Dirty Sexy History

Ancient history has traditionally been dominated by the lives of great men, while ancient women are confined to the margins or omitted altogether. In The Missing Thread, award-winning classicist Dr Daisy Dunn pulls these women out of the shadows and puts them center stage, where they belong. This week, we talk about the lives of ancient women: love, marriage, extra-marital relationships, divorce, sex, contraception, same-sex relationships, and even dildos made of bread?! We also talk about women leading armies, ruling nations, and the very first woman to win at the Olympics, long before women were even allowed to compete. Daisy’s book is The Missing Thread: A Women’s History of the Ancient World, and it’s out in the US on July 30th from Viking. [Listen notes for further reading: the women mentioned include poet Sappho, Messalina, the goddess Ishtar, Clytemnestra (wife of Agamemnon), Cornelia (wife of Tiberius Gracchus), orator Aspasia, Olympic victor Cynisca, Tomyris, Pharaoh Hatshepsut, and Artemisia of Halicarnassus] Daisy can be found at daisydunn.co.uk.

Burned, hanged, and symbolically “executed,” tea was a controversial commodity in 1770s America. This week we talk to Dr James Fichter about tea consumption, bans, the protests like the Boston Tea Party in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. Dr Fichter’s new book is Tea: Consumption, Politics, and Revolution, 1773-1776.

Under the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act, Britain imprisoned 50,000 people as “moral imbeciles.” Many of them were young women—working class, poor or unwed mothers, often victims of sexual assault—and most were confined to so-called Mental Deficiency Colonies for the rest of their lives. It was all down to eugenics; as the middle-class birth rate declined, Britain feared the working classes would outbreed their “betters,” so they imprisoned certain sexually active young people to keep them from having children. Not unlike Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, the Mental Deficiency Colonies were places of terrible abuse. Today we talk about this terrible chapter in British history with Sarah Wise, author of The Undesirables: The Law That Locked Away a Generation.

Just this week, all but two Senate Republicans voted against the Right to Contraception Act. At the same time, the GOP is calling for a nationwide ban on abortion. But what happens when abortion is banned? It happened in Italy in 1588…but it didn’t work. It was overturned only three years later in 1591. This week, Jess talks to Dr John Christopoulos about Early Modern family planning and the difference between Church doctrine and the sex lives of real people. We cover bans, common practice, extramarital sex, same-sex relationships in convents, and more. Dr Christopoulos’s book is the award-winning Abortion in Early Modern Italy, out now from Harvard University Press.

Nostalgia can be both good and bad—at its best, it manifests in historical reenactment, vintage fashion, and mid-century modern furniture. At its worst, it can drive regressive political policies, fascism, and book bans. But nostalgia itself isn’t a bad thing—it’s a bittersweet, rose-tinted longing for the past, but how did people in the past experience it? In this thoughtful episode, Jess talks to Dr. Agnes Arnold-Forster about historical ideas about nostalgia, nostalgia as a medical condition, and the surprising link to a poltergeist that took the form of a talking mongoose called Gef. Dr. Arnold-Forster’s new book is Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion.

During Josephine McCarty’s trial for murder, she was portrayed as an ordinary woman—a mother of six, she was only looking out for her children when she shot her lover in the face in front of dozens of witnesses. Over the course of her trial, she told the story of her life—she had been a lobbyist, an abortion provider, one of the first female doctors in the United States, and a double agent during the Civil War. Josephine was anything but ordinary, but her experiences mirror those of other nineteenth-century women: struggles with marriage, divorce, and child support; the pursuit of higher education and independent income; and navigating a chaotic healthcare system that was never built for women. Half medical history and half true crime, her story will have you on the edge of your seat. Our guest this week is R.E. Fulton, author of The Abortionist of Howard Street: Medicine and Crime in Nineteenth-Century New York, out today from Cornell University Press.

This week we welcome back to the show Susan Wands, author of the Arcana Oracle Series. We’re looking at the extraordinary lives of Florence Farr and Ellen Terry, two incredible women who broke all the rules of Victorian society. Divorce! Affairs! Illegitimate children! And best of all—careers! Ellen was an incredibly successful actress, and Florence was an artist and theater producer who became a high-ranking magician and head of the Golden Dawn. Not only did women like Ellen and Florence exist, but their lives were stranger (and better!) than fiction. We also discuss the possibility that Florence and Ellen inspired Pamela Colman Smith’s High Priestess and Empress tarot cards. Susan’s new book is High Priestess and Empress, and it’s out May 14th.

