Institute of Historical Research

Attitudes to ejaculation in early modern England

Dr Tim Reinke-Williams

(University of Northampton)

Existing scholarship on ejaculation has focused on the analysis of particular types of primary evidence in the form of medical treatises; pornography and erotica (broadly defined); and literature (poetry and drama). This paper, part of a larger project on vernacular attitudes to the male body in early modern England, instead draws upon the evidence from cases related to sexual offences, in particular those heard at the Old Bailey between 1674 and 1740. Whilst printed trial reports do not offer direct access to popular mentalities or everyday attitudes, these sources do offer a different set of perspectives on early modern attitudes to male bodies and sexualities, both reinforcing and undermining arguments within the existing historiography.

History of Sexuality Seminar series

This seminar will be co-hosted with the Life-Cycles seminar series.