spiros

Catherine Morland began to curl her hair and long for balls

At fifteen, appearances were mending; she [Catherine Morland] began to curl her hair and long for balls. Jane Austen, Northhanger…

12 years ago

Knowingness that suggested the whole sex thing mightn’t be totally alien to them

There was a “knowingness” about the way they walked that suggested the whole sex thing mightn’t be totally alien to…

12 years ago

English girls were too sensible for sex

These girls [local girls] were too sensible for sex. They wanted to play chasing and stuff. Courtship and sex were…

12 years ago

We all knew what them continentals were like about sex

Sure, we all knew what them continentals were like about sex. They were all at it from an early age,…

12 years ago

I don’t think England should be represented abroad by an unmarried man

I don’t think England should be represented abroad by an unmarried man... It might lead to complications. Oscar Wilde, A…

12 years ago

Abroad is where sex happens and where the British are most at risk

It is also, you will notice, foreign. We find it helpful to associate sexual products and practices with foreigners because—naturally—we…

12 years ago

Our Madonna was Queen Victoria

Remember that for most of the last century this country’s iconic woman—our Madonna, as it were (in both the Catholic…

12 years ago

Some married women have feelings that to submit to men is wrong

The reasons for non-consummation are the same as ever, she reports, in spite of our apparent enlightenment on sexual matters.…

12 years ago

They’re both Christian and so didn’t do it

Others say they’re both Christian and so didn't do it before they got married—and then cannot bear to do it…

12 years ago

In some bedrooms, it seems, the Victorian age lives on

In some bedrooms, it seems, the Victorian age lives on. There are still men like John Ruskin, who failed to…

12 years ago