Sexual morality as espoused by the Church, the fear of God and the Ten Commandments was a watershed for most people born in the post-war years. Two commandments in particular, ‘la tiżnix’ (though shalt not commit acts of impurity) and ‘la tixtieqx nisa tal-oħrajn’ (thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife) forbade any carnal gratifications outside marriage.

But, at a time when sexuality was downplayed as a basic human need, the greater the obsession it became. However, like an underground river, it was omnipresent as it had been over the centuries and it became sheer hypocrisy to sell the idea that the Maltese were or had been as pure as the driven snow.

Researching attitudes towards sex 

It is quite difficult to obtain information as to what sort of moral, amorous feelings or lustful urges the average Maltese engaged in during earlier times. Obviously enough, Maltese novelists never wrote about such subjects.

When dealing with episodes of a romantic nature, the Maltese authors – just like their foreign counterparts – steered away from deep sentimental narratives, preferring to keep the inner emotions on a quasi-platonic level. Much less so were there ever any narratives that dwelt on sexual experiences.

The Maltese reader of fiction was never regaled with authors such as D. H. Lawrence, who, in his Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928) and other novels, revealed women’s profound feelings about their sexuality. Nor did Malta have its Henry Fielding who, in his book The History of Tom Jones ­– A Foundling (1749), recounts the licentious behaviour of the homonymous character.

Such literature was banned from Malta prior to the late decades of the 20th century. Incidentally, when Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was published in Britain in 1960, the publisher was taken to court to withdraw the book from circulation on grounds of obscenity.

When looking for sexual morality and sexual deviousness of the Maltese in the early decades of the 20th and previous centuries, one needs to cull fragmentary bits from other sources, often located in incidental comments, largely documented by foreign visitors who, during their sojourn in Malta, observed such traits among the Maltese. Such information could be also garnered from legal decrees, whether issued in the time of the Order of St John or during the British period. Extant documents that record the trials of the Inquisition would be another valid source. 

Morality and sexual deviances in the time of the Order of St John

Sexual deviances in the time of the Order of St John may also be traced to Gian Franġisk Agius Sultana’s (De Soldanis) Id-Damma (1750-1769), an unpublished dictionary that listed words used in the vernacular. Sultana’s definitions sometimes hint at the general attitude of the public towards sex.

To give an example, when translating the Maltese word ‘pixxula’, one of the terms used for the male sexual organ, De Soldanis states that this was “La parte vergognosa dell’uomo”, thus inferring that the male anatomical part was to be treated as a cause of shame. 

Similarly, Agius de Soldanis also includes words that relate to sexual immodesty. He terms a girl of loose morals as ‘żimlunazza’, thus comparing her to a sexually active mare, while a man who seeks the services of prostitutes is termed as ‘qaħbunazz’: ‘qaħba’ means whore and the suffix, ‘nazz’, refers to someone who is abhorrent in his behaviour as in ‘żimlunazza’. Such a person could also be termed ‘badbadi’, meaning a person whose behaviour is nothing better than that of a sexually charged ram. De Soldanis also includes the word ‘ruffjan’, a term which he defines as a pimp (often a female).

The definitions as given by De Soldanis are in stark contrast with the writings of a contemporary fellow priest, Dun Feliċ Demarco. In 1761, Demarco wrote rhyming verses for a burlesque scene known as il-Qarċilla to amuse the crowds during carnival. In the scene, the main actor plays the role of a public notary who recites a ‘dowry list’, as proposed by the parents of the bride. This is followed by another set of obligations, this time on the part of the groom, which needed to be fulfilled after marriage. The list of duties is bizarre and often vulgar, clearly intended to amuse the audience.

Dun Feliċ employs blunt and euphemistic language replete with sexual innuendo. Among other verses, the marriage contract determines that the woman is so desirous to have fun in bed that she is ready to bear plenty of babies or that, while the spouse is pregnant, the groom is forbidden to force her to the bedroom.                                              

Dun Feliċ’s sexually charged verses were clearly meant for a receptive audience that was not easily scandalised.

If the Qarċilla was the fruit of a priest’s fantasy working on sexual overdrive, the laws of the land were not. A recurrent proclamation (bandu) issued by the Grand Master of the Order of St John between 1723 and 1725, prior to the carnival celebrations, prohibited any sort of sexually devious behaviour by revellers.

Such was the descent into depravity that: no woman was to wear any clothing that might reveal her feet below the knees […] “dal ginocchio in giu” […]’; no reveller was to wear any costume or be masked (mascherarsi) in a way as to provoke illicit or scandalous reactions; revellers were prohibited from carrying vulgar objects (lascive e disoneste). Male transgressors were punished by three lashes of rope, women were to be punished by an unspecified number of lashes with a whip.

Prostitution in the 17th and 18th centuries

Prostitution was tolerated by the Church of Malta but punished by the state. But it was too difficult to eradicate and was practised openly.

