he refused to have a child with his wife, and essentially pulled out- "spilling his seed upon the floor". The quote appears to be correcting a misnomer that it refers to masturbation, when it is essentially referring to pulling out.
I know this video is 4 months old but I think you'd really enjoy reading Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation by Thomas W. It is fascinating! One of the most fascinating thing in the book is that Onanism is a fake medical condition that was invented by two men, one of which ran an apothecary and the other owned a printing press. They agreed to share the same business premises on the condition the guy with the printing press would print up pamphlets about medical conditions that would bring people into the apothecary. They invented Onanism as a way to drum up money and their scaremongering was so effective it still echoes today.
I feel like if there were no gender expectations placed on kids, then yeah they probably would be bi or another term for those attracted to multiple genders. If it wasn’t classified as good or bad to like any particular gender I think kids would grow up liking people based on who they are actually attracted to and not the gender society tells them to be attracted to (people who don’t experience attraction are also valid and should not be criticized or called weird). I think parents should teach kids about different gender and sexualities but not place emphasis on one or another and allow the child to figure out who they are on their own, while also making it clear to care and are there to answer any questions to the best of your ability.
Love your videos and content, but I don't like hearing literature about sexuality. It's fluid and dynamic - changes constantly. It should be from a professional with the times.
Lol. Okay, so Onan is part of the story of Judah and Tamar. Tamar was married to Judah's eldest son, he died without having kids, so Onan was supposed to help her conceive a son in his brother's name, but because it would technically be his brother's child and not his, Onan didn't want to father any children by Tamar so whenever they had sex he would pull out. The specific wording used (at least in the NIV) was "spilled his seed on the ground. God basically was like, "Dude, you're the worst" and killed him. And then Judah's next youngest son did the exact same thing. So he died too. A story conveniently forgotten by Henry VIII when he was a divorce...
In earlier uses, the term ’bisexuality’ meant a form of gender non-conformity rather than a sexuality. It meant something along the lines of both sexes/lack thereof; probably why she mentioned gender instead of sexuality on the quote.
The bible story of Onan is about pulling out - he didn't want to get a ledy pregnant, and God was upset about it. Somehow somewhere in history the meaning changed to masturbation. Possibly in the ongoing process of using shame as power tool in catholic church ;) And that's what quote must refer to - that we misuse Onan name, since he wasn't really masturbating. This is a super cool idea for a livestream, as it would allow more discussion arund the quotes!
Would anyone happen to have some book recommendations they'd be willing to share? I'm looking for books exploring anything under the umbrella of love, sex/sexuality, related ethics and philosophy, masculinity, etc., from feminist and sex positive perspectives. The Will to Change and All About Love by Bell Hooks are two examples. If you've got suggestions I'd love to hear them!
I suspect that in a society with no pressure, a lot more people would be bi than currently identify that way, but also it feels like the opposite error to say that monosexuality would be nonexistent or even unusual. Especially given that gay and lesbian folks are often under lots of pressure to try hetero relationships and still continue to be gay and lesbian. Presumably some straight folks are just as innately firm in their preferences regardless of social pressure, and it's just harder to tell which ones because straight is a social default.
Yep, that quote sounds, to me, very dismissive of predispositions. I am 100% straight. I have never felt any other way. I am not attracted to men in the least. I tend to go against societal norms and social pressure, but as far as my sexual orientation and sexual desires, i'm pretty much straight and vanilla.
And nope, don't agree with Charlotte about bisexuality. Yes, women are more likely to be attracted to multiple gender but I think sexuality is fluid, what is true for someone at one point in time may not be true at another. I understand that Charlotte might be saying that, without prejudice we would be free to love whomever but by saying no woman wouldn be heterosexual is then erasing heterosexuality. Which in and of itself is restricting.
I always thought the Yale ladies end to end was a joke, expecting the quote to go: “laid end to end would wrap around the earth 3 times” or some other impressive measurement of length but instead saying “no one would be surprised” as an unexpected ending and sexual innuendo 😂
Most biblical scholars agree onan was I'm using the pull out method or coitus interruptus and not masturbation. In fact, the Bible says nothing about masturbation.
Love the video Hannah! Especially loved the quotes by Charlotte Wolff! Obviously menstruation doesn't increase your risk of developing psychiatric conditions, but there is a growing body of evidence that suggests some patients experience fluctuations in psychiatric symptoms during their cycle. Childbirth and menopause do, though, increase your risk of developing certain psychiatric conditions, including depression and anxiety disorders, and psychosis with regards to the perinatal period.
