If medieval women lived today,
they'd still be thinking about sex
the way we do.

Margaret would be updating her status to "in a relationship with God" while her disappointed husband changed his from "just married" to "it's complicated."

Margery would be picking up the ingredients for a sexy night in and doing some special aphrodisiac baking. Perhaps Rose might be stopping off at a shop for some quality alone time supplies. Alice would still not be walking home in the dark for fear of being molested and Anne might be facing her abusive husband in court.

The church would still be on its soapbox loudly telling women what they could and couldn't do with their own bodies.

This much we do know, but have you ever wondered what sex was like for the medieval woman? Were women slaves to their husband's every desire? Were they secured safely and jealously in a chastity belt in his absence? Was sex a duty or could it be a pleasure? Did the medieval woman have any say about her own body and who did or didn't get up close and personal with it at all? Ever? About any of it?

So much more than you might think.

The intimate lives of medieval women were as complex and as complicated as ours today with very little being clear cut and many of the issues relating to sexual relationships having distinctly blurry edges. Women then, as now, loved and lost, hoped and schemed, laughed and cried, were lifted up and cast down. They were hopeful and lovelorn. Some were chaste and some were lusty. Some had sex thrust unwillingly upon them and had to deal with the consequences. Others made aphrodisiacs and dressed for success.

Sometimes, having sex was complicated. Sometimes, not having sex was even more so. In spite of the hundreds of years which separate the very secret sex lives of medieval women and the sex lives of modern women, many similarities remain. Only the actual women have changed. These true stories and astonishing facts about medieval sexual health and hygiene might surprise you!

Released internationally and translated into Polish, Russian and for the Braille Lending Library of Australia, fans of the Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, Medieval Women and Terry Jonses's Medieval Lives will meet real women and hear their voices in The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women.