Today's lesson? The history of sex. Not so boring then...
Each generation believes itself (quite rightly) to have invented sex. We do this (quite rightly) to protect ourselves from the thought of our parents (can barely type the words) having sex. But, sex and all things sexy have been going down for some time now, and by that we mean before 50 Shades of Grey. So, let's take a minute to look back at sex's golden moments. Where did it all begin?
If you want to spice up your own sex life, read our 25 sex tips.
Deep Throat - The Movie
It might have been considered hardcore porn, but on its release in 1972, the filmDeep Throat, became the date movie every American couple had to see. In fact, it was the first porn movie to earn a million dollars at the box office. However, us Brits didn’t get to see it in its uncut form until 2000, and it wasn’t broadcast publicly until 2005.
The Kama Sutra - The Positions
We couldn’t put together a gallery of sex’s golden moments without the Kama Sutra now, could we? One of the most famous ancient sex manuals, the Kama Sutrawas written by Vatsyayana in India during the first few centuries CE. Countless versions have been published through the years and it’s okay if you’ve ticked off each position as you’ve done it. We know someone who did that too…
Rex FeaturesEmmanuelle - The Soft Porn
Flick over to Channel Five late at night and at some point you will find Emmanuelle. This French softcore erotic film was so popular on its release that the Japanese even coined the phrase ‘emanieru suru’ meaning ‘to do Emmanuelle’ - to have ‘an extravagant love affair’. Or maybe a few. There’s a lot of lady lovin’ going down (ahem) in Emmanuelle, which female audiences really seemed to enjoy. Keep clicking for Kinsey’s scale…
PA PhotosQueer As Folk - The TV Show
Broadcast in 1999, Queer as Folk, broke the mould with its depiction of relationships between gay men. For once, gay relationships were the focus of the programme rather than being the token shock factor addition. It was important in helping to broaden the diversity of relationships and life shown on screen and was just one of a handful of programmes brave enough to do so. In America The L Word, was must-see TV for every young lesbian, and women who wanted Sex and the City without the boring men. Finally, there were realistic depictions of being LGBT on TV. And crucially, both shows were fantastic television.
Rex FeaturesAlfred C. Kinsey - The Gay Scale
Kinsey and his co-workers published books about the sexual behaviour of humans beginning a revolution in social awareness of human sexuality. He also published the famous Kinsey Scale of hetero-homosexuality which allowed for degrees of sexual orientation rather than defining oneself as simply straight or gay. Kinsey was rather er, ‘hands on’ when it came to researching his books, watching his subjects having sex and sometimes – just to make sure he really got it right – he liked to jump on in there and join in, too. This method of research is now practiced by countless science students in universities up and down the country.
Rex FeaturesAnais Nin – The Sex Guru
Hailed as one of the finest writers of female erotica, Anais Nin was first and foremost a diarist, who kept journals exploring her personal life and relationships from age 11. During a summer in France as a teenager, she found some erotic paperbacks and so gained her ‘degree in erotic lore’. Putting it to great use, she wrote erotic narratives for a private collector but later decided she would allow them to be published giving the world beautiful works such as Delta of Venus and Little Birds.
Rex FeaturesAnn Summers - The Sex Shop
Our taste in underwear might run a little more high-end now, but Ann Summers was the brand that brought vibrators to the High Street and into our homes. Forget dodgy looking sex shops with boarded-up windows, Ann Summers sold sex, and they sold it in neon lights, right there next to Marks and Spencer. The Ann Summers Party Plan also brought sex toys into the homes of women not brave enough to venture into the shops, thanks to fun and breezy home parties. It paved the way for high-end sex boutiques such as Coco de Mer, for which we will be ever thankful. And it’s also where we bought our first Rabbit…
Belle De Jour - The Call Girl
Dr Brooke Magnanti supplemented her income while studying by becoming a call girl and chronicling the events online. In 2005-2006, her blog Belle de Jour: Diary of a London Call Girl was turned into bestselling books, and people went mad for the revelations, hotly debating its authenticity and the identity of the author. In 2009, after years of speculation, The Times were finally onto her and, after being tipped off by a man who helped sustain what was called ‘one of the best kept literary secrets of the decade’, Magnanti came clean. She made a few more quid out of it when the TV rights were sold and Billie Piper had her career jumpstarted playing Belle de Jour.