Following on from Episode 3.19 on sex toys with Hallie Lieberman, this week we talk to clinical psychologist Dr Eric Sprankle about the history and science of masturbation. We talk about the not-so-sexy origins of graham crackers and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, bizarre conspiracy theories about porn, semen retention myths, and the Founding Father who thought math would keep you from touching yourself. Does masturbating fight fascism? The answer might surprise you! Eric’s new book is DIY: The Wonderfully Weird History and Science of Masturbation.

Literary nerds rejoice! This week, we have another history/literature episode, looking at sex work in Victorian poetry with Emily Calleja. We’re talking about how sex workers were portrayed, what that can tell us about women’s real-life frustrations, and how it impacted the suffrage movement.

Sex toys have existed for 28,000 years, so why is there still such a stigma around them? This week we’re talking about the history of sex toys from the ancient world to the present, the evolution and cultural significance of the vibrator in the 19th and 20th centuries, Masters and Johnson’s revolutionary research, the ups and downs of the adult entertainment industry, anti-obscenity laws, and censorship. Our guest is Dr Hallie Lieberman, author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy

You’ve heard it all before—corsets are dangerous, uncomfortable, a tool of the patriarchy meant to oppress women! But are they? Were they ever? This week on DSH, we talk to biological anthropologist about corsets—how they really affect the body, why women wore them, and the surprising reason men wanted to do away with them at the turn of the 20th century. Rebecca’s new book is The Bad Corset, a translation and critique of Ludovic O’Followell’s influential 1905 anti-corset treatise, Le Corset.

In seventeenth-century England, seeing a doctor was a big deal. Before the NHS, people paid doctors, quacks, and even astrological medical practitioners out of pocket for cures that could be dangerous and downright unpleasant. Some people turned to household recipe books to treat themselves at home, but for many serious ailments, this just wasn’t possible. This week, we talk to Dr Jennifer Evans about men’s sexual health in the seventeenth-century—everything from kidney stones and infertility to syphilis and genital gangrene. Plus, just in time for Valentine’s Day, an introduction to early modern aphrodisiacs. Sparrow, anyone?

For women in Renaissance Italy, beauty was everything: it could be a vocation, a way to get ahead, entertainment, or even a weapon. Women of all classes used cosmetics, and many were employed as beauticians, apothecaries, and beauty writers. This week, Jess talks to Professor Jill Burke about Renaissance beauty standards, cosmetics, hair dye, plastic surgery, and how hundreds of women escaped abusive marriages with Aqua Tofana

Between 1848 and 1879, the Oneida Community tried to build heaven in Upstate New York through the principles of communism, free love, and contraception. Under the guidance of charismatic preacher John Humphrey Noyes, the community practiced “complex marriage,” meaning everyone was allowed to sleep with everyone else. But there was a dark side to this seemingly progressive paradise—Noyes was a narcissist who exercised extreme control over the lives of his followers, experimenting with eugenics in his quest for immortality. In this special double episode, Jess covers Noyes’s early life and theology, the structure and sexual practices of the community, and its experiments in birth control and “stirpiculture.” You’ll never look at a spoon the same way again.

What can folklore teach us about history? More than you’d think! This week, Jess talks to Icy Sedgwick about fairies, ghosts, gods, psychopomps, tricksters, banshees, and more. Who was the real Lady Godiva? How did colonialism influence the folklore of the Americas? And why are people so obsessed with Robin Hood? We cover all this and more this week on DSH. Icy is the author of Rebel Folklore: Empowering Tales of Spirits, Witches, and Other Misfits from Anansi to Baba Yaga. For more on Jess’s birthday fundraiser to benefit ARFP, check out our Instagram @dirtysexyhistory or donate directly at arfpnc.com.

He might not be the most famous pirate, but Black Sam Bellamy may have been the most successful: when his ship wrecked in 1717, it took Sam with it, along with an astonishing 4.1 tonnes of gold and treasure. Forbes estimated that at his death, the "Prince of Pirates" was worth more than $120 million. And he did it all for love. This week on the podcast, we talk to Dr Jamie Goodall about Bellamy's doomed romance with the "Witch of Wellfleet," Maria Hallett, his unusual battle tactics, and how the Whydah was found again in the 1980s. Jamie also offers tips for finding pirates in your own family tree--chances are, you may have one or two.

