How old knights kept wives from being chased

EVERY generation likes to believe they invented sex, but a scientific glance at the history of sexology shows that humans have been enjoying kinky cuddles and copulation for thousands of years.

The Institute of Sexology exhibition at London’s Wellcome Collection offers an intriguing look at the subject.

Henry Wellcome, who founded the museum, believed that humans have a primeval tendency to “phallic worship” and collected historical objects to support his theory. Some of the treasures on display are thought to have been given to women as train- ing manuals before marriage.

The collection’s display of shunga, the Japanese term for erotic art, includes a 19th-century statue of a Chinese couple copulating.

Meanwhile, a British shell from the 19th century depicts a chastity belt. Victorians were fascinated by stories of knights in the Middle Ages using these belts to preserve their wives’ chastity.

The 19th-century distaste for nonreproductive sex led to some terrifying inventions. A steel anti-masturbation device, dated from 1880-1920, was designed to be fitted to a penis at night “to prevent loss of fluids through wet dreams”. A number of sexologists at the time thought loss of sperm through nocturnal emissions was a serious problem.

Despite the medical warnings, vibrators were some of the very earliest products that made use of electrical power. The Veedee mechanical vibrator claimed to use “curative vibration” to treat ailments including colds, digestive complaints and female “hysteria”. — ©