| 1751 |
Public sex in a flat, Brothel, Massage parlour or for an Agency becomes illegal under the Disorderly Houses Act |
| 1758 |
Linnaeus describes and names Pediculus Pubis (Pubic Lice) |
| 1760 |
Samuel-Auguste Tissot writes that Semen is an “essential oil” that, when lost, causes “a perceptible reduction of strength, of memory and even of reason, blurred vision…” |
| 1762 |
John Wilkes (the ugliest man in England) publishes his ‘Essay on Women’, an obscene parody of Alexander Pope’s ‘Essay on Man’, which later causes his expulsion from Parliament |
| 1762 |
Voltaire’s poem “La Pucelle” (The Maid) sparks scandal, & the wrath of the King and the Pope |
| 1763 |
The Marriage Act raises the minimum age for marriage from 12 to 16 |
| 1766 |
Voltaire writes “It is amusing that a virtue is made of the vice of Chastity” |
| 1773 |
“The Covent Garden Magazine” becomes the first erotic periodical in the UK |
| 1774 |
Catherine II of Russia begins an affair with Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, her other lovers included Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov (40 years her junior) |
| 1779 |
John Graham invents The Celestial bed |
| 1782 |
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos publishes “Les Liaisons dangereuses” |
| 1785 |
Donatien Alphonse François (Marque de Sade) writes “120 Journées de Sodom” |
| 1787 |
George III of England issues “A Proclamation for the Encouragement of Piety & Virtue, & for the Preventing & Punishing of Vice, Profaneness & Immorality” |
| 1787 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart previews his opera “Don Giovanni”, in Prague |
| 1789 |
Giacomo Casanova begins writing his memoirs “Histoire de ma vie” (Story of My Life) |
| 1791 |
William IV of England begins an affair with the Irish actress Dorothea Bland (Dorothy Jordan) resulting in at least ten illegitimate children |
| 1792 |
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”, advocating the social & moral equality of the sexes |
| 1794 |
In his book “The Golden Age”, Erasmus Darwin writes “plants now can convey more knowledge about human sexuality than women can” |
| 1795 |
Donatien Alphonse François de Sade writes “120 Journées de Sodom” |
| 1796 |
Jane Austen writes “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” |
| 1798 |
Mary Wollstonecraft’s “The Wrongs of Women” is published, acknowledging the existence of women’s sexual desires |
| 1802 |
The Society for the Suppression of Vice is established “to preserve the minds of the young from contamination by exposure to the corrupting influence of impure & licentious books, prints, & other publications…” |
| 1802 |
Thomas Jefferson impregnates his slave, Sally Hemings |
| 1816 |
Lord Byron claims that he “had different woman on 200 consecutive evenings” |
| 1823 |
Francis Place begins the birth control movement in Britain |
| 1824 |
Jean Prévost & Jean Dumas show that sperm are necessary for fertilization |
| 1830 |
The Can-Can is outlawed in France, for its revolutionary subtext |
| 1833 |
Joseph Smith Jr. practises the first Mormon Plural marriage |
| 1833 |
Lymphogranuloma Venereum (LGV) is described by Wallace |
| 1836 |
Alfredo Donné discovers that Trichomoniasis is caused by the parasitic protozoan Trichomonas Vaginalis |
| 1837 |
Phillipe Ricord discovers the Neisseria Gonorrhoeae bacterium (Gonorrhoea) |
| 1838 |
The modern rubber Diaphragm (contraceptive) is invented |
| C.1840 |
Burlesque shows come into existence |
| 1843 |
Vulcanized rubber condoms are first manufactured by Charles Goodyear |
| 1846 |
The first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace are produced and sold by Esther Howland |
| 1846 |
William Haynes immigrates to New York and founds a firm publishing cheap erotic novels such as “Confessions of a Lady’s Waiting Maid” |
| 1847 |
The Town Police Clause Act criminalises selling of refreshments to sex workers sitting together |
