Medieval Sex Myths

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From medieval d*ck pics to sex with monks, how did people in medieval times think about sex and sexuality?

It was a period that spanned roughly 1,000 years and even though views on sex were largely shaped by the dominant Christian faith, whether this filtered down to every day experiences is another question.

Joining Kate today is the legendary sex historian Professor Ruth Karras, author of Sexuality in Mediaeval Europe: Doing Unto Others.

Why did people in the middle ages think that women were more highly sexed than men? What did they believe were aphrodisiacs at this time? And what did they think caused STIs?

This episode was edited by Matt Peaty and Stuart Beckwith. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

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Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm your host, Kate Lister. If you would like betwixt the sheets, add free and get early access, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of original documentaries with top history presenters and enjoy a new release every single week.
0:19.8	Sign up now by visiting history hit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:24.5	Hello, my lovely betwixters. It's me, Kate Lister, and you are listening to Betwixter
0:28.8	sheets. And in case you just wandered in off the street and I have no idea what goes on
0:32.6	around here, I have to tell you. This is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults about
0:36.7	adulty things in an adulty way covering a range of adult subjects and you should be an adult
0:39.8	too.
0:40.2	And if you're not, then be off with you.
0:42.4	We don't need you getting upset while the rest of us are enjoying ourselves.
0:45.3	For everyone else, on with the show.
0:54.1	Don't mind me, be Twixters. I have just hopped over into the Garden of Eden to see what's what.
0:59.9	I'm actually quite peckish, and the fruit is looking pretty good around here.
1:03.5	I mean, what could be the harm, right?
1:05.4	Well, it turns out quite a lot of harm indeed.
1:08.6	Far from an apple a day keeping the doctor away, Eve picked one,
1:12.2	and then the whole of mankind was plunged into chaos, and women were blamed for being
1:16.8	thrown out a paradise forevermore. From an apple! An apple! And the fact that it was Eve that
1:22.6	did this, that it was a woman that did this, took on a hell of a lot of meaning in the centuries to come,
1:28.4	because only someone who was weak-willed and easily led would be stealing apples.
1:34.5	At least that was the idea that took hold, particularly in the medieval period, amongst many other theories.
1:40.2	So, let's grab some more apples and find out more.
1:49.4	Music So, let's grab some more apples and find out more. Why do you look for a man?
	...

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