Were pirates homosexuals?

Question

my co-workers and I were having a debate about the sexual orientation of pirates.they think because of the frilly clothes , being on ships with only men etc that they are gay.

Answer 1

Where do you think the phrase "Thar he blows!!!" came from?

Answer 2

Don't apply today's sexual mores to the pirates of yore. The frilly clothes didn't mean then what they would now. Even our founding fathers wore capri pants, frilly shirts and powdered wigs.

And they were surrounded by men because women were considered bad luck to bring on ships. And that was a pretty rugged lifestyle anyway; it was simply a man's world.

I'm sure there were gay pirates, or at least gay acts that were committed on those ships, but they weren't gay BECAUSE they were pirates.

Answer 3

case by case but not because of their clothing taste. Also pirates and the like were less likely to be at sea as long as a merchant or navy vessel. They were after plunder and being on the open sea too long would have increased their chances of running into the navies of the various colonial powers. There were whores a-plenty in Tortuga

Answer 4

Not sure about that but I did hear that the term "Son of a Gun" came from Ye Ol' Pirate Days.
When Women were taken prisoner by Pirates they were often raped on deck right in between the cannons.
The children they bore were called "Sons of the Guns."

Answer 5

When buccaneers had the opportunity for engagements with women prisoners, they were rarely taken, and in their relationships with members of the opposite sex, most pirates give every indication they were uncomfortable in the extreme. When women were captured or otherwise present aboard ship, by far the greater number of pirates ignored the opportunities to use them sexually.

The total absence of women from their environment meant that sexual conduct with members of the same sex was, except for solitary masturbation, all that was available to the Navy’s men and to most of its officers. Under these circumstances, situational homosexual behavior was obviously a feature of life at sea.

Answer 6

I think there is a difference between being homosexual and engaging in homosexual acts. I've heard that not only pirates but sailors in general satisfied their sexual needs with cabin boys and they saw this as a rite of passage... a bit like the stereotype you hear happening in jail nowadays but that is different to being homosexual and feeling attracted to people of the same sex only.

Answer 7

The reason why they wore those frilly clothes was due to the fact that they got them from raiding ships of wealthy merchants. Just because they wore those outfits doesn't make them gay.

Answer 8

I''m sure there would have been. Bisexuals too. The whole world is mixed in its sexual orientations. There are gay Amish, gay sumo wrestlers, etc. that are never portrayed in society, but they are there.

Answer 9

It's possible. They were on ship for months at a time with only men. They had to relieve themselves.

Answer 10

FUNCTIONAL HOMOSEXUALITY IS A DIFFERENT THING BECAUSE OF THE COMPLETE LACK OF WOMEN ...THE MEN STILL NEEDED AN OUTLET FOR THEIR SEXUALITY!!!AND PEOPLE DIDN'T LIVE TO BE VERY OLD BACK THEN!!!!HOW LONG COULD THEY AFFORD TO WAIT TO SEE A REAL WOMAN????a "great" and "real" reference for this question would be "memoirs of a bucaneer" by adhemar tomothy le golif b.k.a. "bourgnefesse" for his singular wound!!he was a real pirate,transported to haiti as an indentured servant to a man called "vert-d-gris"because of his green skin!!!he raped and molested all of the young boys who worked for him on his plantation(1700's)until a grown young man ,timothy ran him through with a suborned dagger!!!all of the boys had then to escape for their lives lest they all be hung for this somewhat courageous and noble deed!!!they ran toward a life in the jungles where they learned to shoot and load firearms quickly and with accuracy and from thence to taking small and then larger trading vessel along the coasts in order to survive..along with a game they shot hunting the "wild feral hogs and cattle" they kept some of the ships they took by ambuscade and headed for the open sea and the spanish main of cartaghena,panama,veracruz and gracias a dios to sieze towns and gold,silver and emeralds and all manner of treasures that we can only dream of today!!some boys started off as "powder monkeys"...scrambling over the bulwarks ,loading the cannon from "the "business end" of them under constant enemy small arms fire and fusillades of broken chain and nails to feed their own vessels' fire!!!and many times were also even then molested by their crewmates if they survived ;and were given a bowl of gruel and bedded down on top of the ropes in the cable tier for a mattress at days end!!thankless and backbreaking toil,two days of fire and hellish combat and then it's:"scrub them spanish brains and gutts off the decks of the "prize ship", so's we can sell her off at a profit!!"scrape the barnacles off the rudder,ya little monkey!!,and be quick about it or you'll be bait for me dinner!!"how does one take out the pent-up anger of such treatment continuously meted out???you get tough or die!!god helps 'im who helps himself!!no women this trip???ow-w-w-w-wwi'm hiding below decks if i'd be the smallest one aboard!!it was a rough and a short life for all concerned and ye'd gather yer rosebud while ye may!!and poop rolls downhill!!from the "poop deck" on down that is!!

Answer 11

Sounds like men of the down-low. Men who have sex with each other and claim they are not gay or bi-sexual.