Helping You Make Crucial Decisions About Your Behavior

There are all sorts of odd things floating around out there on the Internet. About 97.4% are cat videos and pictures; of the rest, some are fascinating, some are useful, and many are just stupid*. This one is fascinating and useful, particularly for the ostentatiously religious (click to enlarge) ...

This chart was developed by James Brundage, a scholar of the Crusades, who scoured large numbers of penitentials - handbooks carried by priests in the Middle Ages that provided guidance for the penance to be applied to various types of confessed sins, especially those of a sexual nature**. The penitentials put strict limits on what was considered to be acceptable behavior for the pious. Brundage consolidated the complex rules about sex into this useful flowchart for the godly.

The flowchart was originally published in Brundage's book Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe, which is now a standard text in Medieval history.

So ...

If you're concerned about the acceptability of your sexual behavior, or if you're a politician or a celebrity interested in knowing how many limits you are transgressing***, this chart's for you. Enjoy.

Have a good day. For more information on things sexual, read the wonderfully funny and entertaining short book Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, by Mary Roach.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* Into this category fall most of the politically-oriented articles that feature grossly cherry-picked statistics and ad hominem attacks designed to make your political opponents look like the personal trainer for the Antichrist.

** Of which there were very many, most religions being very interested in regulating what goes on in your bedroom, back seat, hot tub, etc.

*** Not that you ever give it a second thought.