Women Like Sex | Ep. 13: Cabbage, Crazy Victorians & Cuneiform Sex

Artwork by Ted Nunes

If you don’t know who the boy in the boat is, or why sneezing in the cabbage is synonymous with Stalin’s mustache, you soon will. And if you still think that Victorian Era doctors masturbated women to cure hysteria, you soon won’t – thanks to this week’s guest.

Dr. Kate Lister specializes in the history of sexuality and gender studies, and making people laugh while upending pretty much everything they think they know about sex throughout the ages. Along with peer-reviewed academic work, she’s authored the best-selling books A Curious History of Sex and Harlots, Whores and Hackabouts: A History of Sex Work. She’s also a columnist, television presenter and host of one of my favorite podcasts, Betwixt the Sheets: A History of Sex, Scandal and Society. Which won the Listener's Choice Award at the 2025 British Podcast Awards.

Kate joined me to talk about, among other topics, the earliest known writings about sex (from Mesopotamia), what we’ve inherited from the uber-repressive Victorians, and some of her favorite historical slang for sex and genitalia. We ran out of time to discuss what is actually not the world’s oldest profession, but I will invite her back to teach us about the history of sex work and more.

A full transcript of our conversation is available here.

Kate Lister: Instagram - Tik Tok - Threads

Women Like Sex is a Flipped Script production
Executive Producer / Editor: Natasha Senjanovic 
Website Design and Artwork: Ted Nunes
Associate Producer: Edecio Martinez
Music: Funky Fortune by Danny Shields