Sexy time periods in history

[TheOtherTeacher]

Working on a story that involves different times in human history. (It's an alternative history story)

I've already got the neolithic, the mesopotamians and I've just written about the Roman empire (at it's peak).

What time periods (and places) do you find sexy?
When would you like a historical story to be set?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The super-obvious answer is pre-European-contact Polynesia.

If you believe the Margaret Mead version, anyway.

-Annie

 

[8letters]

I've written a story set in 1952, and it worked really well. The sexual repression of the era fit the slow-burn sex of story perfectly. Lots of people loved the descriptions of the clothing.

Any period before the 1930's has to deal with sex = baby making. When I read a biography of Napoleon III, I couldn't wrap my head around so many women having casual affairs with the French elite, but they did.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Italy during the Renaissance. Obviously you have the arts, but you also have the huge amount of intrigue and scandal that is the stuff erotic thrillers are made of. It needs to be reminded that Machiavelli wrote The Prince intended to make the power struggles less violent.

The French Revolution period is not something I'd consider sexy, but after going through three revolutions, all happening throughout the last decade, and all being apart from less than three years, I get why would people turn to sex in the middle of the chaos, uncertainty, and repression.

My favorite though would definitely be the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy.

 

[spiderboi]

To me, it's gotta be the Victorian Era. Everyone was so repressed that they had to start calling breast/thigh meat light/dark meat. That's a great recipe for simmering sexual tension.

And some mad lad invented figging, which is just *chef's kiss*

 

[NotWise]

I've written historic stories in Pompeii before the eruption, and research for another story suggested that noble families in Renaissance France and Portugal were great opportunities. Spain, not so much, but I did write a story around a courtesan in a ducal court. That story took place around 1540 (I had the year down fairly precisely at the time I wrote it, but can't remember exactly what it was), that invoked the political tensions between Spain and Portugal.

1920's in the US and Europe were pretty free-wheeling.

 

[ronde]

My favorite time periods are the American Civil War and WWII. Both have similar scenarios. Prior to the Civil War, most people outside of the cities were involved in agriculture and were for the most part pretty religious. The Civil War turned the US upside down as far as morals and how people viewed their place in society. Men from rural areas served alongside men from the cities where they learned that not every man waited until marriage for sex and there were women willing to provide sex for just food.

WWII is similar as the US had just experienced an economic depression that basically forced a moral code based on poverty and religious teachings. WWII exposed most young men to the morals and society of Europe and Asia. Many women married men they really didn't know because it was considered the patriotic thing to do.

Both these time periods forced women into the roles of head of the household and primary income earner, and taught them they didn't have to be quiet and subservient to men. There are a lot of opportunities for a writer in exploring those times.

 

[BearNextDoor]

Quite a bit to work with in (a romanticized) 1600s Tokugawa Japan. Check Shōgun if you're unfamiliar.

 

[Bramblethorn]

To me, it's gotta be the Victorian Era. Everyone was so repressed that they had to start calling breast/thigh meat light/dark meat.

This is a myth. The terminology predates the Victorian era, and originally both sets of terms were used alongside one another: https://www.etymonline.com/word/meat

In general, the Victorians were rather less prudish than the piano-leg-covering stereotype would have one believe.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

The reason I like the Victorian era is because it wasn’t nearly as prudish as it was made out to be. There were a ton of great sex scandals in there and you know the more outward everybody is trying to be gentile, the freakier they are in the bedroom.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

To me, it's gotta be the Victorian Era. Everyone was so repressed that they had to start calling breast/thigh meat light/dark meat. That's a great recipe for simmering sexual tension.

And some mad lad invented figging, which is just *chef's kiss*

I don't know... After reading "My Secret Life," I can definitely press (X) to Doubt. While it's true that "Walter" mostly had sex with prostitutes, he was not what we would call a "gentleman," even though by his time he was. According to this memoir, the Victorian era was quite hypocritical, and many of us see this period of time with rose-tinted glasses.

 

[iwatchus]

1920's in the US and Europe were pretty free-wheeling.

Particularly Berlin.

 

[Britva415]

My favorite though would definitely be the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy.

Interesting choice - besides the pirates, who was living there, contributing to sexy times? Or maybe all the pirates were just having the gay old time?

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Interesting choice - besides the pirates, who was living there, contributing to sexy times? Or maybe all the pirates were just having the gay old time?

Considering that pirates pretty much invented gay marriage, I wouldn't be surprised. They were a hedonistic bunch however. More often than not those "marriages" also involved sharing women, but pirates weren't all men. In fact, the most dangerous pirate was a Chinese woman, but Zheng Yi Sao's career happened after the Golden Age of Piracy.

Anyway, media loves female pirates. Just taking a look the way they depicted Anne Bonny in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, or Black Sails is more than an enough example, though to be fair, Black Sails has a lot of men and women showing a lot of skin. Add to it the relationship she had with fellow pirate Mary Read, and Calico Jack...

I believe there's been erotica written about the three, if not just Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

Plus, it's the Caribbean during a time where the European powers struggled among themselves through their American colonies. Life during the colony period was rough, and plenty people cheated on their spouses with non-white folks because, well... racism was a thing in the territory that would become my country back in those days.

