RSS
Opinion


Home Page > Opinion > Bad romance: 10 surprising facts about the Irish and sex

Blogs


 Helpful Links

comment on article 11 Comments
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail

Bad romance: 10 surprising facts about the Irish and sex

By
DARA KELLY
Published Saturday, January 30, 2010, 1:37 PM
Updated Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 3:56 PM
Read more: Ireland

Share
Bookmark and Share

'The most expensive 14 minutes of my life,' says Colin Farrell of the sex tape in which he starred.
'The most expensive 14 minutes of my life,' says Colin Farrell of the sex tape in which he starred.

What is it about the Irish and sex? Pre-Christian Irish attitudes to sex were decidedly more liberal than in recent times, where Cupid was saddled with a chastity belt by an outwardly pious nation. But have times changed? You be the judge. Here are 10 surprising facts about the Irish and sex:

1.  Sexual Equality

Ancient Irish laws, called the Brehon Laws, provided women full equality with men. That’s right, they could inherit property or bequeath their own; they could marry or divorce the man of their choosing; even the right of a woman to experience satisfaction in marriage was enshrined in its legal framework. In Europe, where burning uppity women at the stake became a national pastime, the Irish attitude to sexual equality between the sexes was nothing short of revolutionary. Stamping out of the Brehon Laws, and with them the rights of women, was finally accomplished under Queen Elizabeth of England.


2. The land of sex and sinners

When it came to matters of love Edmund Spencer, the Elizabethan poet, was appalled by Irish men, who were in the main, he wrote, a bunch of lascivious bisexuals who offered themselves freely to both women and men before his shocked gaze. Spencer enthusiastically recommended the extermination of the Irish race but was himself burned out of his famous castle in County Cork.

3. Bad Romance

The Irish much prefer a dramatic finish to a promising start. Think of Diarmuid and Grainne, think of Charles Stewart Parnell and Kitty O’Shea. Most of all think of poor Oscar Wilde. Wilde’s affair to remember will still be passionately discussed by people not yet born. Having married a beautiful but unsuspecting woman before his latent homosexuality became blatant, the real love of his life turned out to be Lord Alfred Douglas, a whey-faced flaxen -haired youth who ruined his life and reputation. In response Wilde did what generations of Irishmen have, he wrote a ballad that has outlived them all.

4. Do You Take This Man?

According to Yale historian John Boswell, the early Christian church in Ireland included widely performed sacraments and marriage rites for men, which means that the first instances of same sex marriages were held in Ireland. Tell that to your bishop the next time he fulminates against the gays.

1 2 3 Next page >

Vote now - Buzz this story up!


Bad romance: 10 surprising facts about the Irish and sex | IrishCentral


print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


Most recent comments - See all comments

Report abuse
Posted by SingleDonald on Feb 06, 2010, 10:23 PM EST
Very interesting! It really is sad how the Catholic Church was so dogmatic about sexual matters, when I was growing up. Happily, they don't push these matters today, even if they haven't officially repudiated them. We can't help noticing how confessional lines, at least here in America, are considerably shorter than when we were kids. The reason to me is obvious. Men don't see the need to run to confession, after doing such things as looking at Playboy, or fantasizing about a close encounter with Jennifer Aniston. The same, of course, applies to women looking at Playgirl, or engaging in fantasies over George Clooney! I wish that the Church would abandon its medieval concepts, over human sexuality, once and for all!
Report abuse
Posted by IrishAndProud on Feb 03, 2010, 06:05 PM EST
Well then how about parading about Dublin or anywhere else in Ireland with a sign saying that you believe homosexual an-l sex is normal and okay, and that Irish schoolkids should learn it?
Report abuse
Posted by olovely on Feb 03, 2010, 10:35 AM EST
Oh please, I would love to pass around pics of you expressing yourself in Ireland.
Report abuse
Posted by IrishAndProud on Feb 02, 2010, 08:58 PM EST
I hardly need to, olovely. Their falling birth rates scream that loudly enough.
Report abuse
Posted by olovely on Feb 02, 2010, 05:48 PM EST
IrishandProud I suggest you buy a soap box, to to Dublin and hold up a sign that reads: "The Irish aren't having proper sex, enough." Please please send us photographs as proof, too.
Report abuse
Posted by IrishAndProud on Feb 02, 2010, 04:14 PM EST
First of all, the homosexual lifestyle has been practiced since there have been people -- busting the myth that it's some sort of 'new, alternative lifestyle.' It's even OLDER than the xtian bible (how else could that book have referenced the lifestyle, but that it already existed, beforehand?). Of course, how long or often something is practiced does not make it right (crime has been around since the beginning, too); rightness or wrongness does not depend on such things. And secondly, if native Irish birth rates have dropped below replacement levels (as is the case in most if not all of Europe, nowadays) then the Irish aren't having proper sex, enough.


IrishCentral on Twitter




remember me on this computer
forget your password?     
IrishCentral.com is also home to Irish Voice and Irish America magazine