So this July, the United States celebrates her 250th anniversary. That moment in time changed everything

about politics. But what about personal lives and sexual freedom? Did you know that in 18th century

New England, as many as 40% of brides were pregnant before they got married? I'm Petty Steele. Sex in the lead-up to the revolution

was a lot wilder than we thought. That's next on the backstory. This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed human. We're back with the backstory. When you hear the word sex and revolution in the same sentence,

you probably think we're going to talk about the sexual revolution of the 1960s. But here we are,

about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. We know the battles they fought, but we have to ask

ourselves, what were their private lives and their sex lives like back in those days? Sex was a

complicated thing for folks back in the 18th century. On the one hand, there was a powerful

mix of expectations based on religion, society, and individual

needs and desires. But on the other hand, you have to couple that with the fact that they

have the same basic desires humans have had from day one and still have. Problem is, they had to

deal with pretty much no ability to prevent pregnancy. So you had a lot

of taboo stuff going on, made all the more exciting in a lot of cases, because it was taboo.

Now, it turns out in the early 1700s, premarital sex and even same-sex relationships

were a lot more common than you would think. Marriage was certainly

the goal, but premarital activities like bundling were allowed, where the couple would sleep in the

same bed so they could enjoy a little physical intimacy. But it was done with a thing called a bundling

board, which was placed between them to prevent them from going too far.

Now, apparently the bundling boards weren't exactly foolproof because records show that

up to 40% of New England brides were pregnant before their wedding. That was only whispered about,

but it was documented by marriage and birth records, and it fed the gossip

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