Salacious History

In honor of Women’s History Month, we are revisiting one of our most popular episodes: Prostitution in the Wild West!   Please see the original episode for a full list of sources: Ep20 – Prostitution in the Wild West

Today we will be discussing one of the most controversial women in Chinese history: Empress Wu Zetian, the only woman to ever rule China. Historians have depicted her as a ruthless monster and an ineffective ruler, but was this really the case?

 In honor of Black History Month, we are taking a look back at some of the amazing African American groundbreakers we have covered on the podcast. We will also learn more about the origins of Black History Month!

Juan and Eva Peron are some of Argentina's biggest cultural and political icons of the past century. Eva (AKA "Evita") captured the heart of the nation as a First Lady of the people and President Juan Peron brought prosperity to the working class. In this week's episode, we learn how this couple's love for each other and their country propelled them to new heights.

Apartheid was a system that legally separated the various racial groups in South Africa and kept the white minority in power. Learn how apartheid impacted sex and marriage in SA both during and after apartheid.

No matter if you are pro-life or pro-choice, it’s important to understand the history of abortion rights and what events have shaped our current perceptions. How have different societies addressed abortion in the past, and why is it such a divisive issue in the modern era? 

Nell Donnelly (Reed) was a famous Kansas City resident and business owner who was taken for ransom during the Great Depression. Nell was a badass business woman, but she had a few scandalous secrets that came to light following her kidnapping. This episode is sponsored by: Suggested Episodes: Ep20 – Prostitution in the Wild West...

Today we will be learning about one of the darkest influential figures of European culture: the Marquis de Sade, the man who literally inspired the term “sadism.”

ACT UP was founded to fight for the rights of AIDS patients. They demanded better drug testing, they altered public perceptions of the illness and safe sex, and refused to back down until they won. If you missed Part I of our coverage of the AIDS Epidemic, I encourage you to go back and listen to that episode first. Click here to listen!

Between 1981 and 1987, over 40,000 people died of AIDS in the United States. But despite the obvious health crisis, no one in power was doing anything about it. The U.S. government did not care about AIDS for one simple reason: the majority of the early cases were among gay men, who the government deemed expendable.

Around 1:20am on June 28, 1969, a small police force raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in NYC. Little did the officers or patrons known that this raid would spark a series of riots that would inspire people to fight for LGBTQ rights all over the world.

I need to take an extra week to prepare for our last two episodes of Season 3. In the meantime, checkout our previous episodes and merch at salacioushistory.com and bonus episodes at Patreon.com/salacioushistory!

Audre Lorde was a self-described “Black, lesbian, feminist, mother, poet warrior.”

Bayard Rustin was one of the 20th century’s most influential civil rights activists and organizers, and yet many of us have never heard of him. He was the architect of the 1963 March on Washington and a key advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But despite all his accomplishments, his story has been pushed to the side for one simple reason: he was openly gay.

This episode celebrates the life of trans icon Christine Jorgensen. Christine was one of the world’s first transgender celebrities, and the story of her 1952 transition sparked many important discussions about sexuality in the medical and scientific fields.   Suggested Episodes: Ep23 – Transgender History Ep16 – History of Damsels in Distress   Sources: Barajas,...

The Holocaust is one of the best-documented episodes of mass genocide in history, but for decades, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans victims of the Holocaust were left out of historical records. Why were LGBTQ individuals persecuted, and why were their stories left out of the Holocaust narrative for so long?

The gay rights movement began in 19th century Germany with a man named Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. Karl Heinrich Ulrichs was the first self-proclaimed gay man to speak out publicly for the rights of homosexuals. In both written and spoken form, he was the first person to demand the decriminalization of homosexuality as well as the complete legal equality of all sexual orientations. Karl Heinrich Ulrichs was, in many ways, the world’s first gay activist.

Transgenderism might seem like a relatively recent phenomenon at first. But there is nothing new about being transgender. People have been crossing the boundaries of their assigned genders for millenia.

