how in Sydney they distributed 70,000 condoms to athletes and ran out after the third day… People ask me about this with The Naked Olympics: if its a book about the Olympics, how is there so little about sports and so much about sex?
Partly it’s my own obsession, I suppose, but, in fact, athletics and sex have always been intertwined. You describe ancient Olympic activities like wrestlers being thrashed for eye-gouging, young athletes being fondled by randy old men, partygoers indulging in carnal ménages. How do you know all this happened? You’re first going to the literary sources, because not only did the Greeks love indulging in sex, they loved writing about sex. Of course you have to handle those sources with caution: you can’t, so to speak, read Playboy and treat it as a documentary on the sexual practices of people in Utah. But when they’re talking about sex, you can see what’s taken for granted and what’s sort of beyond the pale. There are all sorts of spellbooks for erotic magic, ancient romance novels written by the Greeks. Fragments of them exist entirely intact. And then you’ve got the visual sources, the vase paintings. You’ve got these amazing beautiful wine cups: as you drink the wine, this sexual ima
Related Questions
- how in Sydney they distributed 70,000 condoms to athletes and ran out after the third day… People ask me about this with The Naked Olympics: if its a book about the Olympics, how is there so little about sports and so much about sex?
- Why do famous people, like athletes and movie stars, use tobacco?
- What are the people like in Sydney?
