Name: A Curious History of Sex
ISBN: 9781783529711

Kate Lister

Based on the popular research project Whores of Yore and written with her distinctive humour and wit, A Curious History of Sex draws upon Dr. Kate Lister's extensive knowledge of sex history. From medieval impotence tests to twentieth-century testicle thefts, from the erotic frescoes of Pompeii, to modern-day sex doll brothels, Lister unashamedly roots around in the pants of history, debunking myths, challenging stereotypes, and generally getting her hands dirty. This fascinating book is peppered with surprising and informative historical slang, and illustrated with eye-opening, toe-curling, and meticulously sourced images from the past. You will laugh, you will wince, and you will wonder just how much has actually changed.

A Curious History of Sex

This is not a comprehensive study of every sexual quirk, kink and ritual across all cultures throughout time, as that would entail writing an encyclopaedia. Rather, this is a drop in the ocean, a paddle in the shallow end of sex history, but I hope you will get pleasantly wet nonetheless. The act of sex has not changed since people first worked out what went where, but the ways in which society dictates how sex is culturally understood and performed have varied significantly through the ages. Humans are the only creatures that stigmatise particular sexual practices, and sex remains a deeply divisive issue around the world. Attitudes will change and grow – hopefully for the better – but sex will never be free of stigma or shame unless we acknowledge where it has come from. Based on the popular research project Whores of Yore, and written with her distinctive humour and wit, A Curious History of Sex draws upon Dr Kate Lister’s extensive knowledge of sex history. From medieval impotence tests to twentieth-century testicle thefts, from the erotic frescoes of Pompeii, to modern-day sex doll brothels, Kate unashamedly roots around in the pants of history, debunking myths, challenging stereotypes and generally getting her hands dirty. This fascinating book is peppered with surprising and informative historical slang, and illustrated with eye-opening, toe-curling and meticulously sourced images from the past. You will laugh, you will wince and you will wonder just how much has actually changed.

Interesting read on societal perceptions of sex & sexual health throughout history. In this book you’ll learn things like how bicycles helped shape the women’s rights movement and why cornflakes were invented. Great for anyone who loves random facts. 

Alli

There’s something so special about feminist historical books written by british women. They’re all so funny. 

Joana

Stephanie Highfield 

Super engaging! Short, fascinating essays!

Flavia Louise

Very interesting. Sometimes I wanted to know even more but this book is limited in its length. The audiobook is also good.

Lauren 

This is funny, educational and thought provoking … also sometimes a little bit gross. The narrative all way through is funny and bouncy and lets your absorb the information without it being overwhelmingly fact heavy

Geneviève Rouleau

"We will never arrive at a place where sex is free of stigma and shame unless we first know where we have come from." (P. 4)

"But attacking the clit is about more than just curbing female desire, its about protecting the primacy of the penis." (P. 71)

I've been slowly making my way through this beauty of a brick, because it's not the kind of book that you can binge (what educational book is, really?) It's the kind of book that you need to take the time to savor and digest, and gently dip in and out of (😏). I absolutely love how deeply (😏) researched this book is (yes, Kate Lister included over 100p of references in the annex) and there are SO many photographs of (naked) babes included in there to support the author's words. Kate Lister is always adding funny and witty comments, and I really really appreciated this form of history book. I also appreciated the author's note on the use of language in this book : we are immediately warned that this is not a glossed over history of sex book, with cute words to conceal the 'hard' (😏) truth. This book "uncovers historical attitudes to sex and gender" (P. 4), meaning that a lot of information in this book will focus on the (then) binary conception of gender. & we are warned that we might get "pleasantly wet". 

At one point I was bored with the phallus talk, but that's okay. I just skipped to the next chapter where glorious Devil Hovels came back with a vengeance. That chapter isn't going anywhere, and I'm sure I'll (eventually) go back to it. There were so many educational passages, and seriously... some pretty damn scary things used (and still are) done to our whim-whams (aka LYSOL. DOUCHES. In the 1920s 😱) 

FAVES :
• The DILDO CHAPTER. Seriously. Victorians knew how to pleasure themselves. I LOVE the (many) photographs of Victorians with dildos. Porn is definitely not a modern concept lol. & there's a DILDO SONG (late 1800's)
• [transcript from memory] : "To cure hysteria, Victorian doctors treated women with pelvic massages, which was really just fancy fingering." 😂

Rowan Moran

Valerie Ettenhofer

Molly M

lamia 

Ana Hein

Robyn

Vanessa 

An eye-opening exploration of the weird and wonderful things human beings have done in pursuit (and denial) of the mighty orgasm, based on the hit Twitter account @WhoresofYore

A Curious History of Sex

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