The History of Vibrators, Virginity and Sex with Kate Lister
This week, Hannah is joined by Kate Lister, a lecturer at Leeds Trinity who specialises in the history of sexuality and created the popular Whores of Yore platform. They chat about why studying the history of sex is so important, and whether we are now a more sexually liberated society. Kate shares some myths around the history of sex, including around the invention of vibrators, and why ideas around virginity and masturbation haven’t actually changed that much throughout history. Finally, Hannah and Kate talk about why it’s so difficult to discuss the history of sex as it’s such a hidden history.
Read the episode transcript here!
SHOW NOTES
What we chat about…
Hannah’s History degree and specialising in sexual history
Where Kate’s interest in sex as a subject began
How Whores of Yore started
Why is studying the history of sex so important?
Which time period Kate thinks is the most sexually liberated
The invention of vibrators and the myths around it
Kate’s thoughts on Freud
How did Kate choose what to cover in her book?
The cross over between sex and food
Mr Kellogg and his anti-masturbation views
Foods that boost our libidos
Technology and sex
Why are male sex toys shamed but female sex toys seen as empowering?
‘No fap’ communities and the history behind this
Historical examples of people trying to restore virginity
The danger of seeing virginity as a commodity
The difficulties of sex history being a hidden history
USEFUL LINKS
Vote for Doing It in the Global Awards: https://vote.global.com/
Whores of Yore website: https://www.thewhoresofyore.com/
Whores of Yore Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhoresofYore
A Curious History Of Sex*: https://amzn.to/38SQIP6
The History of Sexuality: http://bit.ly/TheHistoryofSexualityBook
TI saying he has his daughter’s virginity checked: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/nov/07/ti-rapper-daughter-hymen-check-outrage
MORE ABOUT DR KATE LISTER
Dr Kate Lister is a university lecturer at Leeds Trinity, and she specialises int he history of sexuality, particularlya round sex work. She started Whores Of Yore, which is an interdisciplinary digital archive for the study of historical sexuality, in 2016.
Find out more about Kate Lister on her Twitter.
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*affiliate links