Origins of Aphrodite: The Sex-Positive Goddess
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
History Hit
4.8 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 November 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Who was Aphrodite? She's often thought of as a goddess of sexuality, but there's so much more to this woman.
Which ancient civilisation was she created by? How did the early Christians react to her overt sexuality? Was she ever thought of a sex worker?
Joining Kate today is the fantastic author and historian Dr. Stephanie Budin, to introduce us to this fascinating goddess.
*TW: This episode includes references to sexual assault*
This episode was edited by Tim Arstall and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.
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All music from Epidemic Sounds.
Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, my lovely betwixters. It's me, Kate Lister. Thank you for coming back to Bertwix the Sheeds. I know you have many, many other podcasts to choose from, and I'm genuinely honoured that you have returned. But if you're a newbie, or if you've forgotten everything we've told you in every single one of the other episodes, then I have to tell you one more time. This is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults |
| 0:21.1 | about adulty things in an adulty way covering around adult subjects and you should be an adult too. |
| 0:24.4 | And we call that the fair do's warning because if you keep listening and you happen to get offended, |
| 0:28.7 | well, fair do's, we did tell you, so that one's on you. Right, on with the show. |
| 0:36.2 | Oh, don't you just love a relaxing afternoon by the sea? |
| 0:40.3 | Well, not if it's in ancient Greece, you might not, |
| 0:42.8 | and not if you're about to witness the creation of Aphrodite. |
| 0:47.6 | Sound dramatic? Yeah, I think so too. |
| 0:49.7 | You don't get this at Blackpool Beach, no. |
| 0:51.9 | But it has to be said, it's not the most relaxing of experiences. |
| 0:55.9 | It involves the god Uranus, who has severed his genitals as you do, and chucked them into the sea, |
| 1:02.4 | resulting in a whole load of seafoam. Don't try this at home. I don't know if anyone was thinking of it, |
| 1:07.3 | but just don't. And out of that foam came none other than Aphrodite herself. |
| 1:12.0 | That's a hell of an origin story, isn't it? |
| 1:14.4 | It is. |
| 1:15.1 | That's never made it into any of the Disney films. |
| 1:18.3 | Do you want to know more about this goddess? |
| 1:20.1 | Well, I certainly do, so let's find out more. |
| 1:22.5 | Music Hello and welcome back to Betwixt the Sheets, the history of sex scandal in society with me, Kate Lister. |
| 1:48.4 | Well, we're never going to be able to have an actual face-to-face conversation with somebody from the ancient world, |
| 1:53.9 | although potentially Mick Jagger could help us, but until then, it's just not going to happen. |
| 1:58.3 | But we can use their myths to help us find out what they |
... |
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