Today I’m going to talk about the history of make up. It’s not something I ever really consider my forte but I’ve started wearing make up again, following months of… Read more A History of Make Up: From the Tudors to the Victorians →
As the “oldest profession in the world”, the history of sex work is long and complicated by society’s weird relationship with it. For centuries sex workers have occupied an odd… Read more A History of Sex Work: The “Common Prostitute” →
The paparazzi would have loved Charles Brandon. He had everything you’d want for some good, gossipy stories – he was handsome and charming, rose to the top of the Tudor… Read more Nobles Go Dating: The Five Wives of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk →
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that there was more than one woman in Elizabethan England. The Queen dominates the show, with a few notable exceptions – Mary, Queen of Scots*,… Read more The Fascinating Elizabethan Women You’ve Never Heard Of →
An academic summary of thoughts in the history of menstruation: PERIODS? EW! That is not a flippant comment. For literally thousands of years menstruation has been considered disgusting, unclean and… Read more A History of Menstruation →
Famously, Queen Victoria didn’t believe that lesbians existed. She’s not the only one to think that, despite evidence of queer female love and sex cropping up all through history. Same-sex… Read more Queer Female History: attitudes towards sex →
I first heard about this book a couple of years ago when I listened to an interview between Anna-Marie Crowhurst and Jan Campbell (listen/watch here) and then totally forgot about… Read more Mini book review: The Illumination of Ursula Flight by Anna-Marie Crowhurst →
Since the dawn of time women have both been having sex, and trying not to get pregnant. The history of contraception is long, and detailed, and usually kind of gross,… Read more A History of Contraception: 8 astounding Methods of Birth Control 1400-1800 →