orgy
{{Short description|People freely engaging in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex}}
{{About||the religious rites of ancient Greece|Orgia|the American alternative metal band|Orgy (band)}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
File:Édouard-Henri Avril (25).jpg by Édouard-Henri Avril]]An orgy is a sex party where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex.
Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swinger parties the sexual partners may all know each other or at least have some commonality among economic class, educational attainment or other shared attributes. Some swingers contend that an orgy, as opposed to a sex party, requires some anonymity of sexual partners in complete sexual abandon.{{cite web | url=http://www.swingersocial.com/the-swinger-blog/orgies-and-group-sex/ | title=Swinger Survey Results on Difference Between Orgies and Group Sex | publisher=The Swingers Blog | date=October 2010 | access-date=April 26, 2012 | author=Wojick, Helen}} Other kinds of "sex parties" may fare less well with this labelling.
Participation in an "orgy" is a common sexual fantasy, and group sex targeting such consumers is a subgenre in pornographic films.
The term is also used metaphorically in expressions, such as an "orgy of colour" or an "orgy of destruction" to indicate excess, overabundance. The term "orgiastic" does not generally connote group sex and is closer to the classical roots and this metaphorical usage.
Ancient ''orgia''
{{Main article|Orgia}}
File:Bacco - Mantegna, Andrea - Baccanale col tino -1470 ca.-.jpg]]
In ancient Greek religion, orgia (ὄργια, sing. ὄργιον, orgion) were ecstatic rites characteristic of the Greek and Hellenistic mystery religions. Unlike public religion, or the private religious practices of a household, the mysteries were open only to initiates, and were thus "secret". Some rites were held at night. Orgia were part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Dionysian Mysteries, and the cult of Cybele, which involved the castration of her priests in a frenzied trance. Because of their secret, nocturnal, and unscripted nature, the orgia were subject to prurient speculation and regarded with suspicion, particularly by the Romans, who attempted to suppress the Bacchanals in 186 BC. Orgia are popularly thought to have involved sex,{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Shipley |first=Joseph T. |year=1963 |title=orgyan |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofearl0000ship_q7b8/page/472/mode/2up |url-access=registration |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Early English |location=Paterson, NJ |publisher=Littlefield, Adams & Co. |isbn=0-8065-2926-1 |pages=472–473}} but, while sexuality and fertility were cultic concerns, the primary goal of the orgia was to achieve an ecstatic union with the divine. The Adamites were also accused of participating in orgies.{{cite book | last=Fudgé | first=T.A. | title=Medieval Religion and its Anxieties: History and Mystery in the Other Middle Ages | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US | series=The New Middle Ages | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-137-56610-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KO5NDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA192 | access-date=2023-06-20 | page=192}}{{cite book | last=Goodare | first=J. | title=The European Witch-Hunt | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-19831-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eM4mDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 | access-date=2023-06-20 | page=171}}
See also
References
Notes
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Bibliography
- Adkins, Lesley and Adkins, Roy A. (1998). Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece. {{ISBN|0-19-512491-X}}.
- Alexander, Timothy Jay (2007). Hellenismos Today. {{ISBN|978-1-4303-1427-1}}.
- Alexander, Timothy Jay (2007). A Beginner's Guide to Hellenismos. {{ISBN|978-1-4303-2456-0}}.
- Burnet, John (2005). Early Greek Philosophy. {{ISBN|1-4021-9753-5}}.
- Dillon, Matthew (2002). Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion. {{ISBN|0-415-20272-8}}.
- Maffesoli, Michel (1993). The Shadow of Dionysus: A Contribution to the Sociology of the Orgy. {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1239-8}}.
- Persson, Martin (1970). The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion. {{ISBN|0-8196-0273-6}}.
- Wilson, Nigel Guy (2005). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. {{ISBN|0-415-97334-1}}.