:The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present

Abstract

Near end of century, new and terrifying disease arrives suddenly from distant continent. Infecting people through sex, it storms from country to country, defying all drugs and medical knowledge. deadly disease provokes widespread fear and recrimination; medical authorities call epidemic the just rewards of unbridled lust; religious leader warns that God has raised up new diseases against debauchery. time was 1490s; place, Europe; disease, syphilis; and religious leader was none other than John Calvin. Throughout history, Western society has often viewed sickness as punishment for sin. It has failed to prevent and cure diseases especially diseases tied to sex that were seen as retribution of wrathful God. The Wages of Sin, remarkable history of these diseases, shows how society's views of particular afflictions often heightened suffering of sick and substituted condemnation for care.Peter Allen moves from medieval diseases of lovesickness and leprosy through syphilis and bubonic plague, described by one writer as a broom in hands of Almighty, with which He sweepeth most nasty and uncomely corners of universe. More recently, medical and social responses to masturbation in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and AIDS in twentieth round out Allen's timely and erudite study of intersection of private morality and public health. The Wages of Sin tells fascinating story of how ancient views on sex and sin have shaped, and continue to shape, religious life, medical practice, and private habits.