Sexuality in Christian Demonology - The Sexuality of Demons

The Sexuality of Demons

To Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Jews there were male and female demons (Jewish demons were mostly male, although female examples such as Lilith exist). In Christian demonology and theology the matter of the sexuality of the demons is not clear. They may variously be considered male or female, but the general view is that they are masculine and feminine, while not actually being of either sex. This is the general view of the angels as well, who are generally considered sexless. One possible exception is the Grigori who, led by Azazel, descended on Mount Hermon and copulated with earthly women out of lust.

Gregory of Nyssa (4th century), as well as Ludovico Maria Sinistrari (17th century), believed in male and female demons, or at the very least demons having male and female characteristics.

Other conceptions posit that beings of spiritual substance are gender-transcendent or otherwise non-gendered; the experience of a demon as having gender and directional sexual tendencies would be the result of the purposes of the demon in tempting, deceiving, or otherwise harming human targets. John Milton upholds this view in Paradise Lost, specifying that although demons may seem masculine or feminine, spirits "Can either Sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is thir Essence pure". It is of note that although God is predominantly experienced and self-revealed as male in the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian New Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures and their Greek translation - the Septuagint - contain feminine allusions to God (e.g., "El Shaddia" referring to breast, hence a nurturing image; "Lady Wisdom", often paralleled to the Word of Gospel of John chapter 1, whose incarnated form is Jesus; the Holy Spirit has feminine references, etc.) although this is due to the Hebrew word form of "wisdom" being a feminine word, hence a masculine personification would not make sense for literary purposes. The notion that God is then gender-transcendent but self-revealed as male for purposes of revelation could also carry over to angels and demons.

By supporting the idea that demons could rape women and sexual relationships with them were painful, Nicholas Remy assigned a sadistic tendency to their sexuality.