Homosexuality in pre-Columbian Peru

Erotic ceramics of Larco Museum in Lima

Some evidence for homosexual behavior in pre-Columbian Peru has survived since the Spanish conquest of Peru in the form of erotic ceramics (Spanish: huacos eróticos). Such pottery originated from several ancient civilizations of Peru, the most famous of these being the Moche and Chimu cultures.

Pre-Columbian Era

In pre-Columbian times, different ethnic groups existed in Ancient Peru. Gender studies carried out for this period are scarce, and very little is known about pre-Columbian homosexual practices.

Moche culture

In the Moche culture, developed in northern Peru between 300 BC. C. and the 700s AD. C., homosexuality would have been perceived normally, as attested by its ceramics. It is important to note that 40% of the ceramics (locally called "huacos") represent homosexual relationships. Later, with the Upon the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, many of these "huacos" were destroyed for being considered immoral, a practice that continued until the 20th century, this time by researchers and archaeologists, in an attempt to censorship and maintain an idealized vision of ancient Peruvian.

Inca Empire

According to the chronicler Pedro Cieza de León in Crónica del Perú, unlike the rest of the Inca Empire, the practice of homosexuality was tolerated in the north (Chinchaysuyo) and even considered an act of worship, with a male brothel existing that attended to the needs of the troop. These sexual servants were known as pampayruna.

Each temple or main shrine has a man, two or more depending on the idol, who are dressed as women, and with these, almost by way of sanctity and religion, the lords and principals have their carnal council.

— Crónica del Perú.

Likewise, the Incas had special consideration for lesbians whom they called holjoshta. The Inca Capac Yupanqui used to have a very special affection for these women.

However, in the center and south of the empire the Incas severely punished homosexuality. The chronicler Martín de Murúa commented in his General History of Peru that the Inca Lloque Yupanqui punished "with great severity public sins - stealing, killing – and sodomy, for which he restrained, plucked his ears, pulled his nose and hanged him, and he cut the necks of the nobles and principals or tore their shirts.”

The Inca Garcilaso de la Vega relates in his Royal Commentaries of the Incas that homosexuality in the Inca Empire was prohibited and that "sodomites" were persecuted and burned alive.

They had found that there were some sodomites, not in all the valleys, but in each one, not in all the common neighbors, but in some individuals who secretly used that evil vice... The Inca was happy with the story of the conquest. ... And in particular he ordered that with great diligence an investigation be made of the sodomites and in a public square they would burn alive those who were found not only guilty but initiated, no matter how little... they would also burn their houses and tear them down to the ground and burn them. the trees of their estates, uprooting them... and they proclaimed by an unforgettable law that from then on they should guard against falling into such a crime, under penalty that for the sin of one, their entire town would be devastated and all its inhabitants in general burned.

— Comentarios reales de los incas

For his part, Cieza de León commented in his Chronicle of Peru that the Incas punished those who practiced homosexuality: "they hated those who used it, considering them as vile timid people and that if it was known to anyone that such a sin had committed, they punished him with such a penalty that it would be pointed out and known among everyone."

Aymara people

In the case of the Aymaras, who reside southwest of the Peruvian mountains, there are different opinions. According to the superstitions of certain sub-ethnic groups, they are also said to be an omen of bad luck. Although some communities have a certain degree of acceptance, respect and understanding of these people for their sexual orientation. In others, homosexuals were frequently considered special, magical beings, endowed with supernatural powers, recognized for their powers to be shamans.

Arrival of the Spanish and banning of homosexuality

Once the Spanish arrived, in the 16th century, they were astonished at the sexual practices of the natives. Viceroy Francisco de Toledo and the priests were aghast to discover that homosexuality was accepted and that the indigenous population also did not prohibit premarital sex or hold female chastity to be of any particular importance.

Historian Maximo Terrazos describes how the Spanish reconciled this native sexuality with the Catholic faith:

Toledo ordered natives evangelized and those "caught cohabiting outside church-sanctioned wedlock would receive 100 lashes with a whip 'to persuade these Indians to remove themselves from this custom so detrimental and pernicious'. Toledo also issued several decrees aimed at creating near total segregation of the sexes in public. Violations were punishable by 100 lashes and two years' service in pestilential state hospitals. Under the Inquisition, brought to Peru in 1569, homosexuals could be burned at the stake."

— Maximo Terrazos, historian

However, homosexuality in Peru was decriminalised in 1837.

Ceramics

A huaco from the Chimú culture (1000–1400) depicting 2 men engaging in anal sex.

Over a span of 800 years, pre-Columbian central Andean cultures, especially the Moche, created at least tens of thousands of ceramics (Spanish: huacos). A few such ceramics show skeletons undeniably engaged in homosexuality; four depict gay male anal intercourse, one depicts lesbian penetration with the clitoris. Many others show partners where at least one member is of indeterminate sex, like the oral sex ceramic shown above, where the genitalia of the person on their knees is not visible. Such works, due perhaps to heterosexist bias, have often been interpreted as depicting a heterosexual couple.

Destruction

Many of the ceramics, along with most indigenous icons, were smashed. In the 1570s, Toledo and his clerical advisers organized to eliminate sodomy, masturbation and a common social practice which roughly translated from the native Quechua means "trial marriage". As Terrazos describes, "You couldn't talk about them because they were considered [pornographic]." They were prohibited due to "taboo imposed by the Christian religion that men have sex only for procreation and that women do not experience sexual pleasure."

Survival

In spite of this organized effort to destroy these artifacts, many have survived to the present day. For decades, the erotic ceramics were locked away from the public, accessible only to an elite group of Peruvian social scientists. Occasionally and reluctantly they were made available to select foreign researchers from the United States and Europe. The Larco Museum in Lima, Peru is well known for its gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery.

See also

• LGBT rights in Peru