15. Aztecs Had Evil Sex Deities
The Aztecs had numerous deities, some of whom governed the realms of sex and vice. The gods who ruled over sexuality were often thought to bring misfortune and back luck to any who prayed to them or angered them through their behavior. The Ahuiateteo was a group of five deities who all oversaw the realm of sex, and all five were also associated with misfortune and disease. The connection to disease is particularly impressive with what we now know of sexually transmitted infections.
Ixcuiname and Chicomecoatl were two goddesses, depicted as females, who were associated with sin, lust, and infidelity. Given the Aztec tendency towards punishing only women for adultery, it is unsurprising that the gods of infidelity were depicted as women. Chicomecoatl was associated with sex, but even more strongly with childbirth and fertility.
The name of the sex pantheon, Ahuiateteo, actually gave rise to the Náhuatl (Aztec) word for prostitute: Ahuienime. Interestingly, it appears the word literally translated to “bringer of joy,” but colonial Catholics translated the word into more negative connotations and described the Aztec prostitutes as evil creatures. Given that so much of our knowledge of the Aztecs was written through a colonial Catholic lens, it is difficult to truly understand how the Aztecs themselves viewed the Ahuienime and Ahuiateteo.