Meet the women throughout history who, quite literally, came before us.

From the host of award-winning History Hit podcast Betwixt the Sheets.

'Flicking excellent . . . Kate Lister is a goddess.' DR LUCY WORSLEY

'This eye-opening account of how women's pleasure has been controlled throught time is thought provoking and intrepid…an excellent, spiky book.' TELEGRAPH

'Unique, brilliant, gripping and unforgettable.' PROF KATE WILLIAMS

There is a common misconception that before modern day feminism, women throughout history simply lay back and thought of England or their respective place of origin; that the modern ‘sex positive’ movement is a radical break from the past. But women demanding better sex did not arrive with free love or the Rampant Rabbit. It has been a very long fight indeed.

From Ancient Mesopotamian sex goddesses to the contraceptive pill, Kate Lister takes us through history to show us how women’s sexual pleasure was controlled, understood and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed.

Structured thematically in broadly chronological order, the book introduces a lively cast of complex and entertaining characters operating in an array of different periods and settings. The Mesopotamian harlot Shamhat was powerful and respected, able to civilize the wild man Enkidu through her charms. In medieval London Elizabeth Moryng serviced clergy under the guise of an embroidery business, though was eventually jailed for being a prolific procuress and bawd. In Renaissance Venice the courtesan Veronica Franco published her poetry, rubbed shoulders with royalty and founded a charity for other courtesans. In the hedonistic floating world of Edo, Japan, kabuki actresses and then geishas entertained and pleasured their patrons. Three men were hanged in 18th-century London for buggery after being found in the Molly House of Margaret Clap. And at the turn of the century, in New Orleans, Lulu White ran Mahogany Hall, a four-storey building that housed up to forty sex workers.

Lister’s illuminating tales invite readers to look, listen and reconsider everything they thought they knew about the world’s oldest profession.

With 450 illustrations in colour