Khaya Palada

17
th
century New England norms stressed the husband's duty to provide mutual
sexual pleasure, in part precisely because of hierarchical notions of marriage and the
authority of male heads of household. (pg. 743-744) In Thomas Fosters article
Deficient Husbands, he discusses previous views of the Puritan relationship and his
counter arguments against those views. He addresses the issue of male sexual incapacity
and also why the orgasm was so important.
Foster was not the first to research the relationships within the Puritan families.
Stone and Trumbach argue that marriages based on love and affection started to appear in
the 18
th
century. They contend that companionate marriages arose only with the growth
of market capitalism and the devilment of an individualist ethos and that an emphasis on
sexual please, especially for women, was possible only with increased control of fertility
(pg. 723-724). Another historian, Edmund S. Morgan, states that a sexual and friendly
union was celebrated within a marriage (pg. 724). As long as the marriage was legal,
sexual please increased the stability of the Puritan patriarchal households. The main
function of the Puritan marriage was to procreate.
Contrary to what previous historians have stated, Foster does not believe that
17
th
century New Englanders evaluated sexual activity primarily with respect to its
bearing on precreation and with the allied view that they had essentially no concept of
sexuality outside the ideology of reproduction (pg. 724). Foster considers that the
sexual performance of a male links to public traits of the mind and body. The sexual
prowess of a husband is connected to his importance as a patriarchal role within his
household and in public.
Male sexual incapacity is the inability to have an erection or other sexual
disabilities. Because of the seventeenth-century emphasis on marital pleasure as well as
fertility, marriage was an important institution for the elaboration of ideas about male
sexuality (pg. 725). Male sexual incapacity was an acceptable reason for a divorce. If a
man was sexually incapacitated, there was doubt he could fulfill his role as leader of the
house hold. Sexual coupling was an important part of marriage considering without it, the
marriage could end up in divorce.
Foster relies on seventeenth century English household advice and divorce
records as sources for this article. The advice literature circulated around New England
featuring the works of Gouge, Culpeper, and Barrough. Aristotles Masterpiece was also
included. The Household advice literature and divorce records demonstrate how
important male marital sexuality is to reproduction, pleasure and performance. The
Puritans viewed marriage contracts as civil rather than religious, so the divorce laws were
liberal in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The New Haven and Plymouth colonies also
allowed Male sexual Incapacity as a ground for divorce.
The orgasm was important to the Puritans because they believed that conception
was only possible if both partners achieve orgasm. The dual orgasm created a seed that
mixed together to create the generation. Without the female orgasm, conception isnt
possible. Also, men who are unable to satisfy their wives were considered not fit to take
care of their subordinates.
In Deficient Husbands, Foster outlines previous theories on Puritan sex life,
male sexual incapacity and the importance of the female orgasm. Sexual pleasure was
obviously a very important part of the Puritan lifestyle.