Madame Blavatsky is no longer a household name, but her ideas changed the course of history. A central figure in Victorian Spiritualism, she is credited with starting the New Age movement. She influenced everyone from Aldous Huxley and H.P. Lovecraft to Aleister Crowley and David Bowie. Even Dungeons & Dragons borrows from Blavatsky. Although her “miracles” were debunked in her lifetime, her ideas were far from harmless—her theories about race heavily influenced the Nazis and may have led to the Holocaust. This week, Jess talks to author and horror expert Sian Ingham about the difficult legacy of Madame Blavatsky. Sian’s books include The Age of Miracles: Essays on the Collapse of History, and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated We Don’t Go Back: A Watcher’s Guide to Folk Horror.

Strikes have been in the news more and more lately, but what is a Labor Union and why should we care? Unions have gotten us many of the rights we take for granted today: the eight-hour workday, safer working conditions, better wages, and benefits. Women have played a huge part in this, from teenage girls in the first picket lines, to Mother Jones and Lucy Parsons, to the Uprising of the 20,000 and beyond. This week, we’re talking to journalist and organizer Kim Kelly about the American Labor Movement and what history can teach us about how to change the world today.

What did the 18th Century smell like? You probably think of horses and chamber pots, but do you think of tobacco? How about sulfur? This week, we talk to Dr Emily Friedman about common scents in fiction from the Long 18th Century, mentioned by authors like Frances Burney and Jane Austen. We’re talking snuff, smelling salts, taking the waters at Bath, bathing before showers, Queen Charlotte’s bad habits, Marie Antoinette’s perfume, and more! Dr Friedman’s book is Reading Smell in Eighteenth-Century Fiction. Check out our Instagram for discount codes @dirtysexyhistory

“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” was a hit musical on Broadway, later made into a movie starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. But what about the Chicken Ranch, the real brothel the story was based on? This week, we talk to Jayme Lynn Blaschke about the history of sex work in Texas, the first brothels in La Grange, poultry as payment, and Miss Edna, the last madam of the Chicken Ranch. Jayme is the author of “Inside the Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse.”

While WWI was fought overseas, there was another war closer to home—a war on women known as “The American Plan.” Under the American Plan, tens of thousands of women were detained and injected with toxic chemicals based on their perceived ability to spread venereal disease, all in the name of protecting our soldiers. This week, our guest is comedian and sex-worker rights advocate Kaytlin Bailey, host of the Oldest Profession Podcast. We are talking about the history of sex work in America, the Mann Act, the Comstock Act, and the lasting legacy of the American Plan, which can still be felt today.

Nineteenth century France was a “nation on drugs”: psychotropic drugs were widely used and easily accessible for everything from everyday pain and mental issues to surgeries and brothel visits. This week, we talk to Dr Sara Black about the rise of Opium, Morphine, Cocaine, Ether, Chloroform, and Hashish—how they were researched and normalized until they were used by most of the country. We’re talking medical history, obstetrics, aphrodisiacs, psychiatric care, recreational use, philosophy and more. Dr Black’s new book is Drugging France: Mind-Altering Medicine in the Long Nineteenth Century.

The history of New York City isn’t only found in its museums—it’s in the names you find all over the city. This week, we talk to Rebecca Bratspies, author of Naming Gotham, about some of the remarkable people who leant their names to New York’s infrastructure: Anne Hutchinson, Adriaen van der Donck, Casimir Pulaski, Tadeusz Kościuszko, William Cullen Bryant, John Jacob Astor, and more. [minor correction: Rebecca mentions Mrs. Astor’s “top 200,” but meant to say “400”]

George Remus was an infamous bootlegger in Jazz Age America, so wealthy and ostentatious that he is thought to be the real-life inspiration for Jay Gatsby. This week, we talk to Abbott Kahler about his bootlegging business, toxic marriage, legendary parties, and the bad-ass woman who wouldn’t rest until he was behind bars. Abbott’s book is The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz Age America

Whales have been in the news all week, but it’s not the first time they’ve attacked ships. This week, Jess talks about the 19th century whaling industry, historical whale attacks, and the tragic sinking of the Essex in 1820. We cover the real-life inspiration for Moby Dick, an enormous white whale who sunk twenty ships off the coast of Chile. There’s even a bonus segment on whale products in Civil War era makeup courtesy of Godey’s Lady’s Book, 1863.

