Society vs. Sexuality

After reading Maurice I found myself sympathizing with several of its main characters. I began to try to imagine what it would be like if I knew that society, including my family, would turn against me because of my sexual preference. It stirred emotions such as fear, self-loathing, anger, confusion, and disappointment towards those who would criticize me. To feel that you are confined to yourself with no outlet to express yourself makes it easy to see why Maurice suffered as he does in the first part of the book.
Even though Forster represents Maurice as an average person you can see a very complex character underneath, which is similar to how I felt while viewing the movie. In both versions of this story it is evident that Maurice is a man of some statue and respect, but if society were to discover his secret they would turn their opinion of him to feelings of distain and disgust. This change in society’s view of his identity, the lowering of status because his sexual relations, has similarities and differences to Halperin’s examples from classical Athens. For Maurice it is considered unacceptable for him to have relations with someone of the same sex, but in Athens it is viewed as equally unacceptable for someone to have relations with someone of the same status. Both societies have set guidelines, just with different rules.
Halperin’s comparison of modern and ancient society’s view of sexuality opened my mind to consider the extent of power and control that sexuality could provide to people. Even in the more current sense it is visible how people use their sexuality to dominant or persuade others, but in Athens sexuality was more a way to confirm your status and to solidify it. It was almost expected for one of higher status to dominant someone of a lower status, thus confirming their power and control over the weaker.
The differences I saw between Maurice and Halperin was mainly just society’s change as to what is appropriate and the purpose behind sexuality. For this reason I also say that they are similar, either way it is society that dictates what is acceptable. I personally felt the quote by Maurice Godelier to ring true: “it is not sexuality which haunts society, but society which haunts the body’s sexuality.”