Homophobic Attitudes Among Indigenous People in the New World: Aztecs, Incas and Mapuches Through 16th and 17th Century Sources

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to clarify a series of historiographical inaccuracies which, voluntarily or involuntarily, have contributed to confuse or distort the study of Native American attitudes toward homosexual behavior. It argues, analyzing Aztec, Inca and Mapuche attitudes from sixteenth-century and seventeenthcentury sources, that America was not at all the gay paradise that many have wanted to see and publicize. Thus, evidence is provided to support that homophobia was not inaugurated with the arrival of the Spaniards and that, on the contrary, it was already rooted among indigenous peoples since before the coming of the European conquerors.