Fanny Hill - The Victorian Shocker
Fanny Hill by John Cleland was written in 1748. A satire of the manners of the time, Fanny Hill received notoriety for depicting a woman, the narrator, actively enjoying sexual acts with no dire moral or physical consequences - a plotline unheard of in the days of Victorian morality. Despite the text being mild due to Cleland’s imaginative use of euphemisms for sex acts and body parts, he was arrested and briefly imprisoned. Fanny Hill continued to be published and is one of the most reprinted books in the English language today.
50 Shades of Grey - The Book That Everyone Read (Even Granny)
Yes, we’ve read books with better story lines, books with more interesting and believable characters and actually far sexier sex scenes, but there is no use denying that it seemed as though the whole world was lapping up Christian Grey and his Red Room. It became okay to read soft porn on the Tube into work, and with the release of the film version, it was Deep Throatall over again.
Rex FeaturesThe Sexual Revolution - Free Love
Although the term sexual revolution is strongly linked to the Sixties and Seventies due to the mix of the pill, the hippie movement and free love which infiltrated mainstream life, some believe the first revolution occurred during the Roaring Twenties, after World War I. Between 1870 and 1910, Victorian morality was losing its universal appeal and the decadence of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the era of the Flapper came to light. Teenagers were doing what teenagers always do, drinking, developing new dances, and the old folks didn’t much like it but a change was coming.
Forever - The Schoolgirl's Secret
Reading this teen classic became a rite of passage for many teenage girls, with well-thumbed copies being passed around the classroom. Judy Blume’s story of first love and sex between teenagers Katherine and Michael and er, Ralph, was how most of us got our sex education and we learned that just because it feels like forever at the time, doesn’t mean it will be. Judy Blume, we have much to thank you for – page 81 especially. Don’t pretend you don’t know what we’re talking about…
Rex FeaturesThe 1967 Homosexuality Law - The Big Legal Outing
Finally recognising that the world needs more love not less, love and understanding prevailed with the 1967 law prohibiting homosexuality being repealed. The Government also repealed the law prohibiting abortion which changed the lives of countless women.
Lace - The 80s Bonkbuster
Decades before we were snapping up copies of Fifty Shades, Shirley Conran’s racy bonkbuster was on the bedside table of most young women. Think Sex and the City with ‘80s shoulder pads and no knickers. Plus, sex scenes that could teach Christian Grey a thing or two. If you missed this the first time round, you need to get a copy now, and also investigate Scruples by Judith Krantz, and pretty much everything ever written by Jilly Cooper.
Lady Chatterley's Lover - The Scandal
D.H Lawrence's story of Lady Chatterley, an upper class married woman getting it on with the gamekeeper, Mellors, caused such uproar it was banned until 1960 due to its racy content. However, when the ban was overturned it went on to become a bestseller giving way to a rather delicious TV adaptation starring Sean Bean.
Rex FeaturesMadonna’s SEX - The Coffee Table Book
One of the most sought-after out-of-print books around, Madonna’s collection of erotic photographs caused huge controversy at the time of publication, and topped the New York Times Bestseller list. Madonna knew what she was doing when she conceived this collection of pictures covering sex, bondage and analingus, alongside whips, masks and chains, hiring legendary fashion photographer Steven Meisel to shoot the pics. She also roped in her then boyfriend, Vanilla Ice, no less. An iconic coffee table book that is now considered a bold post-feminist work of art you’d be damn lucky to own.
Getty ImagesThe Marquis de Sade - Not Everyone's Bag
The term 'sadism' stems from the Marquis de Sade, who documented his sexual preferences in graphic novels and plays in between getting it on with his wife, mistress, sister-in-law, countless prostitutes and a few fellas for good measure. If you’ve got a strong stomach you might be able to survive 120 Days of Sodom, a book he wrote on 12 metres of scroll while serving one of his many, many years in prison for sexual deviancy. However, this probably isn’t the erotic novel to get you and your chap revved up for date night. And don't expect many Sartrian observations from The Philosophy of the Bedroom, either fans self
Rex FeaturesThe Ovid - The Book of the Gods
The gods really enjoy sex, and in many stories detailed in The Ovid, the act of intercourse is the highlight of the whole tale. Getting it on with a swan was also considered totally acceptable because, hey – why not? Contrary to today’s beliefs, showing a human or god having sex with an animal was considered far more acceptable than showing two humans or gods going at it. How times have changed.
