Sexuality and its cultural construction in rural Greece

The paper focuses on aspects of gender relations and sexuality in two villages in western Crete (Greece). It concentrates on local ideas about the sexuality of men and women and on the way in which a shift, in values and practices has occurred since the early 1970s, with economic change. The paper suggests that the economic development in the two villages, and the opportunities this has opened up for the women and men who live there, has meant a shift of values and practices regarding sex away from the traditional ‘honour—shame’ ethic.