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

Beautiful women are always causing trouble in history, and perhaps none more so than Helen of Troy. She's the daughter of Zeus and a human mother, after all. With the new film Odyssey hitting the big screen, find out all about the formidable Helen of Troy who was supposedly the most beautiful woman in the world and caused the Trojan War. Joining Kate today is Ruby Blondell, Professor of Classics a...

Picture a dragon and its dragon slayer. What do you imagine? It's likely going to be a giant, scaly, fire-breathing beast and a rugged knight with a massive sword. However, throughout history we have amazing myths of women dragon slayers. What are the ancient origins of the dragon? How do women dragon slayers differ from their male counterparts? And what genitals do medieval dragons have?! Joining...

With the Fourth of July and America's 250th around the corner we wanted to revisit an episode and take a look back at the presidents from the past what we know about their sex lives. Which president was well-endowed and supposedly presented it to staff in the Oval Office? Which president had an affair on his honeymoon? And which had an affair with his wife's secretary? And no, they're not all JFK....

Why did 200 people queue to give blood in the San Diego summer heat on 16 July 1983? During the AIDS crisis, many people living with HIV developed severe anaemia as a result of the disease and the treatments available at the time, leaving them dependent on regular blood transfusions. But where would the blood come from, especially with gay men being turned away from donating? In this episode, we'r...

Marlene Dietrich was unapologetic in her love of sex, and she had a lot of it. She took Hollywood by storm in the 1930s and slept with some of tinsel town's most famous men and women. What made her so unique and create such a legacy? As a sexually liberated German woman what did the Nazis make of her? And did she really sleep with JFK and his father?! This is the final instalment of our mini-serie...

Why on earth would anyone make a perilous journey across wilderness and snow covered mountains, all because of a bit of gold? This isn't Lord of the Rings, it's the Klondike Gold Rush, when an estimated hundred thousand people made the journey across Alaska to goldfields in the Klondike region, Canada. Among them, women. But why did women make this journey? How much of their work was sex work? Kat...

Mata Hari was a dancer and courtesan who was executed in 1917 for being a spy during the First World War. How did she get involved in such dangerous business? Was she really a mastermind spy who used her sexuality to gain intelligence? Or a scapegoat whose sexuality was used against her? In our new mini-series, Supersluts of History , we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexuality was used...

Has Burlesque always meant the same thing? Where did it come from? And how has it changed? Kate is joined by Dr Marissa Vigneault, Associate Professor of Art History at Utah State University, to find out more about how burlesque has become the art form it is today. This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick. Sign up to History Hit for...

Madam du Barry's life was remarkable: from rags, to riches, to... revolution. And she pi**ed off Marie Antoinette along the way, too. How did this courtesan from a poor background make it to be royal mistress in Versailles? How did the French Revolution impact her? And what her 'special talents' that attracted King Louis XV? In our new mini-series, we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexua...

What really went down in the Garden of Eden? Was there an apple? Was there a snake? Was the 'original sin' all that bad? To answer these questions and more, Kate is joined by Dr Dylan Johnson, biblical scholar and historian of the Ancient Near East at Cardiff University. His most recent publication is 'Lawgiving in the ancient Near East'. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original do...

In this new mini-series, we're exploring and celebrating women whose sexuality was used to define them. First up is Roman Empress Theodora. How did "Theodora from the brothels", as she was known, rise to be the most powerful woman across the Roman Empire? Joining Kate today is author Stella Duffy, to take us back to the 6th century and help us get to know Theodora's incredible story. This episode...

Sex in the distant past is often thought about with all the fun taken out of it. Pleasure must have been a part of the sex lives of women and men in the past, so what evidence do we have to back this up? What evidence of queer sex and attraction is there? And how did the Victorians try to cover up sex and pleasure in Ancient Greece and Rome? Joining Kate today is the wonderful historian and author...