| 1849 |
Dorothy Scraggs of Marysville, California places probably the first ever personal ad in a local Miners newspaper. Advertising for a wealthy husband, she demands that $20,000 be settled on her |
| C.1850 |
The rubber dildo is introduced |
| 1852 |
Leon Bassereau shows that Chancroid (Streptobacillus Haemophilus Ducreyi) is not the same as Syphilis |
| 1857 |
Cannabis is recommended as a therapeutic aphrodisiac, in a marriage guide |
| 1857 |
The Obscene Publications Act bans works having “a tendency to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences” |
| 1858 |
Dr.Isaac Baker Brown introduces the operation of Clitoridectomy for the consequences of “peripheral excitement” |
| 1858 |
The Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes is established, taking over the divorce duties of the Church courts |
| 1861 |
The penalty for conviction for sodomy is reduced from hanging to imprisonment |
| 1863 |
Conrad Eckhard demonstrates that stimulation of the Sacral nerves produces penile erection |
| 1864 |
Amyl nitrite is first synthesized |
| 1868 |
The world’s greatest lover King Mongut of Siam (9,000 wives & Concubines) dies of Syphilis |
| 1869 |
Dr.George Taylor develops the first vibrator (A steam-powered apparatus designed to treat “Female hysteria”) |
| 1869 |
The term “Homosexuality” appears in print for the first time, in a German pamphlet written by Karl-Maria Kertbeny |
| 1875 |
The Offences Against The Person Act raises the age of consent for girls to 13 |
| 1876 |
Importation of pornography becomes illegal under the Customs Consolidation Act |
| 1878 |
The Geestring (G-string) is discovered |
| 1882 |
The Married Women’s Property Act is passed, allowing women to own property on their own terms |
| 1884 |
Eadweard Muybridge films test footage, including cinematic glimpses of naked men & women in motion |
| 1885 |
The Criminal Law Amendment Act increases the age of consent for girls to 16 & outlaws sexual relations between men (but not women) |
| 1886 |
Captain Sir Richard Burton translates Shaykh Umar ibn Muhammed al-Nefzawi’s classic text “The Perfumed Garden” |
| 1886 |
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing describes S&M behaviour in his study of sexual perversity “Psychopathia Sexualis” |
| 1886 |
The Cosmopolitan magazine is founded |
| 1887 |
Sigmund Freud publishes his Seduction theory |
| 1888 |
Dr.John Harvey Kellogg advocates circumcision for males & application of pure Carbolic acid to the clitoris in females, as methods of allaying sexual excitement |
| 1889 |
The Moulin Rouge opens its doors |
| 1889 |
Sex education was first introduced into English schools |
| 1890 |
Polygynous marriage is outlawed in the US, to restrict the Mormon religious movement |
| 1892 |
Albert Doderlein first identifies the presence or absence of gram-positive rods in normal vaginal flora |
| 1892 |
Dr.August Forel recommends sterilisation on eugenic grounds |
| 1892 |
The word “Bisexual” is first used in its current sense, in Charles Gilbert Chaddock’s translation of Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis |
| 1893 |
The first “official” vasectomy is performed |
| 1894 |
George du Maurier writes of ‘Svengali’ in his novel “Trilby” |
| 1894 |
Performance of the first public strip-tease dance |
| 1895 |
Oscar Wilde, on trial for ‘indecent acts’, talks of “The Love that dare not speak its name” |
| 1896 |
John C. Rice & May Irwin are the first couple to be recorded kissing, in the film “The Kiss” |
| 1896 |
“Fatima’s Coochee-Coochee Dance” becomes the first film in which a scene (Fatima’s gyrating & moving pelvis) is censored |
| 1896 |
Louise Willy performs the first on-screen striptease, in “Le Coucher de la Marie” |
| 1896 |
Russell Hunting is arrested and imprisoned, for making and selling indecent phonograph recordings |
| 1897 |
