The Horrible History of Gonorrhoea

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

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Possibly the first recorded sexually transmitted disease, gonorrhoea is still one of the most common.

We're back on the itchier side of history today to find out more about the story of this difficult-to-spell affliction.

Kate is back with Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh. Together they discuss the odd and off-putting treatments offered for gonorrhoea over the centuries.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

If you'd like to get in touch with the show you can contact us at [email protected].

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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.
0:02.4	If you would like betwixt the sheets, add free and get early access, sign up to History Hit.
0:08.7	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of original documentaries with top history presenters.
0:16.0	And enjoy a new release every single week.
0:19.8	Sign up now by visiting history hit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:24.6	Hello, my lovely betwixters.
0:26.5	It's me, Kate Lister.
0:27.9	This is Betwixters Sheets.
0:29.3	I am me.
0:30.1	You are you.
0:30.9	And I bet you know what's coming next.
0:32.5	Here it is the fair do's warning.
0:34.5	This is an adult podcast, spoken by adults to other adults about adultery things and an adultery way covering a range of adult subjects and you should be an adult too. We are
0:41.0	actually talking today about the history of gonorrhea. Okay, so it's a spicy one, but really
0:48.5	this is more of a stomach warning. Like if you are listening to this and you're about to have,
0:54.1	you know, some cheese
0:55.2	on toast or possibly a pizza or a pasta dish, I don't think that this is going to go very well
1:01.4	with it. So I would just give us a miss if I were you or at least finish the food first.
1:06.1	Right. On with the show. A battle is burning, literally burning, across the world.
1:16.6	The enemy has brought down many armies, indiscriminately scandalised communities for centuries
1:22.6	and generally wrought havoc.
1:25.6	And now it's getting even stronger
	...

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