FLICK: The Story of Female Pleasure

by Kate Lister

Meet the women throughout history who, quite literally, came before us.

From the host of award-winning History Hit podcast Betwixt the Sheets..

There is a common misconception that before modern day feminism, women throughout history simply lay back and thought of England or their respective place of origin; that the modern ‘sex positive’ movement is a radical break from the past. But women demanding better sex did not arrive with free love or the Rampant Rabbit. It has been a very long fight indeed.

From Ancient Mesopotamian sex goddesses to the contraceptive pill, Kate Lister takes us through history to show us how women’s sexual pleasure was controlled, understood and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed.

FLICK is a rousing history of women enjoying sex with themselves, sex with each other, and occasionally sex with men as well.

Genres: History

Kindle Edition

Expected publication May 28, 2026

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Kate Lister is a lecturer at Leeds Trinity University, where she researches the history of sexuality and curates the online research project Whores of Yore. Kate is also a columnist for iNews, Vice, and the Wellcome Trust where she writes about the history of sex. Kate won a Sexual Freedom Award for Publicist of the Year in 2017.

Reviews

[Madeline Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super-readable and really well-researched journey from antiquity all the way to the 1960s and 1970s. Though many of the stories are really harrowing, the majority of the book was fun to read thanks to Lister's wit.
Very glad it doesn't just cover white cishet history and that misogynoir is acknowledged and condemned throughout.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Transworld for this eARC

[em · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to preface this review by clarifying that my opinions will most likely be biased, I was fortunate enough to be a student of Lister's for years and spent many hours debating topics and indulging in history with her.

Incredibly well researched, while still managing to be funny and entertaining, this was a romp to read. I learned so much, some of it depressing, some of it funny, all of it important. I enjoyed the vast historical element of it, Lister doesn’t just focus on heterosexual, white, cisgender history but rather explores all of it.

My favourite was the tone of writing, even when discussing the more sensitive and horrifying topics. Lister was able to do something most historians struggle with, which is acknowledging the murky truth of history, without coming across as patronising. The lighter topics were also fun to read, with her one liners leaving me laughing or at least smirking to myself at her wit.

This was a pleasure (pun intended) to read. And a great resource to learn about something we shouldn’t be ashamed to talk about.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #Flick #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Katy Wheatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Kate Lister's A Curious History of Sex and was delighted to be approved to read this through NetGalley. It is exactly what you would expect from Kate Lister and that is a great compliment. She is funny, smart, thoughtful and righteously angry with the material she delivers. She steers us through a potted history of the ideas and practices of female, sexual pleasure. As you might expect, the practice of pleasure is the bit where the righteous anger comes in. This is hugely readable and delivers a great deal of information without any of it feeling like a lecture or a drag. I finished it last week and have talked about it with all the women of my acquaintance. It has led to some wild conversations.