A Morning Frolic, or the Transmutation of the Sexes, by John Collet, c.1780
We explode gender norms by exploring their incredible variety across world history.
The History of Sex
In today’s culture of gay marriage, trans rights, and a new politically-correct term everyday, things can feel a little chaotic. It makes you long for the good old days when men were men, women were women, and nothing could be more clear, right?
Well, sorry to break it to you, but…
those days never existed.
If there’s one thing the history of sex teaches us, it’s that sex and gender have varied fantastically across different eras and cultures.
For example, did you know the Nazis encouraged young women to bear a child out of wedlock for the Fatherland? Or that pre-contact Hawaii had no such thing as marriage? Or that ancient Romans had no concept of orientation, only a vague sense of “preference” for one sex or the other?
That’s what we mean by “exploding” gender norms. We demolish the idea that they are in any way solid or unchanging.
Sex and Gender
By sex we mean both sex like male, female, non-binary, and that sort of thing, as well as sex like gettin’ your freak on.
By gender we mean how we perform our sexual identities, including masculinity, femininity, and everything between and beyond.
We’ll be exploring all of that on this show.
Guests Across the Spectrum
In addition to creating our own content, we’re also inviting other podcasters to showcase guest episodes, and we’ll have interviews with folks across the spectrum. Some of them may have experiences relevant to the topic at hand, like a sex worker on a show about ancient prostitution. Some may be academics or podcasters with relevant expertise. Others may be just regular ordinary people. Everyone has a perspective to share.
A Straight Cis* Guy Gets Schooled About Sex
Time for a confession: I’m just a straight cis guy. I expect I’ll put my foot in my mouth from time to time, and I invite you, the listener, to tell me when I do it.
*What does cis mean again? Check out this glossary from the Human Rights Campaign.
Schedule
Our first “season” came out weekly as an initial push to get the show off the ground. With that accomplished, we are now taking a more paced approach, with a release schedule about once a month or so. Subscribe in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher to be sure you get the next episode as soon as it drops!
Get Your Portrait Drawn
If you support the show on Patreon, you can get your portrait drawn in the time period and culture of your choosing! More details on our Supporters page.
Our Team
B. T. Newberg – your host; also research, writing, editing, production, and voice acting
Rachel Westhoff – logo design
Maxeem Konrardy – animation
Jacob White – social media assistant
Dr. Gillian Kenny, historian of women, sex, and magic in Medieval Europe – sponsor
And a BIG THANK YOU to our Launch Team: Jacob White, Bryan Beard, Tara Carlson, Matt Link, Luna Scheffer, Frederic Dumont, Ed Bernal, Christina Moore-Gotcher, Nick Przbilla, Andre Sólo, Jenn Granneman
Contacts
Homepage: historyofsexpod.com
Facebook: @historyofsexpod facebook.com/historyofsexpod
Twitter: @historyofsexpod twitter.com/historyofsexpod
Instagram: @historyofsexpod instagram.com/historyofsexpod
Pinterest: @historyofsexpod pinterest.com/historyofsexpod
Youtube: History of Sex Pod
Email: historyofsexpod@gmail.com
Patreon: www.patreon.com/btnewberg
Oh and don’t forget to subscribe to my other show, Dead Ideas: The History of Extinct Thoughts and Practices!
♦ ♦ ♦
About Me
Hi. I’m B. T. Newberg. I’m a podcaster with a passion for exploring radically different perspectives.
That started with my other show, Dead Ideas: The Podcast of Extinct Thoughts and Practices. It excavates ideas and practices once believed to be true but no longer. What I love best about that show is finding out about the roles of women (who get such short shrift in history), as well as other under-represented kinds of people. So, I thought I’d start a new show focused just on that: The History of Sex.
I’m straight, cis, and happily married. My lovely wife Rachel is one of the most talented artists I know.
You can find out more about me and other stuff I’ve done here.
The History of Sex 