Posted on Oct 31, 2012
Interest
on May 21, 2006
Stumblers Who Commented On This Page
hatinglife
hatinglife
Wow.. The stuff I learned on TV was way different..
Posted on Sep 18, 2012
bschulte1978
Brett
They RECOMMENDED masturbation in the Middle Ages? Who knew? I guess I do now. This is a fascinating web site about a topic everyone is interested in, whether they admit it or not!
Posted on Apr 20, 2009
ozlypta
ﾖzlem
From the page: "The most difficult aspect of sex, widely acknowledged both by physicians and by priests, was its highly pleasurable nature, an aspect variously thought to indicate its inherently natural and/or sinful qualities. As a consequence of this duality, sex was most often depicted in extreme ways that ignored the well-balanced middle ground inhabited by most medieval people. Celibacy or whoredom, chastity or adultery -- in literature and art there was often no middle ground, and these oppositional portrayals bled over specifically into depictions of women. Because of their manifestly "other" nature (not male, and therefore not, when specifically called "women," able to participate in the "default" category that would allow them to exist outside of gender), women became inextricably bound up in sexuality, as a result of which all women in medieval art and literature carry some sort of sexual association -- chaste and virginal or depraved and sexually voracious -- to a greater or lesser degree. Female figures who participate in sexual activities are noted for their participation, and those who abstain are noted for their celibacy, but very rarely if at all is a non-allegorical woman depicted without some reference to her life or potential life as a sexual being."
Not much changed, I see.
Posted on Feb 22, 2009
NerosDeathYacht
Susan
Usually as a result of silly religious superstition, sex, society and medieval women had a hell of a time getting along.
From the page: ''Though she was certain that she would either be ransomed by the king or saved by divine power, neither king nor God intervened and Joan was subjected to a lengthy church trial which ended with her death by fire. Her holy character, which had been seriously called into question during her trial, was reaffirmed before the crowd gathered for her execution, as she did not scream or cry out as she burned, but instead quietly prayed to Jesus, Mary, and the saints.''
Posted on Dec 4, 2008
LadyCeara
Mandy
From the page:"the Middle Ages sex was considered, as it is now, to be a normal and natural part of life. Most authorities agreed that it was not inherently sinful because God would not have made such a necessary activity taboo (without sex one cannot have children and fulfill the command to "increase and multiply, and fill the earth" given in Genesis 9:1). Natural though it was, however, sex was also morally fraught because of the pleasure associated with sexual activity. When engaged in for strictly defined right reasons, sex was sinless. However, humanity being fallen as it was, human intent was scarcely ever free of the lust that could taint sex, rendering a natural activity unnatural. Therefore, writers who discussed sex had to walk a very fine line between portraying human nature and human sin. That line was, of course, itself debated, as many writers disagreed on the point at which nature ended and sin began. To further confuse the issue, the Middle Ages had writers who used allegorical and satirical styles of writing (much like some writers and publications in our own time) that could be easily misread, as well as "shock jocks" who thoroughly disagreed with commonly held notions of moral behavior and who did their best to cause controversy with their behavior and writings. The following pages detail some of the more commonly used modes of discussing and depicting sex and sexual behavior from medical to moral to literary."
Posted on Nov 7, 2008
Home96
Pyra
"Christine, despite the derision directed at the "ignorant" and "inferior" woman, acquitted herself well, and was only inspired to write more pro-woman texts."
Someone I'd love to be able to have lunch with.
Posted on Aug 9, 2006
Thomas-Jefferson
Thomas-Jefferson
De Secretis Mulierum: Evil Women
Text
O my companions you should be aware that although certain women do not know the secret cause of what I shall describe, many women are familiar with the effect, and many evils result from this. For when men have sexual intercourse with these women it sometimes happens that they suffer a large wound and a serious infection of the penis because of iron that has been placed in the vagina, for some women or harlots are instructed in this and other ill deeds. . . .
Commentary A
Here the author discusses some noteworthy points. Some women are so wary and cunning that they take iron and place it in the vagina. This iron wounds the penis, but the man does not perceive it at first because of the exceeding pleasure and sweetness of the vulva. Afterwards, however, he feels it.
(Pseudo-Albertus, 88. Bibliographic entry.)
Posted on Aug 8, 2006
aluis
Antonio
"Despite the disparity in the ways in which medieval women were depicted, actual medieval women inhabited a fairly continuous range that not only included the extremes of virgin and whore but also spanned the gap between the two. Prostitutes were more widely accepted than a modern reader of medieval literature might think, and nuns weren't always as saintly as religious propagandists claimed. In between the two margins were found visionaries, queens, scholars, and warriors."