Many historical love stories take you up until the wedding with the presumed happily-ever-after, but what happens next? What if things go wrong? This week, our guest is Dr. Jacqueline Beatty, author of In Dependence: Women and the Patriarchal State in Revolutionary America. We cover 18th century marriage, divorce, financial dependence, women's networks, and how women played into society's perception of them as weak to get what they wanted.

Between 1827 and 1832, one ship—the Black Joke—captured thirteen slave ships and freed an incredible 3,000 people. The true story of the Black Joke is about so much more than one ship; today we also talk about diversity among sailors, gay relationships in the British navy, Britain’s complicated relationship with the slave trade, and how slavery was finally abolished. Our guest is historian and Jeopardy champion AE Rooks, author of the Mountbatten Maritime Media Awards’ Best Book of 2022, The Black Joke: The True Story of One Ship’s Battle Against the Slave Trade.

We are kicking off Season Three with an extra-long episode with Andrea Janes and Leanna Renee Hieber, historical ghost tour guides and authors of A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts. From the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire to the Winchester Mystery House, we cover a lot of ground, discussing theoretical physics and the Stone Tape theory, famous ghosts, and the everyday horror of living as a woman in 19th-century America. What can ghost stories tell us about real history? A lot. We cover all this and more this week on DSH. Don't miss our special bonus Patreon mini episode this week, where Andrea, Leanna, and Jess share some of their personal ghost stories from historic sites. Subscribe and check it out at patreon.com/dirtysexyhistory

America is experiencing a crisis of “bad history,” with fake history being used to justify regressive policy decisions while real history is being removed from schools and libraries. Why is it happening, and what are the dangers of fake history? For the Season 2 finale, our guests are Princeton history professors Dr Kevin Kruse and Dr Julian Zelizer, editors of New York Times Bestseller Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past. This episode covers everything from the Civil Rights Movement to current protests, from the “Lost Cause” and Reagan to gun control and Trump’s indictment. It’s a big episode that covers a lot of ground, attempting to answer, “Is history inherently political?” We’ll be back with Season 3 on May 10th.

Eighteenth-century pornography was surprisingly progressive, challenging gender roles and the very definition of sex. This week, we talk to Dr Kathleen Lubey about that, plus dildos, gender fluidity, LGBTQ+ content, female empowerment, and the link to modern Romance novels. Dr. Lubey’s new book is What Pornography Knows: Sex and Social Protest Since the Eighteenth Century.

This week, we talk to Craig Seligman about the history of drag in the US and Australia and look at the extraordinary life of artist, filmmaker, and drag icon Doris Fish. We’re talking drag shows, drugs, glitter, Vegas in Space, and how San Francisco battled the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. Craig’s new book is Who Does That Bitch Think She Is? Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag.

At least 385 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced so far in 2023, targeting everything from books to gender-affirming care and even marriage equality. It all sounds a bit familiar, and that’s what we’re talking about this week. Today we talk to Dr Jake Newsome, author of Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust about anti-LGBTQ legislation in Germany from the 19th century until the 1970s, Nazi policies and how the public enabled them, and how the pink triangle went from a symbol of imprisonment to one of gay liberation.

The art of the Rider-Waite tarot deck is iconic, but not everyone knows the artist behind it, Pamela Colman Smith. This week, we talk to actress, tarot reader, and historical fiction author Susan Wands about Pamela’s life, her art, and her involvement with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Susan’s new book is Magician and Fool, a historical novel about Pamela Colman Smith

You know about the Women’s Suffrage Movement, but what you might not realize is how many of early suffragists were queer. This week, we talk dress reform, free love, jiu-jitsu, and queer love stories with Dr Wendy Rouse, author of Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

Following on from Episode 2.8, Dr Nicole Dittmer joins us for a discussion about the Victorian view of women as inherently monstrous and how this widespread fear of women influenced the gothic fiction of the time, notably Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Literary nerds, rejoice! This week we’re talking Catherine Earnshaw, Bertha Mason, hysteria, demon uteruses, and…werewolves?! Plus, this episode comes with merch! Join the Monstrous Women squad with our new “Demon Uterus” design, up now at Tee Public teepublic.com/user/dirtysexyhistory

We think of “friends with benefits” as a modern phenomenon, but it really isn’t. This week, we talk to historian Dr Cassandra Good about 18th century friendships between men and women, answering the important questions: Who sent the first “tit pic”? How did Benedict Arnold win over Peggy Shippen? And crucially, what was really going on between Alexander Hamilton and his sister-in-law?

