Work

‘Elderly years cause a Total dispaire of Conception’: Old Age, Sex and Infertility in Early Modern England

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: Although the history of old age has been studied in much greater detail in recent years, the subject of sexuality in old age remains relatively under-explored. This article examines early modern ideas about old bodies and sex in relation to fertility, to argue that because old bodies were understood as either infertile (post-menopausal women) or sub-fertile (old men) they were therefore characterised as unsuitable, undesirable and inappropriate sexual partners. Perceptions of old bodies, their sexual abilities, desirability and behaviour were remarkably consistent from the sixteenth through to the eighteenth century. The ridiculing of old men and women's sexual behaviour that permeated contemporary culture in stories, ballads and jokes, alongside medical literature that characterised old bodies as sexually unappetising as well as unreproductive, carried the message that sexual activity was not for the old, and in large part because they were infertile.

Source: Social History of Medicine

DOI: 10.1093/shm/hkv067

Author: Sarah Toulalan

Institution: University of Exeter

Language: English

Topic: Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,054

Funders: Strong, British Academy