Amorous Histories Podcast

Silphium was a plant much loved by the ancient Greeks due to its reported contraceptive, aphrodisiac, and abortive properties. It only grew in Cyrenica, now Libya, and was a valuable resource to the ancient Greeks who had settled in the area. It's thought that Silphium went extinct in the 1st or 2nd century CE, probably due to overharvesting and changes in the local climate. However in 2021 researchers working in Turkey thought they may have found the long lost plant.

Happy Valentines Day!

Cover image: A silver Attic drachm 510–470 BC. Found in the excavation of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at Cyrene. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cyrenecoin.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

See the show notes on the website⁠ ⁠amoroushistories.co.uk⁠⁠

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Track: No Saint, Music by: https://slip.stream/

Please note this episode was recorded in August 2023.

Today I’m joined by Alexandra Collinson, a third year PhD student at Newcastle University studying eighteenth-century literature. We’ll be talking about her project, The Sex Workers’ Revolution: Prostitution and Feminism in Women’s writing, 1787-1801, and more broadly about women, sex work, virtue and motherhood in eighteeth century England and Ireland. 

Alex’s PhD project asserts that revolutionary feminists such as Marie-Madeleine Jodin and Mary Wollstonecraft, were not the only female writers to intervene in the patriarchal domain of late eighteenth-century politics. Her research shows that sex workers like Margaret Leeson and Ann Sheldon also made important contributions to feminist discourses on women’s nature and social roles in memoirs and legal testimonies published throughout the period.

Alex’s other research interests include women’s life writing, and representations of sexuality, maternity, and prostitution in eighteenth-century literature. Her PhD project is funded by a Arts and Humanities Research Council Northern Bridge Studentship.

Alex's twitter: https://x.com/AlexCollinson7?t=68q4W_AWb6zzH3BzegysNA&s=09

See the show notes on the website⁠ ⁠amoroushistories.co.uk⁠⁠

Find me on social media;⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠⁠,⁠ ⁠Twitter ⁠⁠and⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠⁠.

Drop me an email on ⁠[email protected]⁠

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Track: No Saint, Music by: https://slip.stream/

Content warning: rape discussed at 14-16mins

In today's episode I have the absolute honour of talking to Dr Kathleen Lubey about her new book What Pornography Knows: Sex and Social Protest since the Eighteenth Century.

Kathleen is a lecturer at St John’s University in Queen’s, New York, USA. She specilises in the literature and culture of eighteenth-century Britain, sexuality and gender studies, the history of pornography, and literature of the British slave trade.

Her current book, What Pornography Knows: Sex and Social Protest since the Eighteenth Century, examines archival texts to trace currents of feminism and social justice in British pornography from the 1740s to the present.

See the show notes on the website ⁠amoroushistories.co.uk⁠

Find me on social media; ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Twitter ⁠and ⁠YouTube⁠.

Drop me an email on [email protected]

⁠Bookshop.org⁠ UK | Bookshop.org USA

Shop: ⁠amoroushistories.bigcartel.com⁠

Donate: buymeacoffee.com/amoroushistpod

Track: No Saint, Music by: https://slip.stream/

Content warning: Rape and sexual assault will be discussed throughout.

Apologies for the poor audio quality from my mic, I clearly sat in an area of the house with poor wifi, baby podcaster lesson learned!

Buy Rape in Period Drama Television: Consent, Myth, and Fantasy: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793625854/Rape-in-Period-Drama-Television-Consent-Myth-and-Fantasy

See the show notes on the website ⁠amoroushistories.co.uk⁠

Find me on social media; ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Twitter ⁠and ⁠YouTube⁠.

Drop me an email on [email protected]

⁠Bookshop.org⁠ UK | Bookshop.org USA

Shop: ⁠amoroushistories.bigcartel.com⁠

Donate: buymeacoffee.com/amoroushistpod

Track: No Saint, Music by: https://slip.stream/

We’re in 1730s London with gentleman’s servant and OG drag queen John Cooper, also known as Princess Seraphina. Rictor Norton introduces Seraphina on his website as quote “the first recognizable drag queen in English history, that is the first gay man for whom dragging it up was an integral part of his identity”.

See the show notes on the website ⁠amoroushistories.co.uk⁠

Find me on social media; ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Twitter ⁠and ⁠YouTube⁠.

Drop me an email on [email protected]

⁠Bookshop.org⁠

Shop: ⁠amoroushistories.bigcartel.com⁠

Donate: buymeacoffee.com/amoroushistpod

Track: No Saint, Music by: https://slip.stream/

WWE wrestlers are famous worldwide for their skills in the ring, but do their costumes say more about the characters then the writers room are aware of? Join me to read the queer-coding of The Judgement Day; Rhea Ripley, Finn Balor, Damien Preist and Dominic Mysterio.

See the show notes on the website amoroushistories.co.uk

Find me on social media; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Drop me an email on [email protected]

UK Bookshop.org

USA Bookshop.org

Shop: amoroushistories.bigcartel.com

Donate: buymeacoffee.com/amoroushistpod

Track: No Saint, Music by: https://slip.stream/

Hello! I thought I should post a quick update as my anchor app told me the other day that I had over 600 followers on Spotify who I had cruelly abandoned after 9 episodes. So, sorry about that! I am currently working on a new season of the podcast, it's taken me a lot longer to get going on it because ME/Chronic Fatigue Sydrome is an unruly beast and I'm learning to live with it's unpredictable whims. Fingers crossed as time goes on I'll get better at managing it.

Anyway thank you for hanging in there, I've got some super interesting episodes planned and some lovely guests joining me! You can keep up to date with the podcast by following my socials @AmorousHistories on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok, and @AmorousHistPod on Twitter. As ever transcripts and sources are on my website amoroushistories.co.uk.

I'm looking forward to continuing to share my love of sex, sexuality and gender history with you all!

Until next time, stay sexy!