During the rise of secularism in 18th Century France,
"pederasty" was used as a replacement for the term "sodomy"
which seemed old and ecclesiastical because of its biblical origins. In spite of the
original Greek meaning of the term, the French used it to refer to sex between males, and
sometimes even between females, regardless of the age of the participants. This
usage continued in 18th and 19th Century France and Germany, but was ultimately replaced
by "homosexual" at the beginning of the 1900s.
