sexuality

"It is the custom with you, for the eldest of five brothers to marry and for the wife of such brother to be common to all five; hence there cannot be the slightest or remotest doubt of your being all bastards and whoresons. This is about the seventh time that you have acted treasonably towards the sircar, and plundered our armies. I have now [therefore] vowed to the true God, that if you ever again conduct yourselves traitorously or wickedly, I will not revile or molest a single individual among you, but making Ahmedies [i.e. Muslims] of the whole of you, transplant you all from this country to some other; by which means, from being illegitimate, your progeny or descendants may become legitimate, and the epithet of whoresons (born of sinful mothers) may no longer belong to your tribe."

"Those at whose birth the feet appeared first, instead of the head, which is considered the most difficult and dangerous form of parturition, are called Agrippae, a word formed from aegritudo, or "difficulty," and pedes (feet). But Varro says that the position of children in the womb is with the head lowest and the feet raised up, not according to the nature of a man, but of a tree. For he likens the branches of a tree to the feet and legs, and the stock and trunk to the head. "Accordingly," says he, "when they chanced to be turned upon their feet in an unnatural position, since their arms are usually extended they are wont to be held back, and then women give birth with greater difficulty. For the purpose of averting this danger altars were set up at Rome to the two Carmentes, of whom one was called Postverta, the other Prorsa, named from natural and unnatural births, and their power over them.""

"A prettie rysing wombe without a weame, That shone as bright as anie siluer streame; And bare out like the bending of an hill, At whose decline a fountaine dwelleth still;A pretty rising womb without a wenn, That shine[s] as bright as any crystal gem, And bears out like the rising of a hill, At whose decline the[re] runs a fountain still,"

"A dynamic and evolved care model focused on body literacy, cycle tracking, and individualized women’s health markers, [Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM]) practitioners work to restore a woman’s reproductive health to conceive naturally. Several large groups and clinics have formed over the years to support and expand this version of care, describing it as the superior option for women and couples. RRM practitioners typically identify treatable underlying causes for infertility, such as low estrogen and progesterone, insulin resistance, thyroid disease or dysfunction, and endometriosis, resulting in improved fertility and healthier patients."

"To Eve's womb, from our sweet to-morrow, God shall greatly multiply sorrow."

"Our mothers’ wombs the tyring-houses be Where we are drest for this short comedy:"

"Thou art he who createst the man-child in woman, who makest seed in man, who giveth life to the son in the body of his mother, who soothest him that he may not weep, a nurse [even] in the womb."

"Fertility meant nothing to us in our twenties; it was something to be secured in the dungeon and left there to molder. In our early thirties, we remembered it existed and wondered if we should check on it, and then—abruptly, horrifyingly—it became urgent: Somebody find that dragon! It was time to rouse it, get it ready for action. But the beast had not grown stronger during the decades of hibernation. By the time we tried to wake it, the dragon was weakened, wizened. Old."

"But thou art he that took me out of the womb: Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: Thou art my God from my mother's belly."

"And Venus, thou, with timely seed, Which may their after-comforts breed, Inform the gentle womb; Nor let it prove a tomb: But, ere ten moons be wasted, The birth, by Cynthia hasted. So may they both, ere day, Rise perfect every way."

"Your brother and his lover have embraced: As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time That from the seedness the bare fallow brings To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry."

"Fertility, sexuality, strength, and the ability to create and nurture life: These were the powers of women ... It was a ripening, yes, but not just for the purpose of bearing children, or being a wife. It represented a claiming of one's self..."

"The Greek Dances are extremely pleasant, and full of Mirth. [...] The fittest time to take the pleasure of viewing their way of Dancing, is when they are met at a Wedding; for on such Occasions they give themselves up to Joy and Pleasure, drinking, eating, and sporting, and indulging themselves in all manner of Diversions. The next Morning the young Woman's Relations make a Visit to the new-marry'd Couple, and examine the Bridegroom concerning his Wife's Virginity: Then they take the Bride's Bloody Smock, and expose it to the View of all the Company, as if it were some rare Curiosity. The Jews observe the same Custom at the Marriage of a Maid, and are even nicer and more scrupulous in this Point than the Greeks; for if the Bride's Honesty be not confirm'd by the Blood that appears on her Smock, her Reputation is irrecoverably lost, and she is immediately divorc'd from her Husband. They unanimously agree in believing that this is an infallible Mark of Virginity: And this Opinion is so generally receiv'd thro' all Asia and Africa, that if a Man shou'd endeavour to contradict it, he wou'd expose himself to the Laughter and Derision of all that shou'd hear him. The Italians are also persuaded of the Certainty of this Experiment, tho' they abstain from making a Shew of the Bloody Smock, for fear of exposing their own Shame; but the Husband examines his Bride very narrowly, and if he finds her not such as he expects and desires, 'tis in vain for her to endeavour by the most solemn Protestations to convince him of her Innocency. Nevertheless this way of trying the Chastity of a Maid is esteem'd uncertain and ridiculous by the French, and even by Chirurgeons; nor can I reflect without a certain Wonder and Astonishment on this Diversity of Opinions concerning a Question that one wou'd think might have been fully decided by so many repeated Experiments; for I see no reason to believe that our Country-Women are fram'd after another manner than the rest of their Sex."

