Most cuckolding aficionados who are familiar with cuckoldry and its history are aware of the cuckold horns hand sign. Let’s explore how the hand sign originated. There are various theories about how the two finger sign came to symbolize cuckolding. And how it also signified humiliation. Some historians feel the sign originated as a symbol of ironic mockery. Horns represented masculinity and virility which a cuckold lacked. Even the essence of horns held magical power in times past. Older or impotent men were frequently prescribed a powder of ground buck horns to treat libido issues in the Middle Ages. Hunters noted that various beasts used their horns to rub bark off trees to mark territory. Males who had no horns could not mark or claim their territory including their wives. Another theory purported the sign of the horns signified that the weaker male didn’t know that the beast with horns had crept up behind him and stolen his wife. Even today in select European countries, throwing the horns behind a man’s head is a sign of humiliation or cuckoldry.
What is also interesting about cuckolding history in Europe, the British Isles and Scandinavia, is that the wife who strayed on her husband to have sex with another man, thereby committing infidelity, was not punished. In other cultures, the punishment for infidelity might have been extremely severe, including the sentence of death to the cheating wife. Instead, the reality or rumor that a wife strayed from her husband was cause to believe her husband was impotent, unmanly, weak, sterile or a combination thereof. And the man who slept with her was perceived as virile and powerful. Cuckolding structured a male hierarchy. This biological imperative and social practice allowed women to pursue sex with Alpha males. Sex outside the marriage with a superior male served the perpetuation of humanity at a time when life was fragile due to wars, famine and disease. A woman seeking out an Alpha male for sex and ultimately to mate and bear offspring, was ensuring that the most superior Alpha genes continued.
