Sex and Punishment

Take an “enormously informative and entertaining” tour through the history of Western sex law, from ancient times through the 19th century ( Boston Globe )! What royal mistresses and gay charioteers, medieval cross-dressers and lonely goat–lovers, can tell us about the history of human desire . . . The “raging frenzy” of the sex drive, to use Plato’s phrase, has always defied control. However, that’s not to say the Sumerians, Victorians, and every civilization in between—and beyond—have not trie