Christmas shopping is hard, so this week, we’re taking the advice of 1930s holiday beauty ads and looking into radium! Our guest is Lucy Jane Santos, author of Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium and an expert in toxic beauty history. We’re talking about radioactive skincare, X-Rays in beauty salons, radium condoms, snorting radium, and other *very* bad ideas. As always—do NOT try this at home!

This week, we talk to Dr Anne Linton, author of the groundbreaking new book Unmaking Sex. The book focuses on intersex and gender-nonconformity in 19th century French life and literature, and we also discuss marriage laws, medical erotica, popular fiction, and permits for pants!

Fake news a modern problem, right? Not exactly. In fact, the US was founded on it. In this very special Thanksgiving episode, we talk to Dr Jordan Taylor about 18th century newspapers, the Revolutionary War, and how misinformation started everything.

Illegitimate children come up a lot in historical fiction, but how common was illegitimate birth, and what was life really like for these people? This week, we talk to Dr Kate Gibson about her new book: Illegitimacy, Family, and Stigma in England, 1660-1834.

You’ve heard Victorian women could get committed to mental institutions for reading books and thinking too much, but why did it happen, and what were these places really like? This week, Jess explains how being female was enough to get you labeled insane, looking at some horrific treatments used, as well as the experiences of Elizabeth Packard and Nellie Bly, two badass women who fought back.

Gender has been a hot-button issue for years, but the very concept only goes back to the 1950s. In this episode, we talk to Berkeley history professor Dr Sandra Eder about how the idea of gender developed from the treatment of children born with intersex traits in the first half of the 20th century.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Carmel-by-the-Sea was an idyllic artists’ colony in Northern California. At the center of the excitement was “King of the Bohemians” George Sterling and his wife, Carrie. But all was not as sunny as it seemed. When George’s secret lover, poet Nora May French, came to Carmel, it set the three on a collision course that would end in suicide by cyanide—three of them. But what really happened? This week, we talk to Dr Catherine Prendergast about her new book, The Gilded Edge: Two Audacious Women and the Cyanide Love Triangle that Shook America

This week, we talk to historian and curator Hugh Ryan about the Women’s House of Detention, a prison in the heart of New York City’s Greenwich Village where countless women and trans men were incarcerated for all kinds of heinous crimes, like…smoking and wearing pants? It wasn’t too long ago that a woman on her own could be arrested for prostitution without proof and jailed for her perceived ability to spread sexually transmitted infections. This wasn’t the dark ages; the Women’s House of Detention was open until the 1970s. This is the story of a prison built on structural racism, homophobia, and misogyny, and how those incarcerated fought back.

We constantly hear that trans and gender-nonconforming identities are a strictly modern concept. But are they? In this episode, we talk to historian Dr Kit Heyam about gender nonconformity in world history and how definitions and experiences of gender vary between time periods and cultures. Dr Heyam is the author of Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender, which is out now

Everyone loves Our Flag Means Death, but who was the real Stede Bonnet, and what exactly was going on between him and Blackbeard? On this week’s show, we talk to Stede’s biographer Jeremy Moss about this, plus libraries on ships, walking the plank, and what makes a good pirate flag

Violet Fenn returns to the podcast to talk about Lady Hamilton, Harriet Wilson, portable chamber pots, and the dateability of Regency dukes

In this great interview with Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris, we discuss pioneering plastic surgeon Dr. Harold Gillies, his brave patients, and the multitalented medical heroes who made his work possible. You’ll never look at WWI quite the same way again.

