Compare sexuality in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In Middle Ages, sexuality was strictly regulated by the Church, even causing demographic decline because of the imposition of periods of sexual abstinence. During the Renaissance, the Church kept significant influence over the sexual lives of people, but there was certain liberation of the rules. Some of the restrictions became milder, and they were often ignored. Courtly love, which emerged in Middle Ages, often as nonsexual romance between members of upper classes, remained during the Renaissance, and the cult of female beauty also became important. In art, erotic depictions signaled tolerance toward sexuality, even a certain degree of admiration. In Italy, a class of elite prostitutes emerged during the Renaissance, and it was regulated by law. Prostitutes, therefore, held more significant positions than in Middle Ages. The Church still retained an outlook on prostitution as a necessary evil. In both of these periods, homosexuality remained condemned.