Inside Europe's Biggest Red Light District
Episode Date: February 21, 2025Between 1860 and 1925, tens of thousands of women worked in Dublin's Monto, the largest red light district in Europe.It was a world of narrow alleyway...
Join sex historian Dr Kate Lister on Betwixt the Sheets as she gets intimate with the stories that would make your history teacher blush.What were the Victorians really like behind closed (bedroom) doors? How did the Black Death favour women in medieval England? And what was Caesar like in the sack? Join Kate as she bed-hops around different time periods; from ancient civilisations, to the middle ages, to renaissance and early modern...right up to now.You’ll laugh, you’ll wince, and you’ll ask yourself how much has actually changed.Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society - a podcast from History Hit.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
415 episodes transcribedBetween 1860 and 1925, tens of thousands of women worked in Dublin's Monto, the largest red light district in Europe.It was a world of narrow alleyway...
Dark ideas and stigma around different body sizes really took hold in the Enlightenment.Very unenlightened, if you ask us.This started all sorts of aw...
Societies all throughout history have tried to control female sexuality.Ireland's Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes are two examples of th...
What are the origins of Valentine's Day?Perhaps the answer lies in a pagan festival that starts with a sacrifice in a cave above Ancient Rome.What con...
Quack doctors have made some INCREDIBLE promises throughout history, but what good would a goat testicle transplant do for you?In the early 20th centu...
When you hear the word Sparta, what do you picture?Well, put aside the images of the rippling six packs for just a moment, as there's a lot more to th...
As historical figures go, Genghis Khan has something of a reputation.Is there any truth to the rumours of him fathering so many children? What was lif...
Lilith's story goes back 4,000 years, and she's still making an impact today.She takes on different forms, depending on where you're looking, but a po...
What's the dinosaur equivalent of Netflix and chill? Were they capable of flirting?In today's episode, Kate speaks with Dr. David Hone, author of Unco...
Long before phones allowed for sexting, how did the Ancient Romans exchange their illicit thoughts and desires? And what did a Roman dick pic look lik...
How do you begin to look for examples of lesbians in the medieval period?Even though it was deeply frowned upon by the powers that be, the clues are v...
Red lipstick has a unique feminine power to it.It's been on the lips of some of the most influential people in history, including Cleopatra and Elizab...
Sex work was everywhere in the ancient world, but a known dedicated space for it (a brothel), is an extremely rare and important thing.Pompeii offers...
It's January and (reluctant) thoughts turn to gym memberships, but what are the ancient origins of this phenomena?From the naked workouts of Ancient G...
From medieval d*ck pics to sex with monks, how did people in medieval times think about sex and sexuality?It was a period that spanned roughly 1,000 y...
Cosmetic procedures are a huge part of (most of our) worlds.With new ones seemingly cropping up all the time, the boob job feels like an old classic.W...
Dating back some 30,000 years, sex toys have a long (no pun intended) and fascinating history.What were the earliest sex toys like? How did technology...
Like it or not, there's no escaping Charles Dickens at this time of year.But who was the man behind classics such as A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twis...
At the time, surely Kateryn Parr had her reservations about being Henry VIII's sixth wife?Aside from being a tyrannical maniac who'd just beheaded his...
Accessing stories from the past can be difficult, but how do we access smells from the past?In today's episode, Kate is joined by Eleanor Ja...