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9 - Sexuality in Tenochtitlan in the Early Sixteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2024

By
Miriam López Hernández
Edited by
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks  and
Mathew Kuefler
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Mathew Kuefler
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
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Summary

This chapter first looks at the primary sources available for the study of sexuality in Tenochtitlan in the sixteenth century, including paintings, sculptures, buildings, prayer books, legal codes, letters, chronicles, and judicial documents. Among the sources, the work directed by the Franciscan Fray Bernardino de Sahagún is the most prominent. The chapter then addresses Nahua principles of sexuality, which were linked to fertility, pleasure, and moderation in sexual activities. When the principle of moderation was not followed, the consequences could be fatal for the community. The differences between social classes in regard to how people should conduct their sexual lives are looked at next; then, the different sexual practices, paying particular attention to attitudes towards these in moral discourses and texts written shortly after the Spanish conquest. In particular, abundant information is given about adultery, prostitution, gender identity, and same-sex relations. Finally, discourses aimed at women exalted virginity before marriage and fidelity to one’s spouse afterwards. By contrast, discourses addressed to men acclaimed the early self-discipline that would be rewarded with a successful marriage and beautiful children.

Keywords

AztecTenochtitlansexualitygenderAncient MexicoPrehispanicMesoamericahomosexualityadulteryprostitutionsexual transgression
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History of Sexualities , pp. 172 - 190
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Further Reading

Ávila Sandoval, Santiago. ‘La vida del último Tlatoani mexica’. In Historia de la vida cotidiana en México. Vol. 1: Mesoamérica y los ámbitos indígenas de la Nueva España, ed. Gonzalbo, Pablo Escalante, 279–300. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2004.Google Scholar
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Evans, Susan Toby. ‘Sexual Politics in the Aztec Palace: Public, Private and Profane’. Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 3 (1998): 166–88.Google Scholar
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Marcos, Sylvia. Taken from the Lips: Gender and Eros in Mesoamerican Religions. Leiden: Brill, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Pennock, Caroline Dodds. Bonds of Blood: Gender, Lifestyle, and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piho, Virve. ‘Formas de unión masculino-femenina en México-Tenochtitlan’. In Homenaje a Julio César Olivé Negrete, 395–416. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México/Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes/Colegio Mexicano de Antropólogos, 1991.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, 13 vols. Trans. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press, 1950–82.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Bernardino de Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España, ed. Austin, Alfredo López and Quintana, Josefina García. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 2000.Google Scholar
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Tortorici, Zeb. Sins against Nature: Sex and Archives in Colonial New Spain. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018.Google Scholar

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