By Gender reveal parties, which started some time in the 2000s, have become increasingly elaborate and Instagram worthy. Some excessive stunts have even caused raging wildfires. When I was younger these parties weren’t around but I do remember old wives tales of practices that were supposed to reveal the gender of
Comforting Chocolate
In a previous post we explored the controversy that surrounded the consumption of coffee, did it dry and shrivel up male virility or did it augment and strengthen sexual prowess? Coffee was not, though, the only drink discussed and described in early modern England. In the mid-seventeenth century chocolate was
Aphrodisiacs, Fertility and Medicine
It was common knowledge in early modern England that sexual desire was malleable, and could be increased or decreased by a range of foods – including artichokes, oysters and parsnips. This book argues that these aphrodisiacs were used not simply for sexual pleasure, but, more importantly, to enhance fertility and