We continue our season of LGBTQ history with the Sacred Band of Thebes: a legendary military unit that was entirely made up of HOMOSEXUAL MEN! Let's journey back to ancient Greece to learn who these men were, how this unit came into being, and what they were able to accomplish.

Salacious History kicks off season 3 with a brief history of LGBTQ culture and persecution. This episode will provide a foundation for the ALL-LGBTQ SEASON that Sarah has planned!

While most types of crime have declined during the COVID-19 lockdown, there is one major exception: domestic violence. Why has domestic violence escalated even as the overall crime rate has fallen? What is the government doing to address this problem? And where can survivors turn for help during these unusual circumstances?

As the coronavirus continues to spread, the CDC continues to recommend social distancing. With married couples and domestic partners spending an unprecedented amount of time together at home, what kind of impact does this have on their relationships? That’s what today’s episode is all about.

COVID-19 is changing almost all aspects of our lives right now - but what about the romantic lives of single people?In this special minisode, we take a look at how the Coronavirus and social distancing are affecting singles in the dating world.

I hope everyone is staying safe during this crazy, unpredictable time! Please stay home (if you’re able) and stay safe. I decided to re-air our VERY FIRST EPISODE for anyone who may need a little pick-me-up or distraction from the current situation. ENJOY!     In our pilot episode, Sarah digs into the story behind...

Hi, salacious historians. I am pleased to announce the launch of the Salacious History online store! If you go to salacioushistory.com/merch, you can browse and purchase fabulous SH-branded shirts, mugs, bags, and more. In light of the Coronavirus pandemic, 50% of the store’s profits between now and the end of April will go toward COVID-19...

For our season two finale, we will be learning about 19th century prostitution in the American west. Beyond the myths and old western movies, what do we really know about this notorious group of women? What kind of conditions did they live with, and how does popular myth compare to reality?   Suggested Episodes: Ep16...

In the 1980s, a well-intentioned gift from the king of Thailand led to one of the most severe HIV outbreaks the World Health Organization has ever seen. With the help of Dr. Wiwat Rojanapithayakorn, Thai health officials found groundbreaking new strategies for slowing the spread of HIV and saved millions of lives. Tune in for...

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, we will be learning about the Puritans of early colonial America A.K.A. the Pilgrims! H.L. Mencken famously defined Puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” But what was romantic life like for the members of this notoriously straight-laced community? You might be surprised! Today,...

On our very first AUDIENCE PICK episode, we will be learning about the relationship between traitor Benedict Arnold and Peggy Shippen. Benedict Arnold defected to the British side during the American Revolution after suffering a series of slights during his military career, but new evidence suggests that his wife Peggy may have been a key...

This episode dives into one of the most widely-used character archetypes in myth, literature, and cinema: the damsel in distress. The story of the beautiful damsel, who always finds herself in need of rescuing, goes back thousands of years and can be found in cultures all over the world. Why is the damsel in distress...

In this week’s episode, we will be getting to know the Queen of the Nile herself, Cleopatra. Her romantic entanglements and military alliances with some of her era’s most powerful leaders, as well as her reputed exotic beauty and sexual magnetism, have earned her an enduring place in history and popular myth. Was Cleopatra really...

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are among the most captivating and provocative artists to ever come out of Mexico. In addition to their art, the strange nature of their age-defying, beauty-and-the-beast relationship swathed the pair in intrigue. Let’s learn a little more about their love and legacy, both as a couple and as individuals. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/salacioushistory...

At 2am on July 11, 1958, Mildred and Richard Loving were ripped from their beds in the middle of the night and thrown in jail. Their crime? Being married to someone of a different race. On today’s show, we get the background on the Lovings’ relationship, a brief history of miscegenation law, and how the...

Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived. In this episode, we continue our discussion on the six wives of Henry VIII. We will be learning about wives three through six: Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. I have to admit I knew almost NOTHING about these four women before I began my research for this episode. While there are countless resources, movies, and TV shows about Henry’s first two wives, significantly less attention tends to be paid to the last four - at least in my experience. But don’t you worry, there is still PLENTY of drama to go around in this episode.