PA PhotosUp Pompeii - The Ancient Sex Gods
Excavations of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum revealed a treasure trove of erotic artefacts that the Victorians were not prepared for! The Romans were a sexually liberal sort, and liked a nice stone phallus to brighten up the home. From the depictions it seems the city baths were used more for getting dirty rather than clean, and women were allowed to enjoy sex and have a job. The Victorians had their corsets done up so tightly however, that they hid the artefacts away in a secret museum in Naples for years, only letting scholars and of course men view them until they became public again in 2000.
Rex FeaturesSex & the City - The TV Show That Started A TV Revolution
Candace Bushnell wrote the book on which this American sitcom was based, starring four fabulous women in New York City, with seemingly endless amounts of cash and shoes. There are few women in their 20s and 30s who won't have spent an evening debating which of the four characters they’d be in this award-winning series and fairly rubbish film spin-offs. Its attitudes haven't dated brillianlty, but from anal sex to single parenthood and cancer, Sex and the City covered it all and we still miss it.
Getty ImagesShunga - The Erotic Art
The Japanese have some kinky artists among them, so many in fact that erotic art acquired its own category – shunga. Translated literally it means ‘picture of spring’ with spring being a common euphemism for sex. Third date idea? Too soon? One of the most famous pieces, ‘The Fisherman’s Wife’ involves a woman and an octopus, we suggest you look that one up after work.
The Joy of Sex - The Gourmet Guide to Love Making
No, not a cookbook despite the interesting title but instead probably one of the most trusted and widely-read sex manuals ever published. Produced in 1972 by Dr Alex Comfort, a leading expert in human sexuality, his guide to sex for couples celebrated couples and their sex lives in such a way that a whole generation felt empowered to actually enjoy sex. To put its popularity into perspective, it was on the New York Times Bestseller list for a whole DECADE.
Rex FeaturesThe Pill - The Contraception
As Simone de Beauvoir put it: "For a woman, liberty begins in the womb." In 1970 the pill became available free of charge on the NHS for all women, not just those who were married. For the first time in history, women finally had control over their fertility. Now they could choose if and when they wanted to become pregnant, and enjoy the same sexual freedoms men had been having for years.
The Sexual Life of Catherine M - The Novel
This explicit memoir details the author's love love of anonymous sex, and plenty of it! Flying in the face of what promiscuity was 'supposed' to look like; Catherine Millet is an intelligent, quiet art curator with a high IQ who just also happens to love an orgy.
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller - The Banned Book
Back in 1934, smuggling books was big business given how many laws existed to prevent people getting their grubby little mitts on some well, grubby books. Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer has plenty of explicit sexual passages and so the U.S. banned it from being published, and booksellers were sued if caught selling it. However, Paris, being rather more liberal, did publish the novel and copies were smuggled into the States for the lucky few to enjoy. Vive la France!
Turin MuseumTurin Erotic Papyrus - The Early Men’s Mag
If Hugh Hefner thought he was breaking new ground with his centrefolds he’s sadly mistaken, as the Egyptians had beaten him to it by oh, a few thousand years. An artefact called the Turin Erotic Papyrus, painted in the Ramesside period, has been called the ‘men’s mag’ of its time, due to the explicit depictions of sexual acts within it.
Getty ImagesThe Phallus - The Ancient Greek Favourite
Those naughty Greeks loved whipping up some kinky pots complete with girl-on-girl action. In fact, they created the first well-known instance of lesbian eroticism in the West with Sappho’s Hymn to Aphrodite. The phallus was also considered a good luck charm, and most homes had one. Now why don’t they stock those in B&Q?
L’Ecole de Fille by Anon - The French Early Adopter
This erotic French work is considered to be the beginning of pornography in 17th century France and shows an illustrated dialogue between two women, a teenager and her more experienced cousin, and their explicit discussions about sex. Think [i]Sex and the City<?i> in picture form. No author ever came forward to claim the work, not surprising since other suspected authors were imprisoned for it.
Rex FeaturesThe Swedish - Smokin’ Hot Swedes
There’s a reason the Swedish have a reputation for being extremely sexually liberal, and it was aided by the Swedish filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and Vilgot Sjöman. These two contributed hugely to sexual liberation with films that challenged conservative standards on an international level. And thus, the cliché of the sexy blonde Swede was born.
