7. History of Women's Sexuality with Professor Renee Sentilles

Let’s talk about sex. Specifically, women’s sexuality. Or is that out of bounds?Does being “respectable” mean being a “non-sexual being?”Was women’s sexuality always stigmatized? Let’s find out together.In the episode, Dr. Rachel Pope is joined by Professor Renee Sentilles to discuss why we should care about stigmatizing women’s sexuality. Professor Sentilles specializes in American women’s history, gender and sexuality, The American West, and nineteenth and twentieth century U.S. cultural history. Professor Sentilles is currently working on a book-and-website project called “In Her Shoes: Getting to the Sole of American Women’s History” that uses shoes as an entry point into multicultural women’s history. She is the author of Performing Menken: Adah Isaacs Menken and the Birth of American Celebrity (Cambridge University Press, 2003), American Tomboys, 1850-1915 (University of Massachusetts, 2018), and various articles and review essays.Featured in this episode: Sex shifting from reproductive to eroticized. Puritans and encouraging sex in marriage. The creation of the middle class and contraception. Distinguishing between sexuality, race and stigma The Comstock Act, the Catholic church, and abortion. Sex is a part of life, like food and water.Submit your questions on anything and everything women's health-related and we will answer them in one of our episodes.Want more from Our Womanity?Take the Vulva Quiz to see how well you know women's bodies.Looking for practical advice for women in their 60’s who want to become sexually active or want to improve their current sex life? Check out Sex in Your Sixties: Who says the fun has to stop? Written by a multidisciplinary group of health professionals who address issues such as pain with sex, low desire for sex, orgasm difficulties, your bladder and sex, same sex partners, vulvar skin conditions, trauma and more.Subscribe to our newsletter here to stay updated and not miss out on new episodes.Check out our next Menopause Retreat here so you can be part of the conversion in person.