From hot pink and fetish gear to fake eyelashes, tattoos, and nipple piercings, this week we’re talking about some surprisingly “modern” fashion and beauty trends of the 19th century. What did the Victorians wear apart from all that black? We can’t wait to tell you

Shrove Tuesday—Mardi Gras—is now celebrated with pancakes and parades, but in 17th century London, it was another story altogether. For years, local apprentices used the holiday as an excuse to attack sex workers and vandalize brothels. The damage in 1668 was so severe that London’s sex workers petitioned the king’s mistress to help. This week on DSH, we talk about (and attempt to read) The Poor Whores’ Petition of 1668.

In this episode, we cover the tumultuous year Lola spent in Bavaria which resulted in the abdication of Ludwig I. There’s political intrigue, hints of the occult, and some spectacularly dodgy poetry. Check out our Instagram for the photos we mention @dirtysexyhistory

On the anniversary of Claude Duval’s death, Jess talks about the gallows at Tyburn, then covers the life and high-profile hanging of this legendary highwayman. As a bonus, we host special guest Matt Robinson of the paranormal podcast Ghoul Britannia to talk about a historic hotel in England that Claude allegedly haunts

In this week’s episode, Jess covers the life of infamous dancer and courtesan Lola Montez from her tumultuous childhood in India to her earliest doomed love affairs with Franz Liszt, Alexandre Dumas, and Alexandre Henri Dujarier. Montez was said to be Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s inspiration for femme fatale Irene Adler, but her real life was far more interesting

Jess talks to Dr. Charlotte Naylor Davis and Dr. Jeremy Swist about historical themes in Heavy Metal ahead of their online conference, Heavy Metal and Global Premodernity (February 24th - 26th). We touch on race, feminism, inclusivity, and some of the exciting ways modern readers misinterpret classical texts. This week is a little History, a little Media Studies, and a whole lotta Metal. Spotify playlist for this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jRPfXhpYMqJOh3DL4F9NT?si=077358ac640c40c6 Heavy Metal and Global Premodernity: Conference Info and Registration: https://www.brandeis.edu/classics/heavy-metal-and-global-premodernity/ Dr. Charlotte Naylor Davis: https://www.patreon.com/MetalBiblicalScholar Dr. Jeremy Swist: https://heavymetalclassicist.home.blog/ Conference poster art by Lauren Gornik: https://www.instagram.com/gornikillustration

This week on Dirty Sexy History, Jess talks to Zenobia Neil, author of Ariadne Unraveled. We speculate of the truth behind the myth of the Minotaur and talk sexual fluidity, body positivity, and contraception in the ancient world.

This week on Dirty Sexy History, we look at the extraordinary life of Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. As a composer, he tutored Marie Antoinette and was so talented that Mozart despised him. An abolitionist and accomplished swordsman, he also led the Legion Saint-Georges, the first all-Black regiment in Europe.

We’ve already established that transgender people have always existed, but gay marriage is new—right? Not so much. This week, we have a brief overview of different kinds of same-sex or gender-nonconforming marriages and other unions in England prior to 1800, with a closer look at some fascinating figures from Jen Manion’s brilliant book, Female Husbands.

In this week’s episode of Dirty Sexy History, Jess talks about the history of cocaine from its uses in medicine to the development of Coca-Cola, and how these were used in sex, pregnancy prevention, and childbirth into the 20th century. Don’t try this at home.

In this year’s last episode of the Halloween series, Doctor John presents the Monster Mash: a little history behind werewolves, Dracula, “resurrected corpses,” and mummies’ curses. It’s a graveyard smash!

Happy Halloween! This week, we welcome special guest Violet Fenn, author of The History of the Vampire in Popular Culture: Love at First Bite. We cover everything from the earliest myths to the Victorians, and even make it to 1950s Glasgow and a (not so) surprising connection to the Monmouth Vampire in 1980s Wales. Release the bats!

This week on DSH, we look at the life of 18th century prizefighter Daniel Mendoza, who paved the way for acceptance of the Jewish community in Georgian London and changed boxing forever.

