ABSTRACT
Tracing the history of sexuality in any historical period encounters two major problems. One is a problem of source material. The sexuality of a particular individual is a part of that individual's subjective experience, which is often unrecoverable. The second problem involves categories of the culture. Where modern Western schemes of categorization put a great emphasis on the gender or age of one's partner, medieval schemes put more emphasis on whether one played an active or passive role. The fundamental distinction in the Christian Middle Ages was between those who were sexually active and those who were chaste. For the majority of people today, virginity or chastity is not an identity, orientation, or way of life; it is a circumstance appropriate to a particular life stage. Most early medieval saints were monks or nuns, whose chastity was assumed rather than a noteworthy achievement.