“Divorced, beheaded, died. Divorced, beheaded, survived.” One of our most popular episodes from Season One was Sex & Marriage: The Tudor Period. In that episode, we discussed how royal marriages were more often arranged based on political alliances than love, and that the church had significant influence over the marital status and sexual lives of...

In our first-ever mailbag episode, Sarah reads and responds to emails from Salacious History listeners. Tune in to hear about Classical composers with communicable diseases, the impact of word choices, and how to approach researching LGBTQ historical figures.

If you’re jonesing for more episodes of Salacious History, head on over to Patreon.com/salacioushistory and sign up to support the show! By pledging as little as $1 per month you’ll get access to special bonus episodes – pretty sweet, right? To tempt you even further, here’s a clip from our bonus episode on Mail Order...

They’ve been arriving from afar for centuries, but you won’t find them on Amazon with two-day shipping. We are wrapping up season 1 with the long and sorted history of mail-order brides. Who were the first mail-order brides? What circumstances sparked this phenomenon? And how has the mail-order bride industry changed over time? iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/salacious-history/id1452081700Patreon:...

This week, we explore what sex, courtship, and marriage was like for enslaved Africans in 18th and 19th century America. How were those who had no control over their destiny able to find love? What effect did the system of slavery have on family structure and gender roles? All this and more will be answered...

John and Abigail Adams may have been America’s first power couple. They also had the honor of being America’s first Second Family and the second First Family. John is known for his many political ventures throughout the Revolutionary War and the early years of American politics, but how did his wife influence his rise to...

We continue our discussion of sexologist Doctor Alfred Kinsey. In Part II, we will focus on the results of “The Kinsey Report” and why his findings were (and still are) so controversial. We also discuss his legacy and how he changed views on sex forever. iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/salacious-history/id1452081700?mt=2 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/salacioushistory Sources: “Alfred Kinsey.” Biography.com, A&E Networks...

On this week’s episode, we will explore the life and career of groundbreaking sexologist, Doctor Alfred Kinsey. Some hail him as the father of the sexual revolution, while others credit him for the so-called moral decay that plagued American society in the later 20th century. In Part I, we will discuss his childhood, education, and...

We’re taking a walk down the aisle for our first “Sex & Marriage” themed episode! Today we are learning about Sex & Marriage in the Tudor Period. When and why did people get married? How was marriage different for royals versus poorer citizens? And why did the church have so much influence over everyone’s sex lives? Tune in to find out!

You guys, we’re doing our first episode covering a famous couple from history! The story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s marriage falls in the gray area between historical fact and romantic legend. By all accounts, they are one of the most celebrated royal couples of the 16th century, and their love resulted in the construction of one of the most recognizable structures in history: the Taj Mahal!

This week, Sarah recounts the occasion in 1963 when journalist Gloria Steinem went undercover as a Playboy Bunny at the famous New York City Playboy Club. Between the long hours, harsh demerit system, and sleazy clientele, it was an experience that Gloria would not soon forget. Gloria translated her Playboy Bunny experience into one of the most famous pieces of undercover journalism ever written. Grab your satin bunny ears and your 3-inch heels - it’s time for some rampant misogyny!

This week, Sarah explores the life of conqueror Genghis Khan, the man who has fathered more children than anyone else in history. We look into his tumultuous childhood, his scorched-Earth military tactics, and the genetic legacy he left behind. Disclaimer: this episode discusses rape and violence towards women - listener discretion is advised.

In our pilot episode, Sarah digs into the story behind one of the most beloved, and some would say the sexiest, Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy. She discusses JFK’s unfortunate male role models, the many women he seduced, and a series of burning questions: Why couldn’t he keep his pants on? Did his wife Jackie know what was happening? And how the HELL did the public not know about all of his indiscretions?

History is a lot dirtier than you think. Salacious History is a podcast that explores moments in history that were shaped by sex, romance, and people who were generally down to clown. Using sex and related topics as a jumping-off point, Sarah Duncan presents a cheeky yet factual glimpse into historical moments and figures that...