变异的性行为

时空境况决定着性少数是否能够在根本上形成，而且时空境况也决定哪一个性少数有机会得到承认。例如，“同志和拉拉”少数族群在古希腊和古罗马曾经是想象不到的，因为（那时）同性性接触决不是一个什么问题，而是得到认可的。在中世纪的欧洲，同性性接触要不是相反的理由也是想象不到的，这种相反的理由是：它曾经受到如此严厉的责难和起诉，以至于对于任何支持同性性接触的人来说无异于自取灭亡。现如今，就同性性接触来说，世界各个地区呈现着不同的景观：在一些西方国家，“同志和拉拉”少数族群得到了充分的认可，并已经获得了平等的权利；在其它西方国家，争取这种民事权利的斗争正如火如荼；而在剩下来的西方国家里，却举步维艰。在南非，同性配偶能准予结婚；在乌干达，同性性接触可能被判处无期徒刑。不仅在非洲，而且在亚洲和美洲，不同的国家有不同的政策。而且，一些政策正处于改变之中，所以难以对此做出简要的概括。其他的性少数的处境也是如此。在一些西方国家，其中的一些性少数只是最近才逐渐组织起来，它们是：双性恋者（bisexual）、恋物癖者（fetishist）、施虐受虐癖者（sadomasochist）、换偶者（swinger）、易装癖者（transvestite）、易性癖者（transsexual）和无性者（asexuals）。他们中有多少族群会组织起来并成功地获得自己的权利，有多少会衰落下去或面临失败，则是一个悬而未决的问题。我们同样也不清楚他们在世界的其它国家是否能够建立起自己的组织。从人类学上看，性少数的人数并不是一个绝对而恒定的常数，在特定的、有时迅速变换的社会和政治环境下，他们会忽然地显现和冷不丁地匿迹。显而易见，这并不意味着人类的性行为会发生改变。毕竟，人类的性行为是一个长期进化的结果，也是自从史前时期在世界各地在不同程度上都已经同样存在的一种现象。不过，在历史的进程中，对一些性行为的社会态度已经多次发生了变化。

下面对现今众所周知的性少数作一个简要的描述。不过，我们应该谨记的是，可能存在一些性少数身份的重叠现象，而且一些人会把自己认同为数种性少数的成员。

Sexual Minorities: Introduction 6

The circumstances of time and place determine whether a sexual minority can form at all, and they also determine which sexual minority has a chance to be recognized. For example, a “gay and lesbian” minority was unthinkable in ancient Greece and Rome, because homosexual contacts were never an issue but taken for granted. It was also unthinkable in medieval Europe, but for the opposite reason: Homosexual contacts were so severely condemned and prosecuted that it would have been suicidal for anyone to defend them. Today, different parts of the world present different pictures: In some Western countries a “gay and lesbian” minority is well recognized and has won equal rights, in others the civil rights struggle is continuing, and in still others it has hardly begun. In South Africa, couples of the same sex can get married, in Uganda male homosexual contact can be punished by life imprisonment. Different countries have different policies, not only in Africa, but also in Asia and the Americas. Moreover, some of these policies are in the process of changing, so that it is difficult to offer a summary. This is also true of other sexual minorities. Some of them have only recently become organized in some Western countries: Bisexuals, fetishists, sadomasochists, swingers, transvestites, transsexuals, and asexuals. How many of these will grow and succeed in their aims or decline and fail is an open question. It is also unclear whether they can establish themselves in other parts of the world. Sexual minorities are not absolute, stable anthropological constants. They emerge and disappear under certain, sometimes rapidly shifting social and political conditions. Obviously, this does not mean that human sexual behavior changes. After all, it is the result of a very long evolutionary process and has been more or less the same everywhere since time immemorial. However, the social attitudes toward some of this behavior have changed many times in the course of history.
The following sections offer brief descriptions of the sexual minorities that are best known today. We should keep in mind, however, that there may be some overlap, and that some individuals identify themselves as members of several of these minorities.