Sexuality and the Unnatural in Colonial Latin America ed. by Zeb Tortorici (review)

This anthology consists of nine contributions with an opening introduction and a concluding epilogue. Its purpose is to analyze the history of sexuality in colonial Latin America through the prism of the “unnatural” (contra natura). As a theological and judicial concept, contra natura encompassed all sexual acts, desires, and relations that did not or could not fulfill the procreative, “natural” purpose of human sexuality according to God’s order of creation. The unnatural was thus not just a simple negation of the natural but rather a deflection from its divine purpose—a misuse or abuse of a natural urge instilled by God. To date, Latin American historical studies of “sins against nature” have tended to focus on male same-sex sexual acts. A primary goal of this volume is instead to use the concept of contra natura to explore a broader range of corporeal acts that were related to the unnatural in different manners and situations. Along with masturbation, sodomy (male and female), and bestiality, chapters deal with acts constituting grievous offenses against the natural order without being considered nonprocreative or even sexual, like certain intercourse positions, incest, solicitation in the confessional, sex with the devil, erotic desecration of holy images, and suicide.

The book presents a mixture of in-depth analyses and empirical surveys based on confessions and trial records. An excellent example of the former is Jaqueline S. Holler’s essay on desire, doubt, and diabolical sex among colonial Mexican women. Women’s accounts of sexual contact with the devil are scrutinized in detail and compared with both the inquisitorial view and prevailing medical opinion. Special attention is paid to how the natural and unnatural are invoked by the women and the inquisitors, respectively. Holler is also one of the few contributors to this volume to refer to corresponding research on early modern Europe. The result is a fascinating picture of striking differences between the Mexican and European contexts. The characteristics of the Mexican cases are discussed further in relation to indigenous myths and the reception of European doctrines of demonology.

Another example is Fernanda Molina’s contribution on male sodomy, gender, and identity. Molina starts with a critical comment on Foucault’s famous distinction between the sodomite and the homosexual. Finding the notion of the sodomite as driven by an excessive and disorderly lust rather than by attraction to a person of the same “species” far too narrow, Molina sets out to study the intimate experiences and lived realities of sodomy in colonial Peru. What emerges is an image far removed from the strict hierarchical relations based on age and status as examined in studies of the sodomitical subcultures of Renaissance Florence (Michael Rocke) and early modern Spain (Cristian Berco). Rocke summarizes the dominant pattern in Florence as an adult male taking the “active,” assertive role with a “passive” child or adolescent. While young boys and slaves are mentioned in some of Molina’s examples, the key examples concern relations between adults (or so it seems, at least—no figures are given for age disparity). Status inequality is mentioned only briefly and in general terms, but its potentially countervailing effect on the development of affective ties is played down. Affective, long-lasting relationships between men seem to have been the most prominent in the colonial vice royalty of Peru. Most remarkable, however, was the tendency among many so-called sodomites to identify with the feminine rather than masculine gender without a clear-cut distinction between active and passive roles. Some discussion and varying opinions of scholars about the feasible influence of indigenous culture would have been most appropriate here, not the least for a broader range of readers outside the Latin American research field.

Parallel to analyses of acts and meanings runs the question of the overlapping jurisdiction of inquisitorial and secular courts. The definitions of sexual sin, heresy, and crime were imprecise and dependent on...