Katrina’s Reviews > Sex in History > Status Update

many courtiers explicitly disdained any desire to possess their ladies

love was considered in medieval times a gift freely given therefore was excluded from marriage

Love, Guilherme argued was not an abasement but an exhalation, not a sordid sin but a divine mystery, and the lady within whose gift it lay was a goddess to be adored.

Courtly love: between troubadour (traveling poet) & high class lady— an adoration kind of love, one of chastity.

The arabs are responsible for courtly love because basically in Muslim society love is blind😹

Courtly love & the transition of eve to mary as woman’s ideal version

Beginning of Medieval period in Europe, switch from hating women to courtly love inspired by Arabs in Spain and the crusades of holy land. I think I will like this chapter.
It’s crazy how the Europeans took the longest of any other civilization (by far) to even recognize women as anything more than an incubator. Most of other civilizations obviously didn’t respect women but never to the european extent

End of the Islam segment, I need to do more research on Eunuchs because they definitely lost me there.

The middle east was such a fascinating place. all of this information from this book is new to me but it’s crazy how i can learn so much from topics im already familiar with. they skip so much in school

hindu sexual mysticism, tantric five enjoyments, buddhist nirvana, fertility goddesses.

there’s so much to unpack when it comes to religion in india— so many forms of buddhism and hinduism. though sex was definitely a factor in both, this was much more religious content heavy.

Indian society has by far been the most forgiving to women and that's something that no one would expect.

As much as I enjoy learning this history my brain gets burnt out a lot faster and I am only halfway through....