Roman men were free to have sex with males of lower status without a perceived loss of masculinity, or even as an enhancement of it. However, those who took the receiving role in sex acts, sometimes referred to as the "passive" or "submissive" role, were disparaged as weak and effeminate, regardless of the sex of their partner (see the section below on cunnilungus and fellatio), while having sex with males in the active position was proof of one's masculinity. Mastery of one's own body was an aspect of the citizen's "libertas", political liberty, while the use of one's body to give pleasure to others, whether in homosexual or heterosexual relations, was servile. Laws such as the poorly understood "Lex Scantinia" and various pieces of Augustan moral legislation were meant to restrict same-sex activity among freeborn males, viewed as threatening a man's status and independence as a citizen.