The Victorians have a reputation problem. Prim, proper and buttoned-up to the neck – that’s the image that stuck, at least. But underneath all those layers of fabric and social propriety, the Victorian era was absolutely buzzing with sexual activity that would even make a modern dating app blush…
The gap between public morality and private behaviour wasn’t just wide. It was a chasm…
The Medical Device Loophole
Victorian ingenuity found a workaround for everything, including desire.
The earliest known rubber dildos appeared around 1850, but nobody called them that. They were “marital aids”, healthcare devices you could buy from your local pharmacy or order for delivery. The framing was brilliant: call it medical, make it domestic and suddenly it’s respectable.
You could literally buy sex toys from the Sears catalogue. Sea sponges were advertised as “ladies fine cup shaped sponge with netting”—complete with a string for removal. Everyone knew what they were for.
But nobody said it out loud.
Birth Control Got Creative
Victorian women had options and some of them were absolutely mind boggling.
Lysol was marketed as a popular spermicide for douches. Yes, the same Lysol. Alongside homemade recipes containing vinegar, ammonia and, wait for it – even paprika.
An 1897 medical journal described “the aluminium button, to be placed in the uterus” – an early IUD that could only be used when the uterus was “perfectly free from all discharge.” The instructions alone sound like a nightmare.
Condoms existed, but they were reusable, made from animal guts (mainly lamb), and tied on with a ribbon. Prostitutes might own two or three, washing them between clients.
The ‘friction’ between necessity and available technology created some truly bizarre solutions.
The Corset Obsession Went Deep
Between 1867 and 1874, The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine published more than 150 letters about corsets and tight lacing.
The volume was so overwhelming they had to create a dedicated supplement just for this topic. The letters dripped with eroticism, tales of women and young girls enduring extreme tight lacing and men being forced into corsets to reduce their waistlines too.
The Victorian imagination was absolutely fixated on restriction. Women’s fashion in the 1870s emphasised the feminine shape with high heels and bustles, among the most explicitly fetish-oriented periods in fashion history. The clothing wasn’t just about modesty. It was about control, display and the tension between the two.
The Prostitution Economy Was Massive
London police recorded approximately 8,600 known prostitutes. The real number? Closer to 80,000 in a population heading towards 2 million.
There were more brothels than schools…!
Brothels specialised: S&M, cross-dressing, gay establishments and entire venues dedicated to flagellation where you could pay to be whipped by women or men.
Spanking dominated Victorian pornography too – the theme was everywhere.
In 1841, a “sporting guide” catalogued call girls with ratings and descriptions. One woman was listed as a “perfect English beauty,” another as “very agreeable” with “pouting lips.” The book recently sold at auction for £4,000.
Victorian sex work was organised, categorised and surprisingly well-documented.
The Age Of Consent Was Only 13
Bizarre But True! For £5, journalist W.T. Stead purchased a 13-year-old girl’s virginity in 1885. The price covered a medical examination and a cut to the brothel owner.
Stead published his exposé and the resulting outrage led to the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which finally raised the age of UK consent to 16 – where it remains today.
Undressing Was An Engineering Challenge
Victorian women wore an average of 11 pounds of undergarments.
Getting undressed took so long and was so complicated that it functioned as history’s most effective mood killer. Layers upon layers of fabric, fastenings and structural garments created a barrier that was both physical and psychological.
The time investment alone changed the nature of intimacy – nothing was spontaneous when you needed 20 minutes just to access skin!
The Hysteria Myth Needs Correcting
You’ve probably heard the story: Victorian doctors treated “hysteria” by using vibrators to give women orgasms as medical therapy.
It’s a brilliant story. It’s also largely false.
Researchers found no evidence that doctors ever used vibrators as standard treatment. The popular narrative distorts and overgeneralises the actual historical record. Vibrators existed, medical treatments for hysteria existed, but the direct connection between the two is far weaker than pop culture suggests.
Perhaps the myth persists because it’s more entertaining than the messy reality of everything else the mucky Victorians were up to…?
