My name is Socus and I am a mere
slave in Athens and I know that I do not really matter here, but when it comes
to men having sex with boys or other men, I am definitely affected. Though I am
a slave, I have a bit of a different story than the typical. As many of the
others before me have said, it is against the law to be paid for sexual
activity, but I was desperate to get out of my lower-class standing. I saw all
of the other boys at the school of martial arts around me interacting with
these older men and I knew that could be my one way out of my near servile
life. I did not really understand what was happening at school when an older
man approached me and said he would pay me to be his passive partner in sex and
I thought it was my ticket to prosperity. Unfortunately, the public officials
overheard what was happening and since I had already agreed and accepted the
man's money, I was stripped of my citizen rights. Now I have been reduced to
slave status and I have no control anymore. As a slave, I cannot participate in
courting rituals and I cannot court free boys. Athenian men are able to have
sex with me at will which shows that there truly is a link between your status
in society and your control of your position in sexual activity. Because of the
complicated system of pederasty in the city of Athens, I am now a slave and
cannot get out of my social position. Other Greek cities are more cut and dry
about their view on pederasty, but Athens is just so complicated. Because of
that, I have lost my citizen rights and for that I will always disagree with
pederasty as an institution of the Athenian elite. My opinion as a slave does
not matter, but please do consider it.
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