"If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you."

"Oh that all the World were mad, Then should we have fine Dancing, Hobby horses would be had, And brave Girles keepe a prancing. Beggars would on Cock-horse ride. And Boobies fall a roaring, And Cuckolds, tho no Hornes be spied, Be one another goring."

"The Cuckold is the last that knowes of it."

"You're shallow, madam, in great friends; for the knaves come to do that for me which I am aweary of. He that ears my land spares my team and gives me leave to in the crop; if I be his cuckold, he's my drudge: he that comforts my wife is the cherisher of my flesh and blood; he that cherishes my flesh and blood loves my flesh and blood; he that loves my flesh and blood is my friend: ergo, he that kisses my wife is my friend. If men could be contented to be what they are, there were no fear in marriage; for young Charbon the Puritan and old Poysam the Papist, howsome'er their hearts are severed in religion, their heads are both one; they may jowl horns together, like any deer i' the herd."

"Gone already! Inch-thick, knee-deep, o’er head and ears a fork’d one! Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and I Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour Will be my knell. Go, play, boy, play. There have been, Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now; And many a man there is, even at this present, Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm, That little thinks she has been sluiced in’s absence And his pond fish’d by his next neighbour, by Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there’s comfort in’t Whiles other men have gates and those gates open’d, As mine, against their will. Should all despair That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind Would hang themselves. Physic for’t there is none; It is a bawdy planet, that will strike Where ’tis predominant; and ’tis powerful, think it, From east, west, north and south: be it concluded, No barricado for a belly; know’t; It will let in and out the enemy With bag and baggage: many thousand on’s Have the disease, and feel’t not. How now, boy!"

"Now ther ye seye, that I am foul and old, Than drede you noght to been a cokewold; For filthe and elde, al-so moot I thee, Been grete wardeyns up-on chastitee."

"She Acts the jealous, and at Will she cries; For Womens Tears are but the sweat of Eyes. Poor Cuckold-Fool, thou think’st that Love sincere, And suck’st between her Lips, the falling Tear: But search her Cabinet, and thou shalt find Each Tiller there with Love Epistles lin’d."

"When daisies pied and violets blue, And lady-smocks all silver-white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue Do paint the meadows with delight, The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo! Cuckoo, cuckoo!—O word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear! When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks, When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws, And maidens bleach their summer smocks The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo! Cuckoo, cuckoo!—O word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear!"

"A wily wench there was (as I have read) Who us’d to capricorn her husband’s head, Which he suspecting, lay in private wait, To catch the knave, and keep his wife more straight. But all in vain: they day by day did mate it, Yet could his four eyes never take them at it. This subtle wench perceiving how they should At last prevented be, do all they could: For now Italian-like her husband grew, Horn-mad I wish, and kept her in a Mew. Invent’d a trick, which to accomplish better, Unto her friend she closely sent a letter, And thus it was; Friend you shall know by me, My husband keeps me far more narrowly Then he was wont, so as to tell you true, You cannot come to me; nor I to you. Yet spite of his eyes and as many more, We’ll use those pleasures which we used before: Only be wise, and second what I wish: Which to express (my friend) know this it is. My husband as he hates the horns to wear, Of all the Badges forth, so fears he’th Bear, More than all other Beasts which do frequent The healthy Forests spacious continent. If thou wilt right me then, and pepper him, Cover thy servant in a false Bear’s skin. And come tomorrow, as thou used before, Tying thy servant to my chamber door. After this quaint direction he attired His man in bear-skin as she had desir’d: Entering the chamber he received is With many a smile, back-fall, and sweetened kiss: For they’re secure, of all that was before, Having a Bear that kept the Buff from door. The wittol fool no sooner inkling had, Then up the stairs he ran as he were mad. But seeing none but th’ Bear to entertain him, Of Horns he never after did complain him."