Edmond Rostand writes of Cyrano and Roxane, in his play ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ |
| 1897 |
The French have the first public screening of a film with a nude scene, called “Après Le Bal” |
| 1899 |
America’s first advert for a battery vibrator (in McClure’s magazine) as a cure for headaches, wrinkles and nerve pain |
| 1900 |
The British Museum destroys six boxes of “obscene” books from the collection that Henry Spencer Ashbee bequeathed to the library at his death |
| 1901 |
Notorious womanizer Stanford White, aged 47 takes the virginity of 16 year old chorus girl Florence Evelyn Nesbit |
| 1901 |
John Barrymore ‘The Great Profile’ gets Florence Evelyn Nesbit pregnant. He later marries & divorces Katherine Corri Harris, Blanche Marie Louise Oelrichs, Dolores Costello & Elaine Barrie |
| 1901 |
Japanese poet Akiko Yosano publishes ‘Tangled Hair’, a book of poetry that replaces the traditional Japanese poetic approach to love (all emotions, no body contact) with frank sensuality |
| 1902 |
Alfred Stieglitz publishes “Camera Work”, the first nude photography magazine |
| 1902 |
Ernest Starling discovers Hormones |
| 1904 |
K-Y Jelly is introduced by Van Horn & Sawtell (initially as a surgical lubricant) |
| 1905 |
Calymmatobacterium Granulomatis (later Donovanosis) was described for the first time by Charles Donovan |
| 1905 |
Max Juliusberg discovers & documents the viral nature of Molluscum Contagiosum |
| 1906 |
Millionaire Playboy Harry Kendall Thaw murders noted architect Stanford White, after White makes disparaging remarks about Thaw to a group of chorus girls that Thaw is chatting up |
| 1907 |
Giovanni Ciuffo recognizes the viral nature of Genital Warts (Condylomata Acuminata) |
| 1907 |
Ludwig Halberstaedter & Stanislaus von Prowazek discover Chlamydia Trachomatis (Chlamydia) |
| 1907 |
The first Ziegfeld Follies opens in New York |
| 1908 |
Dr.Josef Weckerle publishes “Das Goldene Buch der Liebe”, a sex-technique manual detailing 531 positions |
| 1908 |
The first known pornographic motion picture, “A L’Ecu d’Or ou la bonne auberge” is made in France |
| 1910 |
‘The Hall Brothers’ is founded by a Nebraskan entrepreneur, selling Valentine’s day & Christmas cards (in 1928 this company adopts the name ‘Hallmark’) |
| 1911 |
The plug-in vibrator becomes the fith household appliance to be electrified |
| 1911 |
Pennsylvania becomes the first U.S. state to pass a film censorship law |
| 1912 |
Benjamin Guggenheim, Playboy heir of a mining and smelting fortune drowns, when the Titanic sinks |
| 1912 |
E. Merck Pharmaceutical Company synthesizes 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) |
| 1912 |
The first nude woman appears on stage at the Folies-Bergere |
| 1913 |
Otto Ledever invents the Penis pump |
| 1913 |
The first American feature-length sex film is reported as “Traffic in Souls” aka. “While New York Sleeps” |
| 1914 |
Albert Einstein sends a shocking missive to his wife, making several cruel & degrading demands. He is later quoted as saying “Marriage is the unsuccessful attempt to make something lasting out of an incident” |
| 1915 |
“A Free Ride” is reported as the earliest-known silent “stag” (pornographic) film, with explicit sex scenes |
| 1915 |
The first mainstream American film with a nude scene “Inspiration”, starring Audrey Munson, is released |
| 1915 |
Theda Bara (The First Sex Symbol & “Femme fatale”) has her first lead role in the film “A Fool There Was” |
| 1916 |
Annette Kellermann causes a stir as the first major female star to appear nude on screen, when she is seen naked with her flowing hair under a waterfall in the film “A Daughter of the Gods” |
| 1916 |
After leading a scandalous personal life, frequently being seen picking up prostitutes & reputedly seducing Tsaritsa Alexandra, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is lured to a mysterious death by Prince Felix Yusupov & the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich |
