• CantaloupeAss [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 years ago

    One could presume that in an agrarian/pastoralist society in a semi-arid region, high birth rates were socially desirable to constantly add laboring hands to the fields and flocks

    • Llituro [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      2 years ago

      The social obligation to marry a deceased brothers widow is relatively universal in old cultures, Judaism not withstanding. It’s one of the oldest patriarchal economic developments, to ensure that a widow is cared for. The child produced is almost always considered to be the blood of the dead brother. The modern reading of the Onan passage as against rubbing one out is incorrect. The christian war against jerking off is I think I relatively modern, reactionary invention.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 years ago

        Yup. And probably something about making sure the wife has kids to take care of her in her old age because otherwise she’d just starve to death or something.