How do you not only lose your own reputation and career, but also tank the reputation and freedoms of your entire industry? Today we’re exploring the first real Hollywood scandal, when actor Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was accused of assault and manslaughter. Though he was acquitted in court, Arbuckle nearly lost everything. In recent years it has been argued that this was unfair, but we aren't so sur...

It’s got many names: giving head, going down, eating out, dining at the Y, muff diving. Why has cunnilingus been stigmatised and feared so consistently throughout history?! When the Kama Sutra is turning its back on it, you know something is up. Today is a special solo episode where Kate takes you through the history of cunnilingus, to find out why this sex act has been so insulting, demonised and...

Who was Lettice Knollys? And why was she expelled from Elizabeth I's court? Kate is joined by Estelle Paranque in this episode to find out how a man came between loving cousins, and explore whether getting with your friend's crush has EVER been acceptable. This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick. Sign up to History Hit for hundr...

There will be giggling and gasping galore! And that's just when you listen to this episode! Dan Snow quizzes Kate on all things female pleasure. When was the first recorded female orgasm? Has there always been an orgasm gap? And is there any possibility of it closing? Kate's new book is 'FLICK: The Story of Female Pleasure'. This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee....

What do you have to do wrong to be specifically named in a law? In the 14th Century, one of the mistresses of King Edward III found out. So who was Alice Perrers? Kate is joined by the one and only Eleanor Janega to find out how Alice rose to power, and what brought her down? Eleanor is one of the hosts of our sister podcast, Gone Medieval, and the author of 'The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieva...

Has there ever been a time when homophobia did not exist? And what causes it to rise and fall? Kate is joined by Dr. Harry Tanner, author of 'The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Love'. Harry has been exploring ancient and biblical sources to find out where homophobia began, and why it seems to intensify in times of inequality. This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The prod...

What do we know about Jesus? Kate is joined for this episode by Professor of Christian Origins, Helen Bond, to find out more about the historical record for the events of the New Testament, why Jesus was persecuted, and who by. Helen is Professor of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh, and co-hosts the Biblical Time Machine Podcast. This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The prod...

What you'll hear in today's episode is a story that strikes to the dark heart of the British Empire. Despite being set in the time of Jane Austen's early 19th century polite society, Princess Caraboo's strange tale makes her an instant celebrity. But how much of it, if any, is true? Where does it lead? And what happens when the truth is a lot darker than the lie? Joining Kate today is the wonderfu...

When the British Empire colonised India, how did it treat their different ideas about sex? How did they treat sex workers like the Devadasi, meaning 'slave of God'? And did the Victorians fetishise Indian sexuality? Joining Kate today is the magnificent Anjali Arondekar, Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California, and author of For the Record: On Sexuality and the Colonial Archi...

Faces covered, identities unknown - masquerade balls sound like a place of anonymity and, therefore, SCANDAL. But how true is this in the 18th Century? Could people sneak in unrecognised like they do in Bridgerton? And how much would people be misbehaving inside? Kate is joined for this particular dance by Dr Meghan Kobza, author of 'Masquerade: Unmasking Georgian London'. Sign up to History Hit f...

In today's episode we're taking you back to the brothels of 19th century St. Petersburg. Sex work was legalised under the Emperor Nicholas I, but what was life like for sex workers? Why did they have to carry yellow tickets? And why did sex work there differ to the rest of Europe? Joining Kate today is Dr. Colleen Lucey, Associate Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at the University of Arizon...

Was Sappho queer? Or was this Ancient Greek poet just really really good friends with women? Today on Betwixt the Sheets, Kate is joined by Katherine Horgan to find out how Sappho's poetry has lasted through the centuries, what we can really know about her life, and why she is important in the modern world? Katherine is researching classical reception in Early Modern English Literature at Harvard,...

Where the American War of Independence raged, the camp followers...followed. Among them were sex workers, for both the American and British troops. What was life like inside army camps where sex workers mixed with wives, soldiers and generals? How did race and slavery factor into sex and sexuality in this time? And how did each side view queerness in the camps? Joining Kate today is the wonderful...