Identity, Gender and Sexuality among the Colonial Sodomites (Viceroyalty of Peru, XVI-XVII)

MOLINA, FERNANDA

Sexuality and the Unnatural in Colonial Latin America

University of California Press

Lugar: California; Año: 2016; p. 141 - 161

The aim of this chapter is to explore the sexual practices of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sodomites in the viceroyalty of Peru in order to evaluate in what way the definition of sodomy, which was seen as an inherently unnatural act by theologians and jurists of the time, evinces the myriad experiences undergone by individuals accused of the ?sin against nature.? The chaper analyzes sexual practices, gender configurations and subjectivity of called sodomites. Across civil, ecclesiastical and inquisitorial trials for "abominable sin", it will try to prove the limitations of formal definitions of sodomy "like simple juridical act", its complexity and divers sodomitical experiences.