Okay, Seriously, Can We Talk About The Sexualisation Of Kids?
The Ancient Greeks weren’t known for their delicate sensibilities.
I mean, sure, they venerated literature and science and art, but they were also famously partial to drunken orgies and medicinal opium and sex with Gods disguised as swans.
So it’s worth noting that even in this company, Diogenes managed to be a controversial figure.
Diogenes believed that rules were incompatible with happiness. That true morality required a return to the simplicity of nature. And so, he devoted his life to challenging social norms.
He achieved this primarily by being gross.
Diogenes shamelessly ate breakfast in the public market and pointed at people with his middle finger (both considered bad manners in Ancient Greek culture). He urinated on people who insulted him and defecated in the theatre (considered bad manners in one or two other cultures). He was even known to masturbate in public when the mood struck him (pretty widely considered to be bad manners).
And worse, Diogenes felt no shame or remorse for his behaviour. Instead, he saw it as a way of embodying his philosophy. When questioned about his public eating, he replied, “If…
