Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1m

In 1842, the German scientist W.P.J. Mensinga came up with the first modern diaphragm, made of latex. In 1846, the U.S. Patent Office granted rights to one called “the Wife’s Protector”. Ghosts of the #WmnHist still haunt.

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1m

DYK in 1839 Charles #Goodyear vulcanized rubber, which improved #BirthControl methods? More would use latex condoms—“rubbers”—than those made out of animal tissue. Latex also gave longer life to penis caps, syringes for douching, & “womb veils”. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 2m

DYK #Christians spent more than 1,000 yrs. trying to wipe out #LGBT people? Their laws & #inquisitions murdered & marginalized all #queers. #Trump’s #Evangelical base carries on this #Catholic tradition. Ghosts of #QueerHistory still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 3m

DYK the church likes having things both ways? The Pope apologizes for travesties against #IndigenousPeople, but lets stay in place #DangerousChurchDoctrine against non-procreative sex, that brought them about. Ghosts of #QueerHistory still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 5m

“moral degeneracy, imbecility, habitual criminality, or sexual #perversion”, which included #bestiality & #QueerSex. Ghosts of #QueerHistory still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 5m

DYK by 1929, 24 states had begun to #sterilize people to prevent alleged genetic defects? By 1958, they forcibly sterilized 60,926 people. By 1932, at least 26 states permitted #sterilization of “unfit” women & men for “… feeblemindedness, insanity, #epilepsy, idiocy,

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 7m

It instructed constables to be careful of all charges of sodomy. It warned that bogus claims were nearly as bad as the crime itself. Ghosts of #QueerHistory still haunt. Blog7 HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #zoophilia

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 7m

Men who had same-sex sex in Philadelphia wouldn’t have to fear for their lives until the 1820s, when the laws got strict again. The city also took steps to protect men from blackmail & false accusations.

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 7m

Sounds harsh, but it ignored advice from men like #ThomasJefferson, who wanted states to castrate men who had queer sex. And he wanted them to carve holes no smaller than half-an-inch wide into the nose cartilage of women for #LesbianSex.

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 7m

DYK by the end of 18thC, some states took execution out of their #sodomy laws? Pennsylvania was one of them. Starting in 1786, it only seized a man’s property & indentured him for up to 10 years for #QueerSex or #bestiality.

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 10m

On top of that, women could ruin their lives w/the discomforts of pregnancy & the very real dangers of childbirth. If those weren’t bad enough, there were the miseries of housekeeping. Ghosts of #HistSex still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 10m

It stood against mortal sex & marriage w/men. It warned women to stay away from both & listed all kinds of reasons that marriage could be a personal calamity for women, including revolting, bad-tempered, & violent husbands.

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 10m

DYK the Vatican was never really gung ho for marriage? It supported propaganda against marriage. One example was the anonymous 13thC, “The Holy Maidenhead”, which supported total of virginity—“the treasure that once lost can never be found”—a mystical marriage w/Christ.

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 13m

It also codified sexual hypocrisy in the church until our own time. Priests couldn’t marry, but they continued to have sex, violating church doctrines about #SexPlay. Late 20thC surveys showed more than 80% totally ignored their vows of chastity. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #HistSex

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 13m

DYK it took 1,500 yrs, the Council of Trent, the #Inquisition, & the death penalty to end marriage of Catholic priests? Now wedding couples had to pay the church a hefty fee for saying the service, & the leakage of church revenue & property to the families of priests stopped.

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 15m

DYK “How Sex Got Screwed Up” is now available as an eBook?
To learn #GenderHistory & #HistSex of the world, including #QueerSex, #WmnHist, & #Zoophilia, go to VernonPress.com:
Book One ISBN 978-1-62273-69-11
Book Two ISBN 978-1-62273-584-6

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 15m

DYK Carol Cassell says this #HistSex, HOW SEX GOT SCREWED UP, is “…a masterpiece about “…why we feel and act the way we do about sex” from the #StoneAge to #MeToo? HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #GayMarriage #QueerHistory #QueerSex #SexWork #TrumpKKKristian #WmnHist #Zoophilia

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1d

DYK Christians undid #IndigenousPeople's broad approval of nonbinary gender variations & #WomensRights? Their #Inquisitions used #sodomy to excuse #genocide, enslave “New World” women & men, & make their kids illegitimate. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #GenderHistory

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1d

Even #erotic poems about women were written as though they were about men. And same-sex images were common in the mystical writing of the Muslim world. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #GenderHistory #HistSex #QueerHistory #QueerSex

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1d

DYK #Muslim Spain in the Middle Ages exalted #QueerLove? There many expressions in Arabic for same-sex love, eroticism, & #SexWork. Most of the #Muslim erotic poetry published was about same-sex relationships.

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1d

Freud believed that women could only have a mature sexual experience w/coitus. Women were “frigid” if they could get off ONLY by clitoral stimulation. They were not “real women” if they did not have vaginal orgasm. To be “real” they had to enjoy a penis. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1d

DYK in 1905, #SigmundFreud published “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality” claiming that the prime erogenous zone in girls was the clitoris, but he wanted adult women to make it their vaginas? If they couldn’t, he warned that they would become numb to sex. #WmnHist

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1d

“I do hope we shall not have to go into details in discussing this subject; it is not necessary. Its discussion is attended w/more or less filth & we besmirch ourselves by discussing it in public.” Ghosts of #GenderHistory still haunt. HowSexGotScrewedUp.com #WmnHist

Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1d

Howard A. Kelly spoke against publication:
“… I should be very sorry if in this country these matters became as freely talked about as they have been on the other side of the water. I do not believe pleasure in the sexual act has any particular bearing on the happiness of life.

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Jon Knowles @howsexgotscrewedup.bsky.social · 1d

DYK women were a puzzle to most men in the 20thC? In 1926, Freud thought each was “a dark continent”. Few authorities expected them to enjoy sex. In 1900, JAMA refused to print an article by Denslow Lewis that offered detailed information about how a woman could have an orgasm.

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