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How a 1920s Survey Changed the Way Americans Thought About Sexuality

A researcher challenged the idea that women did not – and should not – experience sexual desire.
by Anya Jabour via The Conversation on August 27, 2024
Abstract painting of people embracing.

The Forgotten History of Sex in America

Today’s battles over issues like gender nonconformity and reproductive rights have antecedents that have been lost or suppressed. What can we learn from them?
by Rebecca Mead via The New Yorker on August 26, 2024
Dr. Ruth on “Late Night” with David Letterman in 1985.

The Secret That Dr. Ruth Knew

She left exactly when we need her most.
by Stephen Marche via The Atlantic on July 21, 2024
Sketch of a bedroom with a double bed, a prison courtyard outside the window.

Controversy and Conjugal Visits

Conjugal visits were first allowed as incentives for the forced labor of incarcerated Black men, the practice expanding from there. Is human touch a right?
by Molly Hagan via JSTOR Daily on February 13, 2023
A lithograph of a Shaker congregation worshipping by performing a step dance.

The Sects That Rejected 19th-Century Sex

Why three religious groups traded monogamy for celibacy, polygamy, and complex marriage.
by Stewart Davenport via Zócalo Public Square on February 14, 2022

What Trump Could Learn from America's Long History of Sex Scandals

Too bad Trump isn't a student of history.
by Mark Hay via Vice on March 26, 2018

Our Trouble with Sex: A Christian Story?

"Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion, and Law from America’s Origins to the Twenty-First Century" by Geoffrey R. Stone.
by Annette Gordon-Reed via New York Review of Books on August 17, 2017

“Sodomy is not Adultery”: The Clinton Sex Scandal as Queer History

Until fairly recently, President Clinton's narrow definition of adultery would have been backed up by the courts.
by Alison Lefkovitz via NOTCHES on April 7, 2016
A woman holding her head in distress, and a naked woman sitting on an illustration of a toy car pulled by string.

Frog-Free

The demystification of pregnancy.
by Erin Maglaque via London Review of Books on April 17, 2025

Queer Activists and the Struggle for AIDS Education

Queer resistance to state-sponsored oppression campaigns, from Reagan to Trump.
by Lucy Kelly via History Workshop on March 6, 2025
Birth control devices in different shapes and forms.

The Battle for Birth Control Could Have Gone Differently

Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett each had a different vision of reproductive freedom. Would reproductive rights be more secure if Dennett’s had prevailed?
by Joanna Scutts via The New Republic on January 3, 2025
Illustration of sex workers behind waving American flag.

How the United States Tried to Get on Top of the Sex Trade

Why should American exceptionalism end at the red-light district?
by Rebecca Mead via The New Yorker on December 9, 2024
A sign reading "Ladies" above a doorway.

“The Relationship Between Public Morals and Public Toilets”

Christine Jorgensen and the birth of trans bathroom panic.
by Nikita Shepard via Nursing Clio on November 27, 2024
A painting of a group of Puritans walking through a snowy forest, with the men carrying rifles.

The Puritans Were Book Banners, But They Weren’t Sexless Sourpusses

From early New England to the present day, censors have acted out of fear, not prudishness.
by Peter C. Mancall via Zócalo Public Square on November 25, 2024
Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennet

The Frenemies Who Fought to Bring Birth Control to the U.S.

Though Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett shared a mission, they took very different approaches. Their rivalry was political, sometimes even personal.
by Margaret Talbot via The New Yorker on November 18, 2024
Dr. Ruth Westheimer holding a telephone and pointing a finger, as if giving advice.
partner

The Massive Cultural Changes That Made Dr. Ruth Possible

Dr. Ruth left a legacy of sexual candor and the need to defend pleasure as a universal right—a conversation that is more relevant today than ever.
by Rebecca L. Davis via Made By History on July 19, 2024
A young girl in black and white look at her reflection, in color, in a mirror.

How Judy Blume’s "Deenie" Helped Destigmatize Masturbation

On self-pleasure and sex education in children's literature.
by Rachelle Bergstein via Literary Hub on July 16, 2024
Digital image of Lindsay Lohan, saying "Lindsay all grown up."

Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon

This tale of two girlhoods, Shirley Temple’s and Lindsay Lohan’s, sheds light on what “woman” means in the world of eroticized youth.
by Katherine Fusco via Dilettante Army on April 16, 2024
Demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, March 26, 2024.

The Truth About the Comstock Act

The anti-obscenity law is unenforceable and probably unconstitutional. Conservatives still want to use it to ban medication abortions.
by Hassan Ali Kanu via The American Prospect on April 9, 2024
A collage of suggestive images of women, a woman holding a camera, and a red letter X.

How Candida Royalle Set Out to Reinvent Porn

As a feminist in the adult-film industry, she believed the answer wasn’t banning porn; it was better porn.
by Margaret Talbot via The New Yorker on March 18, 2024
The Branch Davidian compound, Mount Carmel, Waco, Texas.

I Will Give Thee Madonna

Kevin Cook and Jeff Guinn on David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and the 1993 siege of Waco.
by Richard Beck via London Review of Books on March 15, 2024
A couple in bed together, separated by a divider and watched by the girl's parents.

Bundling: An Old Tradition on New Ground

Common in colonial New England, bundling allowed a suitor to spend a night in bed with his sweetheart—while her parents slept in the next room.
by Richard Godbeer, Amelia Soth via JSTOR Daily on February 29, 2024
The First Women’s Rights Convention, Seneca Falls, 1848.

What American Divorces Tell Us About American Marriages

On the inseparable histories of matrimony and disunion in the United States.
by Lyz Lenz via Literary Hub on February 22, 2024
Charlie Chaplin in a still from “The Great Dictator.”

The War on Charlie Chaplin

He was one of the world’s most celebrated and beloved stars. Then his adopted country turned against him.
by Louis Menand via The New Yorker on November 13, 2023
A photograph of two women and a man, arms and legs linked, lying on grass.
partner

Polyamory Isn't Just for Liberals

In the history of sexual dissent, the relationship between politics and sexual freedom defies simplistic categorization.
by Christopher M. Gleason via Made By History on November 13, 2023
Charlie Chaplin.

A Man Without a Country: On Scott Eyman’s “Charlie Chaplin vs. America”

Our favorite artists may not be our favorite people.
by Chris Yogerst via Los Angeles Review of Books on October 26, 2023
Chuck Berry performing with a guitar.

The Transgressor

RJ Smith’s biography of Chuck Berry examines his subject’s instinct for crossing the line musically, racially, and morally.
by RJ Smith via New York Review of Books on September 28, 2023
The Sullivanians of the train from Amagansett, ca. 1972–76.

Where Egos Dare

The secret history of a psychoanalytic cult.
by Hannah Zeavin via Bookforum on August 29, 2023
A drawing of the outside of colorful windows at night.

Upper West Side Cult

In 1950, the Sullivinian Institute was created to push the boundaries of psychoanalysis. By 1980, its therapists and patients had become a small paramilitary.
by James Lasdun via London Review of Books on July 27, 2023
Fire at the Everard Baths in New York City, May 25, 1977.

Before It Burned Down, This Bathhouse Served as a Haven for New York City's Gay Community

For decades, gay men gathered anonymously at the Everard Baths, seeking sexual liaisons and camaraderie alike.
by Robert Klara via Smithsonian on June 26, 2023
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