"Now, when Shah Zaman saw this conduct of his sister-in-law he said in himself, “By Allah, my calamity is lighter than this! My brother is a greater King among the kings than I am, yet this infamy goeth on in his very palace, and his wife is in love with that filthiest of filthy slaves. But this only showeth that they all do it and that there is no woman but who cuckoldeth her husband, then the curse of Allah upon one and all and upon the fools who lean against them for support or who place the reins of conduct in their hands.” So he put away his melancholy and despondency, regret and repine, and allayed his sorrow by constantly repeating those words, adding “’Tis my conviction that no man in this world is safe from their malice!”"

"By the haven of safety, cried out Rondibilis, what is this you ask of me? If you shall be a cuckold? My noble friend, I am married, and you are like to be so very speedily; therefore be pleased, from my experiment in the matter, to write in your brain with a steel pen this subsequent ditton, There is no married man who doth not run the hazard of being made a cuckold. Cuckoldry naturally attendeth marriage. The shadow doth not more naturally follow the body, than cuckoldry ensueth after marriage to place fair horns upon the husbands’ heads."

"But suffer not thy Wife abroad to roam, If she loves Singing, let her Sing at home; Not strut in Streets, with Amazonian pace; For that’s to Cuckold thee, before thy Face."

"Who hath no wyf, he is no cokewold."

"This Carpenter had wedded newe a wyf Which that he lovede more than his lyf; Of eightetene yeer she was of age. Ialous he was, and heeld hir narwe in cage, For she was wilde and yong, and he was old, And demed him-self ben lyk a cokewold. He knew nat Catoun, for his wit was rude, That bad man sholde wedde his similitude. Men sholde wedden after hir estaat, For youthe and elde is often at debaat. But sith that he was fallen in the snare, He moste endure, as other folk, his care."

"The mother is always certain; the father is the one she was married to when the child was born."

"Mater semper certa est; pater est quem nuptiae demonstrant."

"Errol had ... two-way mirrors, speaker systems in the ladies' room. Not for security. Just that he was an A-1 voyeur."

"Beauty itself doth of itself persuade The eyes of men without an orator; What needeth then apology be made To set forth that which is so singular? Or why is Collatine the publisher Of that rich jewel he should keep unknown From thievish ears, because it is his own?"

"Her hair bound backward in a spiral wreath Her upper beauties to my sight betray’d; The happy stream concealing those beneath, Around her waist with circling waters play’d;"

"They never saw him drawing pictures of them naked at their antics in his notebook."

"Man does, woman is"

"[Long] live the difference!"

"Man is the will, and Woman the sentiment. In this ship of humanity, Will is the rudder, and Sentiment the sail: when Woman affects to steer, the rudder is only a masked sail."

"The husband’s the pilot, the wife is the ocean, He always in danger, she always in motion:"

"When men were men, and women were glad of it."

"Munditias mulieribus, viris laborem convenire"

"After the repast is ended, we return to the dance, and, when the hour of repose arrives, we draw from a kind of lottery, in which every one is sure of a prize; that is, a young girl as his companion for the night. They are allotted thus by chance, in order to avoid jealousy, and to prevent exclusive attachments. Thus ends the day, and gives place to a night of delights, which we sanctify by enjoying with due relish that sweetest of all pleasures, which Faraki has so wisely attached to the reproduction of our species. We reverently admire the wisdom and the goodness of Faraki, who, desiring to secure to the world a continued population, has implanted in the sexes an invincible mutual attraction, which constantly draws them towards each other. Fecundity is the end he proposes, and he rewards with intoxicating delights those who contribute to the fulfilment of his designs."

"Elegance is proper to women but toil to men"

"Vive la différence!"

"Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence; and when Lot exhorted them to sobriety, and not to offer any thing immodest to the strangers, but to have regard to their lodging in his house; and promised that if their inclinations could not be governed, he would expose his daughters to their lust, instead of these strangers; neither thus were they made ashamed."

"About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, in so much that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices."

"Whenever, Lesbia, from your chair you rise, Your dress is tightly drawn between your thighs, And plays, I’ve noticed, in your hindmost site The active part of some vile sodomite."

"I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

"Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."

"What! Of all creatures do ye come unto the males, and leave the wives your Lord created for you? Nay, but ye are froward folk."

"Lust chose the torrid zone of Italy, Where blood ferments in rapes and sodomy, Where swelling veins o’erflow with livid streams, With heat impregnate from Vesuvian flames, Whose flowing sulphur forms infernal lakes, And human body of the soil partakes."

"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants."