Testosterone
In the church
basement the instructor demonstrates
how to choke
someone. With his left hand
he grips the
volunteer by the back of the neck
and with the
thumb and index of the right, he scissors
back along the
jawline into the soft meat
of his
assistant’s throat. The volunteer is encouraged
to resist, to
flex his neck muscles. But it takes
only seconds
for the instructor to get a firm grip
on the vital
tubes and cords of his helper,
who urgently
taps his own chest in mute
surrender.
After the
demonstration, men immediately
step forward.
They want the same thing
done to them.
The instructor obliges, and one by one
their windpipes
are dug out of their necks
and squeezed.
After class
they linger. One of them brings out
a pair of
rattan fighting sticks from his backpack,
another begins
to demonstrate the Cherokee style
of knife
fighting - one hand gripping a six inch blade,
the other
cupped over the heart. The rest of the students
prod the
instructor with questions: Which is better,
the fist, or
the palm? Is wrestling real or what? No one
notices the
female students leave, but it’s only
a matter of
time before someone comes out and asks:
So, what do
Christmas trees and priests have in common?
Their balls are
for decorational purposes only. And then
it’s Saturday
afternoon in the old rec room and Mom
has left, along
with all the pleasantries and there’s nothing
between us now
but dirty jokes and scraped knuckles -
punctuation, as
it is liberated from discourse. A pinched
nerve here, a
bruised shoulder there, the sharp
cramps in our
guts, caused from way too much
senseless
laughter.
Sleeper Hold V -- Georg Meyer-Wiel
Many Christian sects permit married priests, but the practice is forbidden by the Catholic church. However, in the beginning most of the clergy were married, with St. Paul bing a notable exception. Early in the 4th century a synod was held at Eliberri (near Granada, Spain), which decided that "marriage be altogether prohibited to bishops, priests, and deacons, or to all clerics placed in the ministry, and that they keep away from their wives and not beget children; whoever does this shall be deprived of the honor of the clerical office." However, it was a commonplace practice that deacons, priests , and bishops continued to live with their wives and father children. Among the most influential figures of the century was bishop Aurelius Ambrosius (St Ambrose) of Milano, who gain a reputation for eloquence; when he was an infant in his cradle a swarm of bees settled on his face and left behind a drop honey. He was a champion of priestly celibacy and claimed that Paul did indeed speak of "one who has children, not of one who begets children." The "Directa" of 385, the oldest complete set of "epistolae decretales" (decretals; papal letters that formulate decisions in ecceliastical law) was issued by Siricius, the 1st bishop of Roma to adopt the title of pope. (before that time it was used by most bishops and meant "papa"). He decreed that "the Lord Jesus formally stipulated in the Gospel that he had not come to abolish the law, but to bring it to perfection; this is also why he wanted the beauty of the Church whose Bridegroom he is to shine with the splendor of chastity so that when he returns, on the Day of Judgment, he will find her without stain or wrinkle, as his Apostle taught. It is through the indissoluble law of these decisions that all of us, priests and deacons, are bound together from the day of our ordination." A year after his death the position was made binding by the Council of Carthage of 390: "It pleases us all that bishop, priest and deacon, guardians of purity, abstain from conjugal intercourse with their wives, so that those who serve at the altar may keep a perfect chastity." (The pope at the time was Anastasius I, whose son became Innocentius I, who settled the final composition of the Bible.)
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, more directly, he noted, "It pleases us all that bishop, priest and deacon, guardians of purity, abstain from conjugal intercourse with their wives, so that those who serve at the altar may keep a perfect chastity."
Many Christian sects permit married priests, but the practice is forbidden by the Catholic church. However, in the beginning most of the clergy were married, with St. Paul bing a notable exception. Early in the 4th century a synod was held at Eliberri (near Granada, Spain), which decided that "marriage be altogether prohibited to bishops, priests, and deacons, or to all clerics placed in the ministry, and that they keep away from their wives and not beget children; whoever does this shall be deprived of the honor of the clerical office." However, it was a commonplace practice that deacons, priests , and bishops continued to live with their wives and father children. Among the most influential figures of the century was bishop Aurelius Ambrosius (St Ambrose) of Milano, who gain a reputation for eloquence; when he was an infant in his cradle a swarm of bees settled on his face and left behind a drop honey. He was a champion of priestly celibacy and claimed that Paul did indeed speak of "one who has children, not of one who begets children." The "Directa" of 385, the oldest complete set of "epistolae decretales" (decretals; papal letters that formulate decisions in ecceliastical law) was issued by Siricius, the 1st bishop of Roma to adopt the title of pope. (before that time it was used by most bishops and meant "papa"). He decreed that "the Lord Jesus formally stipulated in the Gospel that he had not come to abolish the law, but to bring it to perfection; this is also why he wanted the beauty of the Church whose Bridegroom he is to shine with the splendor of chastity so that when he returns, on the Day of Judgment, he will find her without stain or wrinkle, as his Apostle taught. It is through the indissoluble law of these decisions that all of us, priests and deacons, are bound together from the day of our ordination." A year after his death the position was made binding by the Council of Carthage of 390: "It pleases us all that bishop, priest and deacon, guardians of purity, abstain from conjugal intercourse with their wives, so that those who serve at the altar may keep a perfect chastity." (The pope at the time was Anastasius I, whose son became Innocentius I, who settled the final composition of the Bible.)
ReplyDeleteTestosterone, an anabolic steroid, is the primary male sex hormone. It is primarily secreted by the testicles and, to a lesser extent, the ovaries. On average, in adult males, levels of testosterone are about 7 to 8 times as great as in adult females, and, since the metabolism of testosterone in males is greater, the daily production is about 20 times greater in men. Testosterone-specific structural brain characteristic can predict aggressive behavior in individuals. Anabolic steroid use which increases testosterone in teenagers is associated with increased violence, and testosterone increases verbal aggression and anger. It is significantly correlated with, and directly facilitated by, competitive behavior. Studies have found direct correlation between testosterone and dominance, especially among the most violent criminals in prison who had the highest testosterone levels, and that fathers (those outside competitive environments) had the lowest testosterone levels compared to other males. Subjects who interact with hand guns in an experimental game showed rises in both testosterone and aggression. According to the challenge hypothesis, testosterone increases during puberty, thus facilitating reproductive and competitive behavior. On the other hand, the evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory posits that testosterone and other androgens have evolved to masculinize the brain in order to be competitive, even to the point of risking harm to the person and others. Individuals with masculinized brains enhance their resource acquiring abilities in order to survive and to attract and copulate with mates as much as possible. Natural selection might have evolved males to be more sensitive to competitive and status challenge situations, and testosterone is the essential ingredient for aggressive behavior in these situations. It produces aggression by activating subcortical areas in the brain, which may also be inhibited or suppressed by social norms or familial situations while still manifesting in diverse intensities and ways through thoughts, anger, verbal aggression, competition, dominance and physical violence. Testosterone mediates attraction to cruel and violent cues in men by promoting extended viewing of violent stimuli.
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