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Renaissance sexual ideas were also distinct to the era. In Florence which was famous as a capital of "sodomy" where records suggest over 50% of men had both male and female sexual partners at different times, & many male-male relationships were quite public (thread) #renfacts
Michael Roche's brilliant book "Forbidden Friendships" looks at Renaissance sexual attitudes, but I see it whenever I read primary sources. It's extremely rare for me to read collected letters or an autobiography from the Renaissance & not see male-male relationships come up...
Yet the norm was for men in male-male relationships to have heterosexual ones too, & associates tend to describe people's sexuality as unusual mainly when they were interested in only one sex (Michelangelo) or in neither sex (Leonardo) rather than the standard both (Machiavelli).
