Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History of Celibacy

Listen on

Episode notes

What did Queen Elizabeth I gain from being thought of as celibate? Why was property so essential to the Christian church embracing celibacy? And what's really behind the 'No Nut November' movement?

In today's episode, Kate's joined by Elisa Sobo, Professor of Anthropology at San Diego State University, and Sandra Bell of Durham University, to take a look at those of us today and throughout history who have chosen to abstain from sex.

Together, they edited Celibacy, Culture, And Society: Anthropology Of Sexual Abstinence, and you can read more on the subject of celibacy in Sandra's book Dynamics of Biocultural Diversity.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.