The Virgin Joseph

Reading Foucault and his History of Sexuality has left me thinking a lot about sexuality in Catholicism.  He draws upon Catholicism and confession a lot in his theories about repression, but I was reminded of a discrepancy that exists in depictions of sexuality between men and women in Catholicism. 

If someone brings up honor, it might conjure images of shining knights on horseback, or two men dueling, or Gerald Butler in the movie 300 fighting against a CGI army with his fellow Spartans.  Male honor is often expressed through acts of violence or physicality.  On the other hand, female honor is deeply tied to chastity.  Women have to defend their honor, their virginity, while men fight for honor.  For women, chastity is the same thing as honor.  Another part of male honor is protecting the honor of women in their lives, such as sisters, wives, and daughters.  In this way, at least a part of male honor is equal to chastity. 

But what is important about honor and chastity?  Catholicism has placed a large emphasis on chastity.  It is one of the Seven Virtues that are opposed to the Seven Deadly Sins.  By practicing the virtues, one can be protected against the temptation of the sins.  Mary, mother of Jesus, who is often presented as the ideal for women, is always described as the Virgin Mary.  Even though she is revered as the mother of Jesus, she did so while maintaining her chastity and thus her honor.  Catholicism, by raising Mary as an epitome of female virtue, thus encouraged the idea that women should maintain their virginity as the only way they can attain salvation.  However, should they be unable to maintain their chastity, confession presented itself as a way of repenting for one’s sins. 

However, that only covers the chastity of women.  How are men supposed to consider their chastity?  I mentioned earlier how part of male honor is to protect the chastity of women in their life, but that still leaves men without any honor tied directly to their own chastity.  Sure, men aren’t supposed to have sex out of wedlock, adultery is still a sin, and they are supposed to confess impure thoughts.  However, there is much less of an emphasis placed on virginity and chastity for men than there is for women.  A perfect example of this lies in saints.  For the few female saints, some part of their holiness almost always ties into how they remained a virgin, thus ensuring their purity.  One such example would be Saint Cecilia, the patroness of musicians.  A key aspect of her story is that on the night of her wedding she told her husband that she had taken a vow of virginity.  She remained chaste throughout her life while helping convert people to Christianity until she was eventually killed.  Even after death, her purity and holiness prevailed, as it is said that when her remains were opened up in 1599 AD (she died in the 3^rd Century AD), her corpse was perfectly preserved, and even smelling faintly of flowers.  While there are male saints who also were preserved by their holiness, descriptions of them rarely mention their chastity.  One example is Saint Sebastian, who converted some Romans, survived being shot full of arrows, and chastised Emperor Diocletian, who is famous for persecuting Christians during his rule.  There is no mention of his sexual status.  The best example of this discrepancy is the mother herself, Mary.  She is almost always described as the Virgin Mary.  Her virginity, just as much as being the mother of Christ, is what defines her image in the church.  It is meant to remind people of the miracle of Jesus’ birth, with Mary not having had sex, but it is telling that that is her title, whereas Joseph, who is also presumably a virgin, is never called the Virgin Joseph.   

Foucault is right in pointing out that there is an expectation of male chastity, but he is remiss in not mentioning the overwhelming expectation of female chastity.