![young teen gay sex young teen gay sex](https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/boy-gay-pride-guys-1390442.jpg)
And if you were a young man offering sexual services – in other words if you were, let’s say, 17, and you openly or covertly offered your body for purely sexual reasons to an adult male – well that could be subject to an accusation of criminal prostitution, which would have political consequences.” Predators who went around looking for young boys to get off with and to have sex with were frowned upon very strongly. “If it was thought that the junior partner was being forced into it, then that was not good, that was frowned upon. There was a voting age for males, an age of majority, 18 at Athens for example, but there was no ‘age of consent’ as we understand that legal concept.
![young teen gay sex young teen gay sex](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/3b/a1/90/3ba1903d40ad769c7ac8af2a615f0f64--fitspiration-body-sexy-gay-men.jpg)
There were many, many different Greek societies, each with their own social and sexual norms and legal regulations. “Very rarely was pederasty criminalised, but there were rules and regulations, it was not a ‘free for all’. “It was extremely complicated, there were lots of shades of grey,” says Cartledge. The erastes might be what you and I would call ‘exclusively’ homosexual, but they might be married to a woman as well – and that is, of course, not unknown in our society today.” Was pederasty considered to be socially acceptable in ancient Greece?
![young teen gay sex young teen gay sex](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/0c/21/b4/0c21b4bc102588407b01ad097a049c21--teen-boys-high-school.jpg)
“The relationship was between an adult male over the age of 20 (the erastes) and a younger male (the eromenos). “But ‘pederasty’ ( paiderastia) refers specifically to boys. “In ancient Greece it could be of either sex – the word pais is unisex – it could involve an underage sub-adult, either male or female,” says Cartledge. An illegal and totally unacceptable practice today, the subject of pederasty is a highly sensitive one, he adds. “Pederasty literally means lust for, or love of, in a strong sexual sense, children,” says Professor Cartledge.