Jon Knowles
@howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
150 followers 60 following 3.5K posts
#HistSex "How Sex Got Screwed Up" HowSexGotScrewedUp.com
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
“There is also the common four-letter word which we often see written on the walls of toilets. It means to mate, but it is a cheap and ugly word.” It left unexplained the desire for #QueerSex, #SoloSex, & #zoophilia. Ghosts of #HistSex still haunt. Blog8 HowSexGotScrewedUp.com
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
The guide acknowledged that coitus did not always cause pregnancy & that unmarried women could get pregnant & that there were other words for coitus. But it did not use them:
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
“The sperm cells pass from the penis into the upper part of the vagina. This happens during mating, or intercourse. In mating, the penis becomes stiff & hard, so that it can fit naturally into the vagina.”
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK the companion book to the #SexED film “Human Growth” (1949) was more forthcoming about the sexual anatomy & feelings of white people than the original curriculum? It put its discussion of #coitus like this:
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK in 1854, Aristide Reinvillier argued against the popular idea that women had to take pleasure in sex to become pregnant? His “Hygiène pratique des femmes” advised “…the greatest indifference, even sleep, isn’t at all an obstacle…” HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #GenderHistory
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
Lang was a Protestant. Catholics could not support such an idea. Ghosts of #GenderHistory still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #WmnHist
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK in 1554, German physician, Johannes Lang, warned that women might die of #virginity if it went on too long? His “Medicinalium espistolarum miscellanea” included an early description of the cause: ‘virgin disease’—‘morbus virginaeus’!
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK most #pornography in late 19thC had #QueerSex scenes? Such #porn was common, but little survived. “Porn for Puritans” about Catholic clergy was popular among Protestants who feared Roman Catholics unleashed women’s #passion & #lust. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #QueerHistory
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK #CharlesDarwin was blind to non-procreative #SexualSelection & #QueerSex? He revolutionized ideas on #evolution, but imposed #Victorian stereotype & bias on theories of hetero #monogamy in animal sexuality. FACT: snakes don't marry! HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #QueerHistory
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK Hindu gods enjoy all kinds of #SexPlay? Here, god Ganesh gets a blow job from a monkey. Sexual pleasure was a life goal—kama shastra—for Hindus. There was no sin in #AnalSex, #coitus, #OralSex #QueerSex, #SoloSex, #zoophilia, or being #trans. Blog5 HowSexGotScrewedUp.com
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK Pope #UrbanII argued for 1st crusade in 1096, setting Catholic against Muslim w/false accusations of rape of virgins, circumcising Christians & #sodomy? He wreaked havoc on Europe & Middle East, & made an evil of #bestiality & #QueerSex. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #circumcision
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK Spain’s Inquisition punished 141 people for “simple fornication” from 1599 to 1648? But Protestant England made that puny. Its Societies for the Reformation of Manners, 1691–1730, prosecuted 101,683 it “blacklisted”. We still use the word! HowSexGotScrewedUp.com
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
The Seabury investigation also found that a lot of men, including bondsmen, judges, lawyers, policemen, & stool pigeons, blackmailed sex workers. Ghosts of #HistSex still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #DecrimNow #SexWorkIsWork
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK the #DoubleStandard guided official dealings w/#SexWork in early 20thC NYC? In 1930, Willoughby Waterman found only 67 of the 1,782 people sent to prison in the previous 10 yrs were men. The laws especially ignored customers. Detained women were disproportionately Black.
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK the ancient Roman worshipped the erect #phallus as #Priapus, garden god? He would club thieves w/his flail. We use his name to keep Earth green & lot’s still adore a #BigPenis. Ghosts of #HistSex still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #phallic #PhallusThursday
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK the inventor of corn flakes, #JohnHarveyKellogg, popularized #circumcision in the late 19thC his "Plain Facts for the Old and Young", second only to the bible in its popularity. His fabricated "case histories" about masturbators terrified the nation.
HowSexGotScrewedUp.com
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK #SexWork declined in 20thC America as women’s wages & acceptance of premarital #SexPlay increased? Prohibition’s 1919 Volstead Act also closed bars, cabarets, nightclubs, & saloons where #SexWorkers looked for #johns. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #HistSex #prostitution #WmnHist
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
But he did believe that both partners should desire & enjoy coitus. He believed mutual pleasure would make their offspring more “perfect”. Ghosts of #GenderHistory still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #WmnHist
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK Russell Thacher Trall (d.1877) gave incorrect information about periodic abstinence in “Sexual Physiology: A Scientific & Popular Exposition of the Fundamental Problems in Sociology”? His advice led women to have #coitus when it was most likely to make them pregnant.
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK #KingLeonidas of #Sparta & his Royal Guard of 300 #SameSex lovers commanded 7,000 Greek allies against Persian #KingXerxes' army of 360,000 at #Thermopylae, a narrow pass in Greece? His #queer soldiers held them off for 2 days. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #HistSex #QueerHistory
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK there may be 1,000s of statues of #Antinous? See Sarah Waters, (1995), “‘The Most Famous Fairy in History’: Antinous and Homosexual Fantasy”. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 6(2), 194–230. The number was "vast", many made after #Hadrian's death. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK #PlinytheElder’s (d.79) “Naturalis Historia” suggested we look to elephants for examples of #SelfControl because they only mated every 2 years? He seemed unaware that elephants have other kinds of sex: #SoloSex/#QueerSex/#InterspeciesSex. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #zoophilia
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK #MagnusHirschfeld's burned library on human sexuality included books & journals by #MargaretSanger? Nazis, like today's #TrumpKKKristians, opposed #abortion, #bestiality, #BirthControl #QueerSex, & #SoloSex, all written about in his collection. Blog1&7 HowSexGotScrewedUp.com
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
The “call girl” began to work from her apartment, out of the public eye. She relied instead on teams of cab drivers, bellboys, #pimps, ushers, & waiters to send clients her way & could still get $15 for #coitus. Ghosts of #HistSex still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #DecrimNow
howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social
DYK Gotham’s “century of #prostitution” ended by 1920? Better wages & working conditions & increased acceptance of premarital sex kept women from turning to #SexWork. Skyscrapers & telephones reduced the number of #brothels & #StreetWalkers.