That's like... how many Lit categories now?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

The late Elizabethan period had the theatres and other decadent attractions, and the Stuart period even more so. The posse of eminent playwrights were the celebs of the day, known as 'roaring boys'.

Post Civil War you have the Restoration period known for its decadence - women allowed on stage! Mistresses everywhere! More modern coffee houses serving hot chocolate, and we know the effect of chocolate on women...

Then a boring period of economic prosperity with Queen Anne and the Georgians. Money equals more luxurious bedding, nice clothes, some spare time...

In late Victorian times you have a huge mix, people able to travel on bicycles and by train and ship, so pregnant women had the option of starting again as 'a widow'. High standards of propriety in respectable circles combined with one in ten London women working as prostitutes. They weren't shagging each other. (ok, maybe they were, but someone was keeping them in business). Students suddenly found women bluestockings joining them, and I assume were no less amorous than modern equivalents.

Then there's the 60s which mostly weren't that swinging for most people, but slowly social changes happened. Groups of students or young adults could rent houses, away from the oversight of authorities! (cue The Young Ones) Even without mixed-sex tenants yet, that's a place to go for sex.

Then the squats of the 70s and 80s... everything including heat and light was expensive and often lacking. What's one to do apart from drink and bundle up and fuck?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The late Elizabethan period had the theatres and other decadent attractions, and the Stuart period even more so. The posse of eminent playwrights were the celebs of the day, known as 'roaring boys'.

The Elizabethan era also had all female stage roles played by cross-dressing boys, if that's what someone is interested in. I don't know that you could write about it on Literotica, which heavily restricts underage people's involvement. Does anyone know how old a Juliet or Katherina could be?

-Annie

 

[merrilylirrem]

I love the colonial era. CNC with a guy dressed as a British officer?? Yes please.

 

[NotWise]

Interesting choice - besides the pirates, who was living there, contributing to sexy times? Or maybe all the pirates were just having the gay old time?

Keira Knightly was there, right?

 

[SimonDoom]

The era of the sexual revolution from the mid-60s until the early 80s. Then AIDS happened and things were a lot less free wheeling. That was a relatively sexually relaxed time in American history--probably the most relaxed time. I experienced the latter part of that era, and times are much less relaxed now than they were then.

The Roaring 20s would be another sexy era.

I agree with others who've said that the perceived repressiveness of a time and place, like Victorian England, can add some extra sexy sizzle to a story, because it creates erotic conflict.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

The Elizabethan era also had all female stage roles played by cross-dressing boys, if that's what someone is interested in. I don't know that you could write about it on Literotica, which heavily restricts underage people's involvement. Does anyone know how old a Juliet or Katherina could be?

-Annie

They tended to be played by boys whose voices hadn't broken, if they had one who was an adequate actor, so under 16. But often they wouldn't have one who could actually well enough, so a slim young man would do the role, possibly with a falsetto voice. Older men would be playing Lady Capulet, and Nurse is practically a panto dame.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_-5cYbk-QYI/maxresdefault.jpg
I rest my case…

 

[Bramblethorn]

I don't know... After reading "My Secret Life," I can definitely press (X) to Doubt. While it's true that "Walter" mostly had sex with prostitutes, he was not what we would call a "gentleman," even though by his time he was. According to this memoir, the Victorian era was quite hypocritical, and many of us see this period of time with rose-tinted glasses.

Yeah, even Victoria's oldest son Edward (later Edward VII) was a notorious fuckboy. Per Wiki:

"Edward had mistresses throughout his married life. He socialised with actress Lillie Langtry; Lady Randolph Churchill; Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; actress Sarah Bernhardt; noblewoman Lady Susan Vane-Tempest; singer Hortense Schneider; prostitute Giulia Beneni (known as "La Barucci"); wealthy humanitarian Agnes Keyser; and Alice Keppel. At least fifty-five liaisons are conjectured. How far these relationships went is not always clear. Edward always strove to be discreet, but this did not prevent society gossip or press speculation... [his wife] Alexandra was aware of his affairs, and seems to have accepted them. In 1869, Sir Charles Mordaunt, a British Member of Parliament, threatened to name Edward as co-respondent in his divorce suit. Ultimately, he did not do so but Edward was called as a witness in the case in early 1870. It was shown that Edward had visited the Mordaunts' house while Sir Charles was away sitting in the House of Commons. Although nothing further was proven and Edward denied he had committed adultery, the suggestion of impropriety was damaging."

He even had a custom-made piece of sex furniture installed for him at a French brothel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_chair

 

[RejectReality]

Ancient Egypt. Just avoid the local contraception methods at the time. LOL You can make fellatio a quasi-religious experience because of the Osiris resurrection story. Reddened lips were a sign that a woman was willing and skilled in that particular devotion. Go with higher class level, and you've got frequent bathing, scented oils, and full body shaving as potential kink points. Him going down before penetrative sex can be used to allude to the flooding and receding of the Nile, when it is time to plant your seed. All stuff I've played with previously in the setting.

 

[AllenWoody]

Ancient Greece? Gay sex certainly comes to mind, but if you want your readers easily to picture a free-wheeling environment you'd be hard pressed to do better.

 

[NotWise]

Yeah, even Victoria's oldest son Edward (later Edward VII) was a notorious fuckboy. Per Wiki: ...

I've always thought the turn-of-the-century (Edwardian) period was sexier than the Victorian.