One of the main functions of many religions is to control people’s sexuality. They hate the idea that men and women may have sexual lives that are not under the control of the usually male leaders of the religions and many of the rules and taboos that religions promote can be traced back to this desire to make sure that women especially not have that freedom.

But once you are embarked on suppressing the sexual urge of people, there is no end to the process. I knew the Catholic church has a long history of obsession with sex but I didn’t realize how bad it was until I read this article about a paper published about a particular normal sexual phenomenon that greatly bothered the church and which its ecclesiastical courts grappled with in the Middle Ages.

If you can gain access to the full paper, you really should check it out to see the absurd lengths that spilled over into overt voyeurism that the church went to in their obsession with sex.