At the turn of the 19th century, opponents of Edward Jenner’s method for preventing smallpox likened vaccination to bestiality.
Medicine and the Body
Clitoridectomies: Female Genital Mutilation c.1860-2014
Doctors in Britain removed the clitoris on women explicitly to eradicate elements of female libido.
Blood Ties: Queer Blood, Donations, and Citizenship
Can queer blood be less American than straight blood?
Sexual Curiosities? Aphrodisiacs in early modern England
Aphrodisiacs were widely understood to be a central component in the fight against infertility.
"What a Woman Is": Breast Cancer, Sexuality and the Unreconstructed Self
Some nineteenth-century British physicians looked towards physical embodiments of femaleness for explanations for breast cancer.
‘A Temporary Member’: ‘Hermaphrodites’ and Sexual Identity in Early Modern Russia
‘Hermaphrodites’ represented a true puzzle for the authorities and local community.
What was the Ultimate Medieval Aphrodisiac?
Medieval people took the idea that the food they consumed could influence their sex lives seriously.