you never know
By Dr. Charlie Glickman • Jun 23rd, 2008 • Category: Blog
I was reading this blog recently about how William Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman, was polyamorous. Given that he and his wife were married some time around 1915, this got me thinking about how we often talk about sex at different points in history.
See, I’ve noticed how often people say things like “back in the Victorian era, people didn’t do that.” Or “it wasn’t until the sexual revolution in the 1970’s that people did that.” And I’m struck by how inaccurate those statements are.
There isn’t a point in history during which everyone restricted themselves to just one way of having sex. People have always had orgies, had sex with someone of their own gender, been in polyamorous relationships (or other forms of consensual non-monogamy), used sex toys, had oral sex, etc.
To claim that there’s anything we’re doing today that people didn’t do 50, 100 or 2000 years ago is just not going to be true, with the exception of things that are possible due to technological changes- phone sex didn’t exist before the phone. But you can bet that it was one of the first things people used the phone for.
What I think differs from place to place and from time to time is how open people can be about what they do. That definitely changes a lot and as a result, how many people have different types of sex will vary. Some people will come up with the idea of oral sex all on their own, while others won’t think of it. But you can be sure that lots of them will try it after hearing about it. So the more open a culture is about sex, the more ideas people will have and more of them will give it a shot. But to pretend that until such-and-such a time, nobody engaged in a particular activity just doesn’t make sense.
If William Marston, his wife, and their partner were happily living together (and raising children together) 70 years ago, doesn’t it make you wonder what else people were doing back then? There may have only been a few people doing it, and they may have been quieter about it than we are today, but you can be sure that there was a lot more going on than we usually suspect.
Dr. Charlie Glickman >> Dr. Charlie Glickman has been working at Good Vibrations since 1996, when he joined the staff at our Berkeley store. Currently, he is our Education Program Manager and (among other things) runs our in-store After Hours workshop program, our Off-Site Sex Education Program, trains our Sex Educator-Sales Associates and writes copy for our website. In 2005, Charlie received his doctorate in Adult Sexuality Education from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he offers classes on sexuality for psychotherapists and workshops on teaching for sex educators.
All posts by Dr. Charlie Glickman
I’ve heard this a million times, but I think it’s appropriate here – “Every generation thinks they invented sex.”
I think it can probably be attributed to the fact that no one wants to picture their grandparents doing the dirty things they get off on…