Shár attitudes towards sexuality

The Shár Empire went through various phases regarding attitudes towards sexuality.

Early
In the beginning, the Shár people had a very sex-positive culture. During the First Warring States Period - in which the Shár population was reduced from 2 000 000 in 6100 to as low as 650 000 by 5622 - many people died of famine, wars and plagues: binge drinking and massive orgies became the survivors' way of coping with the deaths of their friends and relatives. And since death and despair were so commonplace during that 578 years of perpetual civil war, massive drinking and orgies are said to have become the staple of Shár life.

It was at that time that marriage and sex became "two separate things", extramarital sex became fully tolerated and homosexuality became a partially tolerated thing. It was every man's duty to find a wife and sire children, no matter which sex he was attracted to. It was also every woman's duty to find a husband and bear children, no matter which sex she was attracted to.

If one fufilled his/her duty of getting married and siring/bearing children - and also found spare time to take care of the children - it was completely acceptable to seek sex partners from one's own sex. Since extramarital sex was viewed as acceptable, people saw no problems with someone having partners of the same sex. In addition to homosexuality, both pedophilia and peredasty were common and accepted, although it was more common for adult males to seek out sex with little girls than with boys.

Additionally, polygamy was legal and widely practiced. Since women usually outnumbered men - men dying from wars - polygyny was accepted, while polandry was not. There was no minimal age of marriage either - it was not unusual for men in the twenties or thirties to marry a girl who was as young as twelve or even ten years old. It was also usual for twin sisters to get married to the same man. It was not unheard of that when a family was desperate to find a husband or multiple daughters, multiple daughters were wed to a single man, essentially constituting sororal polygyny.

Jing Dynasty and Bur Dynasty
Following the rise of the Jing Dynasty, there was a massive cultural shift in the Shár Empire caused by changing conditions. Improvements in technology improved life standards. Agriculture became less of a hassle, causing urbanization, an increase in literacy and rise in standards of education. Flourishing foreign trade also brought in cheap goods - luxuries previously only afforded by the nobility suddenly became available to the middle-classes, even sometimes to lower-class peasants. The old "sex and alcohol" way was no longer valid - not to mention, tea started competing with alcoholic beverages.

The Jing dynasty embraced the Ten Heavenly Principles, a religion which taught that discipline and spirituality are more important than worldly pleasures. This new religion also condemned extramarital sex, urging believers to be loyal to their spouses. Under this new climate, the Jing dynasty started persecuting both polygamy, homosexuality and pedophilia, and outlawed prostitution. The age-old practice of having eunuchs to please noblemen and noblewomen also became illegal.

One might think that these laws were introduced and enforced by draconian despots, but it was quite the contrary - much of the nobility agreed to these new laws, mainly because they themselves have converted to this new religion that did not approve of such sexual conduct.

During the relatively brief, 128-year rule of the Bur dynasty that followed that of the Jing dynasty, the laws regarding homosexuals became somewhat more relaxed - while castration for non-medical purposes remained illegal, prostitution and homosexuality became legal again. The main motivation for overriding the Jing-era laws was to justify sexual slavery. Concubinage was also de-criminalized, but legal marriages remained defined as the union of one man and one woman.

Jiuk and Hong dynasties (contemporary)
Once the Jiuk dynasty overtook the Bur, the laws became somewhat more lax again, but new laws were introduced too.

One of the most important new laws introduced under the Jiuk dynasty is the marriage regulation law: The minimal age of marriage was set to 15. Additionally, when one of the would-be-married couple was under the age of 25, the law requires for the age gap between the two be less than 10 years - under the Jing and Bur dynasties, while pedophilia was illegal, the age of consent was never defined, making it difficult to determine who was a pedophile and who was not.

Both male and female prostitution are fully legalized, but prostitutes are required to undergo several tests and health examinations to legally prostitute themselves - otherwise, he/she will be considered a duffer, and get arrested. While extramarital sex is no longer criminalized, it is still socially stigmatized, unless it's prostitution or sexual slavery.

While homosexuality is not criminal, there is a movement within the Ten Heavenly Principles religion that lobbies for its re-criminalization.