# Another Time Traveler Question - Sex with "the Locals" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441 "2022-08-27T18:30:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/61 "2022-09-02T14:03:38Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > As a man fairly likely to have a long life by male standards, I’m kind of looking forward to that myself. The goods may be oddly wrinkly, but my odds will be spectacular. 😉 Ben Franklin assures you that you don’t need to be too worried about the odd wrinkly goods. Well, you may need a basket, and should keep the lights off, but it’s still gonna be a good time. > [@](#): > > Because in every Animal that walks upright, the Deficiency of the Fluids that fill the Muscles appears first in the highest Part: The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a Basket, and regarding2 only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement. > **[Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advice_to_a_Friend_on_Choosing_a_Mistress)** > > "Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress" is a letter by Benjamin Franklin dated June 25, 1745, in which Franklin counsels a young man about channeling sexual urges. Due to its licentious nature the letter was not published in collections of Franklin's papers in the United States during the 19th century. Federal court decisions from the mid- to late- 20th century cited the document as a reason for overturning obscenity laws. > The text begins by advising a young man that a cure for sexual urge... ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/62 "2022-09-02T15:59:37Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > > Wait, you think dildos are a _modern_ invention? They’re not. > > Obviously dildos existed before but the ability to mould silicone has allowed for dildoes in exotic shapes and flexibilities that would have been incredibly hard to create any other way and there are sex positions that require some pretty specialized dildoes to pull off Flexibility, I’ll give you, but shape? I must be pretty vanilla, because the only quote “exotic” dildo shapes I can think of are double-ended, or with an extension to stimulate the clitoris. Both of which seemed well within the capabilities of an ancient wood-carver. Given the limitations of physics, biology, and human anatomy, my WAG is that humans figured out pretty much all the possible ways to get their freak on fairly early in our history. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/63 "2022-09-02T16:06:51Z")
> **[The ancient Chinese were pretty kinky](https://nypost.com/2017/01/26/the-ancient-chinese-were-pretty-kinky/)** > > No one can accuse aristocrats in China’s Han Dynasty of being prudes. Long before actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow was selling “magical” Yoni eggs — meant to balance chi and enhance female … ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/64 "2022-09-02T17:20:00Z")
Tastes (heh) in sex exotica vary by culture and time. Nobody had a latex fetish before latex outfits existed. It’s interesting to read Sacher-Masoch and de Sade from the perspective of noting which relationships/acts/objects/clothes they represent as erotic, and which are missing for either historical reasons or personal preference. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/65 "2022-09-02T17:31:35Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > And then, during the trip to the past, TT _just happens_ to meet an attractive and willing partner. Yes, that was my implicit idea. > [@Tibby](#): > > Indeed, simply being exposed to new ideas often creates demand. > > Purely speculative, but I understand that there are sites on the internet that show activities of a sexual nature. I believe you people call these _pornographic_, or _“porn”_ sites? And, I’ve been told that these sites often show interactive activities that are atypical and perhaps not familiar to the viewer. Said viewer, after viewing these atypical activities may think to themselves, _“well gosh, that looks like jolly good fun, maybe I should give that a try.”_ And so, they do. > > If this newfangled activity proves to be a pleasant experience, the viewer may be tempted to add it to their repertoire. Their sensual sonatas expand into sexual symphonies (in theory, of course). > > People of antiquity didn’t have as good internet broadband as we have today and therefore would not have been exposed to the vast variety of sexual activities that many of you people see on a regular basis. No exposure = no familiarity = no demand. Thanks **Tibby** , this is exactly what I had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2022, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/66 "2022-09-21T07:18:46Z")
Should really stop revealing the xenophobic BS you read. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/67 "2023-09-26T17:53:25Z")
I don’t want to zombify an old-ish thread, but I’d like to point point out that among his contemporaries, Casanova was not particularly known for his sex life. He was primarily known for his spectacular escape from “The Leads”, a notorious prison in Venice, because soon after that escape he wrote a book about it that became a bestseller. The modern association of Casanova with promiscuity comes from his twelve-volume autobiography which describes his many affairs in great detail. But he wrote that autobiography very late in life, and it was published posthumously. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/68 "2023-09-26T17:55:38Z")
