Cover of Sex in History

Sex in History

SEX IN HISTORY chronicles the pleasures- and perils- of the flesh from the time of mankind's distant ancestors to the modern day; from a sexual act which was bried, crude and purposeful, to the myriad varieties of contemporary sexual mores. Reay Tannahill's scholarly, yet accessible study ranges from the earliest form of contraception (one Egyptian concoction included crocodile dung) to some latter- day misconceptions about it- like the men who joined their lovers in taking the pill 'just to be on the safe side.' It surveys all manner of sexual practice, preference and position (the acrobatic 'wheelbarrow' position, the strenuous 'hovering butterflies' position...) and draws on souces as diverse as THE ADMIRABLE DISCOURSES OF THE PLAIN GIRL, the EXHIBTION OF FEMALE FLAGELLANTS, IMPORTANT MATTERS OF THE JADE CHAMBER and THE ROMANCE OF CHASTISEMENT. Whether writing on androgyny, courtly love, flagellation or zoophilia, Turkish eunuch's Greek dildoes, Taoist sex manuals or Japanses geisha girls, Reay Tannahill is consistently enlightening and entertaining.

Audience
adult
Length
long · 480 pages

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These suit anyone who liked Sex in History. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America Shares history, sexuality, nonfiction
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  3. A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis Shares nonfiction, history, sexuality
  4. History Laid Bare: Love, Sex & Perversity from the Ancient Etruscans to Warren G. Harding Shares history, nonfiction, sexuality

“People who read Sex in History tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Sexy Origins and Intimate Things: The Rites and Rituals of Straights, Gays, Bis, Drags, Trans, Virgins, and Others
  2. The Prehistory of Sex: Four Million Years of Human Sexual Culture
  3. The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," the Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction
  4. Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America

“If you want more of the same (history about sexuality), start with these.”

  1. A History Of Celibacy
  2. The Humble Little Condom: A History
  3. A History of Orgies
  4. Rereading Sex: Battles Over Sexual Knowledge and Suppression in Nineteenth-Century America

“If it was the sexuality that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Lascivious Bodies : A Sexual History of the Eighteenth Century
  2. A History of Mistresses
  3. Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire
  4. The Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Decline of Males
  2. Humanae Vitae: Of Human Life
  3. Mr Darcy’s Guide to Courtship: The Secrets of Seduction from Jane Austen’s Most Eligible Bachelor
  4. Geisha