Onan was the younger brother of Er. After Er was killed, according to at least one narrative for refusing to get his wife pregnant, Onan was ordered by their father to take over as her husband (look up "Levirate marriage"), and was killed in turn for refusing to produce a child who would be considered his brother's offspring and not his own, and who if a boy would succeed to Er's place as their father's first-born-son-lineage principle heir which Onan would've otherwise taken over because Er died sonless. Both refused to fulfill family obligations for selfish reasons, one rooted in chauvinism and the other in greed. The whole story is an exercise in multiple forms of problematic male entitlement.
Though Tamar (the women in question) ultimately has the last laugh. Not only does she find a bold way to conceive a child through the family line, she puts the family patriarch in a position of humility. By disguising herself as a prostitute who her father in-law Judah meets in his travels and fails to recognize. The same man who refused his third son to her after the first two died making him think she was cursed. Not only that, but by having Judah pay for her services with his staff, seal and chord she later escapes calls for her execution her actions by confirming he's the father. Thus her twins are allowed his inheritance. A terrific of tales of how a cleaver women turned the sexual tables of power.
I laughed so much at the last one, it's like radical anti-conservative-patriarcal-sex-neg-chaste bullshit turned accidentally based-acephobe, so much post-irony in here^^ Freud was... great at his time comparatively to the status quo who was entirely linked to the reactionary aristocracy and Christian puritanism, made to oppress, jail and persecute sexual and neurodivergent minorities, sanitary politics. Freud was like that kinda autistic guy who noticed patterns, who tried his best to do empirical quantitative and qualitative analysis of his data from his patients, while also being self centered, a product of his time and self-centered, trying to base a global system of sexuality based of his own cringe kinks, probably rationalizing them as something everyone go through. I like to compare it to medicine, in the western XIXth century, at the time it was invented, medicine still was mostly ineffective and worse, mostly killing people quicker and needlessly, doing more harm, so basically doing nothing + positive placebo effect was the best at the time, only backfiring with science and social progress made post-WW2, exactly like psychoanalysis. Of course I'm talking the colonial west, sexual and neurotypal freedom and effective medicine existed elsewhere before, globally erased by the patriarchy and imperialism, then capitalism in a very big nutshell.
I think you're spot on with the Ellis interpretation. The story is that Onan refused to give his deceased brother an heir by sleeping with his widow. A common interpretation is that Onan was masturbating, but Ellis argues that he actually pulled out instead.
Came here to say this! Glad someone else knows about the latter interpretation (which I learned in a college class on the Hebrew Bible, definitely not in religious school XD). I hope people hear this tidbit and check out the story of Tamar and Judah-I feel like stories like that get glossed over in early religious education (or education on world religion in schools), and a lot of people don't realize the interesting cultural ideas that are in the Bible.
On Onan: He had a brother who died without an heir. Onan had agreed to father an heir for that brother in the event he left his wife a widow. Onan reneged on the promise and pulled out instead of allowing his brother's widow to conceive. God didn't like that. Somewhere along the line, he became associated with masturbation for some reason.
The Onan thing is a slightly odd Bible story without the context. Onan was culturally obliged to impregnate his dead elder brothers wife to ensure the wife had an offspring. As a widow would usually be cared for by the kids, no kids would make the widow (Tamar) vulnerable in society with no one to financially look after her. So that's why he was asked to have sex with his dead brothers widow. It is not clear why Onan withdraw and ejaculated on the ground. Possibly he we protesting the practice, possibly he just didn't want his sister in law to have a kid and gain the inheritance rights of his dead elder brother. Or maybe another reason. But for a long time this story was misapplied to masturbation with a big focus on wasting the "seed" or possibly using contraception. But almost universally modern scholars (including the quote read out) agree the story is about disobeying cultural obligations and a father's instructions. An action that would have lead to widow being made more vulnerable within an already unequal society.
Not to mention that he's having sex with her under false pretenses and without the social blessing of getting an heir for his brother. Certainly a form of sexual assault by modern standards, but I do wonder if it might have been considered that at the time too, since the only reason it was allowed was for procreation.
On Onan: his thing was he "spilt his seed on the ground" ie wasted it by not ejaculating in his wife. It was the waste of seed that was the problem, which became "any sex act that can't lead to procreation". But yeah he pulled out and spilt his seed rather than was actually masturbating