Carmel Cassar (1993) writes that in the status animarum of 1667 of the parish of Porto Salvo, Valletta, there were registered 165 ‘donne pubbliche’ (prostitutes). This number accounted for eight per cent of the female population of the parish.

Cassar also claims that between 1600 and 1613, a third of baptised children in the same parish were illegitimate. Poverty must have driven women into prostitution.

There was a marked difference in sexual mores between the town and country. Yosanne Vella (2017) mentions various types of sexual abuses against women, besides forced prostitution by husbands, adultery and rape.

All these were illegal and penalties ranged from fines, imprisonment, flogging to exile. Adulterous wives were to be locked up in a ‘conservatory’, a euphemism for a convent.

Homosexuality

Giovanni Bonello (2009) states that homosexuality was so common among the knights that in 1563, Grand Master Jean Parisot De Valette appointed a commission to investigate the matter. This abominable sin was not only practised by the knights as proved by other documents.

William Zammit (2016) also gives an account of sex-related crime during the time of the Order of St John. This ranged from prostitution, violence and murder of prostitutes, incest and even homosexuality, then considered to be one of the great sins (Lat. crimen nefandum).

Agius De Soldanis called a sodomite a buġarrun, (from the Sicilian buzzarrun), a bugger.

Bonello mentions the case of a carpenter who worked at the Teatro Pubblico (the Manoel Theatre) who abused a 10-year-old boy. For his heinous crime, the culprit was sent to row on the galleys for the rest of his life.

Marriage customs in the 19th century

Dating, engagement and marriage were ritualised customs rather than affairs of the heart. Physical attraction may have come into play, but Thomas McGill (1839) averred that the Maltese “of the middle and upper classes married for convenience”.

Parents of children of marriageable age carried out their investigations to ensure that the future partner of their son or daughter hailed from good, and preferably, wealthy families. Such practice remained common well into the 20th century.

Privacy between dating couples was non-existent; to go out on a date they had to have a chaperone, normally a younger sibling of the bride-to-be. Marriage was a contract approved by the bride’s and bridegroom’s parents and not by the lovers.

The salient feature in the contract was the husband’s obligation to provide for the family to the best of his ability. The bridegroom was to be older than the bride and it was important that he would be of good repute so that the bride’s and her family’s honour would not be tarnished in any way. The bride was to acknowledge her husband as the capo famiglia (family head). Her role as wife was to bear him children and submit to his wishes. In short, she became his chattel (personal property).

[attach id=1118239 size="large" align="left" type="image"]A drawing of a Maltese wedding in the 18th century by an unknown artist.[/attach]

Prostitution in the 19th century

In Malta as in Britain, Victorian moral rectitude was a myth. Outside of marriage, sex as a business was as old as the hills. John Hennen, an English physician, who investigated the state of health of British soldiers and the Maltese population in general between 1821-1824, claimed that Maltese youths who were enlisted as soldiers did not suffer from serious health problems, except for venereal disease! 

In his article ‘Past laws regulating the oldest profession in Malta’ (Sunday Times of Malta, March 16, 2014), Eddie Attard describes prostitution in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Malta. Brothels were legal until banned by law in 1898. Prostitutes were registered with the police and underwent regular health checks, at least once every three months.

After 1899, prostitutes in Strait Street were barred from soliciting sex. They were also banned from residing in a tenement that adjoined any of the watering holes frequented by the military.

Similar regulations were applied in all localities in the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett areas.

Attard says that in 1905, there were 150 registered prostitutes but that there would have been others.

The sexual revolution

One may say that throughout the first half of the 20th century, the Church was the chief guardian of sexual morality. The state bowed to its wishes in matters of public decency, namely, attire, entertainment, homosexuality and adultery, the latter two being offences punishable by law until 1974.

Then, came the 1960s and 1970s. Maltese society started to undergo a sexual awakening, albeit later than other European countries.

In Rajt Malta Tinbidel (I Saw Malta Change) Vol. IV, Herbert Ganado recalls Maltese youth’s loss of innocence when in the 1960s, the first Scandinavian female student-tourists started coming to Malta.

Were our lads that innocent? There were plenty of testosterone-charged males and in possession of the three ‘C’s - i.e., cash, clothes and cars (the latter usually a Triumph Herald coupé). These could now opt for extramarital sex instead of going the whole hog.

These youths were now also exposed to Hollywood’s glamorous movies, even if these were heavily censored. The lure by such movies may be epitomised by the likes of the James Bond series. This super charismatic character would bed every woman he met by the time lights went off for intermission. Our young men left the cinema feeling like cloned Bonds.

Since the 1960s, much has changed in morality among the Maltese in matters of sex. As with much else, there are no frontiers, but then that is part of the mutability of things. 

Martin Morana is the author of various books on Maltese culture and history. He graduated in history in 1992 and since then has made reading and researching all aspects of social history his lifelong hobby. The author would like to thank Michael Cassar for his collaboration on the article.