Decor can be ugly, but what about when it’s deadly? Continuing with our Halloween series this week, we’re talking about Scheele’s Green, the arsenic-based pigment that filled homes in Britain throughout the nineteenth century, and its surprising connection to William Morris, one of the most influential figures of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Millions of miles of arsenic green wallpaper filled the homes of Victorian Britain, causing illness and death with toxic dust. You’ll never look at green walls quite the same way again…

This week, we look at 40 Elephants, an infamous all-female gang active in London from about 1870 - 1950. Then Jess talks to New York Times Bestselling Author and host of Fated Mates, Sarah MacLean, about the gang and how it helped to inspire her latest Historical Romance, Bombshell. From organized crime and chloroform to Victorian fast food and IUDs, we cover it all today on Dirty Sexy History

In Episode 3 of our Halloween series, Jess talks about the history of Paris’s catacombs from the dangerous graveyards that led to their opening to the surprising things they are still used for today

In the second episode of our Halloween series, we’re picking up where we left off last week with a look at the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century German handbook for the identification of witches.

In the first episode of our Halloween series, Jess talks about 11th century ideas of witchcraft in penitential literature and reads some of her favorite “women’s vices” from Burchard’s Decretum

How did people manage their symptoms during the last pandemic? Heroin! Once and over-the-counter cough aid, it was sold to women, children, and soldiers with chronic pain as a “non-addictive” alternative to morphine. In this episode, John looks at the early history of heroin as well as other common treatments for the Spanish Flu.

In this overview, Jess traces the development of pornography in Britain from its working-class political origins with Fanny Hill to later Victorian attempts to crack down on its sale

This week, Jess talks about the spiritual side of historical kink with a look at the death of Czech composer Frantisek Kotzwara in 1791 from erotic asphyxiation, and the murder trial that followed. Then, we jump to Imperial Russia for a look at Rasputin’s views on love and sex to answer the eternal question—was Rasputin really Russia’s greatest love machine?

Following on from Episode 11, we look at how the symptoms of tuberculosis became the gold standard for Victorian beauty, then we jump to Gilded Age New York for some skin care tips from “The Ugly Girl Papers.”

La Traviata, Les Miserables, Moulin Rouge… the tragic courtesan of so many stories is based on just one woman: Marie Duplessis, better known as la Dame aux Camelias. This week, we’re looking at her short life, her love affair with composer Franz Liszt, and her enduring legacy in art and music.

In this episode, we’re looking at sex work in Southwark from the Roman period until the 12th century, when the Church was in charge of licensing the “Winchester Geese” and used the money to build places like Southwark Cathedral, which sits on the site of an ancient Roman temple to Isis

Once as common as aspirin, laudanum was immortalized in 19th century literature and still pops up in period dramas today. So what was it? Opium and alcohol, and it was used for *everything.* Today on DSH, we’re talking about those uses—authorized and otherwise—and looking at Thomas de Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater

Happy Bastille Day! This week, we’re talking about the factors that led to the storming of the Bastille on July 14th of 1789 and finding parallels between today’s income inequality and that of Revolutionary France

In the 19th century, no one ever married outside their class…right? In this episode, we look at some people who did. Elizabeth Armistead was a courtesan to the aristocracy who married the love of her life, politician and abolitionist Charles James Fox. Arthur Munby was a gentleman who secretly married Hannah Cullwick, a maid with a very interesting fetish.

Trans identities aren’t a new thing; they have existed since at least ancient Mesopotamia around 3100 BCE. In this episode, we take a look at the trans priests of the goddesses Inanna and Cybele, and how an oracle’s prophecy brought them to Rome to defeat Hannibal

In this week’s episode, Jess takes you on a tour of the darker side Parisian nightlife in the 19th century from Robertson’s Phantasmagoria to the awesomely goth nightclubs of 1890s Montmartre. As a bonus, she explains how to drink absinthe like a pro so you don’t embarrass yourself in front of Oscar Wilde

Did Columbus bring syphilis back to Europe from the New World? Almost certainly. In this episode, Jess talks about how Columbus caused the deaths of 120 million people worldwide from disease alone, leading to the invention of the modern condom in the 16th century.

In this double episode, Jess talks about the 19th century origins of BMI and explains how it’s still inherently flawed today. John covers Egyptian and Roman laxatives, then it’s on to the deadly diet pills of the 1930s, namely DNP and Pervitin, the once-legal meth added to chocolate that went on to fuel the Third Reich. Buckle up, minions, it’s going to get weird!

So you think kink is modern? In Regency London, dominatrix Theresa Berkley opened a multistory sex dungeon and became a self-made millionaire. More on Theresa and the English Vice today on DSH

In this first episode of the podcast, we look at contraception and abortion in history from the ancient world to the twentieth century.