| 1916 |
Lawrence Sperry & Mrs.Waldo Polk become the founding members of the Mile High Club |
| 1917 |
Mata Hari (Margaretha Zelle) is executed in Paris as a spy |
| 1918 |
Representation of the People Act gives single women over the age of 30 the right to vote |
| 1919 |
Magnus Hirschfeld founds the “Institut für Sexualwissenschaft” (Institute for Sexology) |
| C.1920 |
Flappers cause shock, by attending ‘Petting parties’, where men and women kiss and hug (but don’t usually have sex) |
| 1920 |
Ernest W. Goodpasture correctly postulates that large inclusion-bearing cells are the result of viral infection, calling them Cytomegalia (later Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection) |
| 1920 |
Margaret Sanger publishes “What Every Girl Should Know” |
| 1921 |
Rudolph Valentino becomes the first Hollywood male sex symbol, after starring in the film “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” |
| 1921 |
Seductress Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill) dies. Her notable lovers included Count Charles Andreas Kinsky, King Edward VII of England and King Milan of Serbia |
| 1921 |
Marie Stopes opens the first birth control clinic |
| 1922 |
James Thomas Harris (Frank Harris) publishes his autobiography “My Life and Loves” |
| 1923 |
Women are allowed to file for divorce solely for adultery (previously they needed to prove cruelty or desertion also) |
| 1923 |
Mussolini’s government orders Aleister Crowley to leave Italy, after hearing stories of drug induced bestial orgies and satanic rituals, when Crowley’s acolyte Raoul Loveday dies from gastro-enteritis |
| 1926 |
John Barrymore stars in “Don Juan” with Mary Astor & Estelle Taylor. The film sets a record number of kisses (reportedly 127) |
| 1927 |
Charles “Buddy” Rogers and Richard Arlen perform the first on-Screen Male-Male Kiss, in the film “Wings” |
| 1927 |
Clara Gordon Bow becomes the original “It Girl”, after appearing in the Hollywood silent film “It” |
| 1927 |
Exotic vamp Greta Garbo becomes a star in the film “Flesh and the Devil”, containing Hollywood’s first filmed French kiss, as well as the first kiss in American film to take place between two people in a horizontal position |
| 1927 |
Famous Screen Couple, Greta Garbo and John Gilbert appear together in the film “Flesh and the Devil” |
| 1927 |
Famous Screen Couple, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell appear together in the film “Seventh Heaven” |
| 1927 |
The Hays Office issues a list of “Don’ts” & “Be Carefuls” for film-makers. Amongst other things, Suggestive nudity, lustful kissing, rape or attempted rape, men & woman in bed together & deliberate seduction of girls are specifically listed |
| 1928 |
Alexander Fleming notices the inhibition of bacterial growth around a contaminant blue-green mould on a Staphylococcus plate culture. He subsequently discovers this is “Penicillium notatum”, and goes on to isolate Penicillin (the first modern antibiotic) |
| 1928 |
David Herbert Lawrence publishes “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” |
| 1928 |
Margaret Mead publishes “Coming of Age in Samoa” |
| 1928 |
The Equal Franchise Act gives women the right to vote, on equal terms as men (i.e. over the age of 21) |
| 1929 |
Swedish Psychiatrist Axel Munthe writes of an encounter with Guy de Maupassant, where he met Mademoiselle Ivonne, one of Maupassant’s many lovers (an Ether addicted ballet dancer) |
| 1929 |
Dr.Earle Haas invents the modern tampon (he later trademarks Tampax) |
| 1929 |
Ella Rice, wife of Playboy Howard Hughes, files for divorce. He allegedly had affairs with Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Gene Tierney, & Ava Gardner |
| 1929 |
Women become “persons” in their own right, by order of the Privy Council |
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