Yeah, I’m thinking religion would make it pretty much forbidden. A woman wanting to be satisfied? She’d be burned as a witch. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/69 "2023-09-26T18:35:39Z")
Not necessarily. In medieval Europe, it was believed that a woman had to have an orgasm in order to conceive a child (which was problematic in rape cases, but otherwise was good for the women). Most religions did not get weird about sex until the colonial era, when Christians and Muslims started trying to outdo each other in prudery. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/70 "2023-09-26T18:38:24Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > The modern association of Casanova with promiscuity comes from his twelve-volume autobiography which describes his many affairs in great detail. If you ever decide to read his memoir, be warned: Most historians say that, when he is gossiping about other people, he is generally very honest and accurate. But don’t believe a word he says about himself. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/71 "2023-09-26T18:57:33Z")
Last time I checked, since at least the time of Maimonides, a Jewish woman had the right to divorce her husband if he wasn’t giving her enough sex. I’d consult the relevant page in Telushkin’s Jewish Literacy, but it’s packed up at the moment. I also cite Boychiks In The Hood- Travels In The Hasidic Underground. When asked if they are only allowed to have sex through a hole in a sheet, several rabbis laugh. One says “Our business is to give our wives pleasure!” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/72 "2023-09-26T19:18:30Z")
The aspect of sexual activity we can count on being the same now as it was going very far back in time is that when asked about their sexual activities people tend to lie. What lies they tell may change over time, hundreds or even thousands of years sometimes, or just until tomorrow depending on who they’re trying to impress. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/73 "2023-09-26T22:08:27Z")
The Grimm dictionary, the most comprehensive dictionary of the German language (it dates back to 1838 and was edited by the same Grimm brothers who also compiled the collection of fairytales) contains an entry for _vögeln_, a very vulgar German slang term for having sex. The entry lists, among other citations of literary use, an example from 1559 which reads: “wie werden die losen hůren so wol auf hartem stro gefoglet und wir frommen weyber so ubel und selten auf gůten betten”. This is a complaint (written in 16th century German spelling) made by married woman who consider it unfair that they, despite being righteous wives, get screwed so badly and so rarely on proper beds, whereas loose whores get it done to them so well on hard straw. Which is just an anecdote I’m throwing in to say that, yes, the notion that a married woman can legitimately expect a minimum frequency and quality of sex from her husband is a very old one. Plus, our modern idea of witch hunts in European history is heavily distorted compared to the historical truth. Intense witch trials were limited to a few centuries in the very late middle ages and early modern era, the number of people (mostly, but not exclusively, women) relative to the overall population was small (although absolute numbers were large), and by far not all trials ended in death sentences. It’s a modern myth to believe that, for much of European history, women were living under a constant risk of being accused of withcraft. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/74 "2023-09-26T23:11:45Z")
This was all covered in the stories of R.A. Heinlein. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/75 "2023-09-27T06:04:01Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Yes, but nowhere in the article is there mention of Puritans engaging in a Kentucky tractor puller, a Dutch rudder, a Canadian porch swing, a toasted marshmallow, a Milwaukee blizzard, a campfire delight, a spicy gringo, a ramen yarmulke, a bumpkin plunger, a hot Richard, a Chuck Norris, a Leningrad steamer, a Mississippi birdbath, or even a Ben Franklin! They did, however, know about using the Cyprian scepter and the aphrodisaical tennis court to engage in gamahuche, caudle-making, ride below the crupper, board a land carrack, play at rumpscuttle and clapperdepouch, and many, many other idiomatic expressions for sex acts. [ETA: Whoops, I’m a year rather than a week out of date in replying to this post, gotta read post timestamps better.] ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441/76 "2023-09-27T14:58:09Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Given the limitations of physics, biology, and human anatomy, my WAG is that humans figured out pretty much all the possible ways to get their freak on fairly early in our history. > **[Swear Trek](https://www.tumblr.com/sweartrek/147619904408/kirk-has-some-urgent-business-to-attend-to?source=share)** > > Kirk has some urgent business to attend to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-time-traveler-question-sex-with-the-locals/970441.md?page=3)