We tend to imagine that everyone got married in the past, and that it was practically mandatory, but that is not the case. There have been lifelong single men and women at every stage of history, and they have had variety of reasons for not getting married, as well as many different ways to support themselves, engage with their communities, and make a difference in their world. This week, we discuss the "unmarried life" of the past!

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What, exactly, does it mean to be married? How are you supposed to treat your spouse? What are your expectations? And how do gender roles come into it? This week, we look at all this and more as we discuss historical married life. We are taking a deep dive into how spouses related to each other privately and publicly, how they divided labour, and how they fit into their wider community. We look at everything from medieval peasants to aristocrats to the enslaved peoples of the Americas, and what marriage meant to all these different groups.

TW: Discussions of historical domestic violence

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How do you get a house when there is no housing market? Where do you get furniture before IKEA? And how do you keep everything clean before modern inventions like the washing machine? This week, we talk about all this and more! We are doing a deep dive into how newlywed couples would set up their first home together in the past.

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Does dressing identically to the bride, getting married at the side of the road, or ending the wedding with the groom kidnapping the bride sound strange? It would have been very normal in ages past! Wedding rituals and traditions change over time, and this week we talk about everything from the mundane to the truly bizarre. Come along as we explore the wild world of weddings!

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Societies have had many practices, taboos, and rules around sex. This week, we are exploring these many faceted ideas and beliefs. We start with Sonya discussing how young people in the past found a marriage partner. For centuries, the only socially sanctioned place for sex was within a marriage, so you had to choose a partner carefully. We go through how you could meet potential matches, woo your beloved, and ultimately tie the knot. Then we turn it over to Margot, who discusses the rape and assault, which while taboo, were very common in the past. She discusses how these crimes were tried, but also how they were covered up and ignored.

TW: Discussions of ape, sexual assault

This discussion begins at 00:23:00

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Young adulthood can be confusing as you try to find a career path to follow. How did people in the past embark on their own early careers? This week, we discuss the options available to young people in the past. For the poor, this often looked like being a domestic or farm worker for others until you saved up enough to start your own home and farm. For others, there were apprenticeships or even university education. How did these systems work, and how did people figure out what to do with their life? We discuss all this an more on this week's episode!

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Adults complaining about "kids these days" is hardly new. For centuries, adults have been wringing their hands and clutching their pearls over the behaviour of the young - from sex, drugs, and rock and roll, to fears about novels corrupting the youth. This week, we explore the ways young people have rebelled against expectations, engaged in risky behaviours, and generally pushed back against the rules.

TW: discussions of sexual assault, child abuse, gang violence

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When and how to children come of age? Whether through trials, rituals, or sacred offerings, children would perform the proper rites and from then on be viewed as adults in the community. However, the stage of youth or adolescence increased over time, and coming of age rites became more scarce. Young people began to have a distinct stage of life, where they were neither children nor full adults. And this culminated in the coining of the term "teenager" in the 20th century and the youth culture that came with it. So how did this transition happen, and why is this "in between" stage so important? Find out this week as Sonya and Margot discuss coming of age, youth, and teenagehood.

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How did Western education systems impact the lives of Indigenous children, and how did Indigenous people use these systems to advocate for national sovereignty? And how did Louis Riel, specifically, use educational institutions to his advantage? Today, Margot interviews Max Hamon, a historian at Queen's University, to answer these questions.

*Note: this episode focuses on day schools, rather than residential schools, which will be covered later in the season.

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What did it mean to be a boy in the past? What kind of education, play, and social roles would you receive? And how and why have these ideas and roles changed over time? This week, Sonya and Margot discuss all this and more as we look into the lives of boys, from Spartan warriors-in-training to Victorian factory workers, boys have done many jobs and filled many roles in the past.

TW: Discussions of pederasty and child abuse

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