Skip to content
Guest Thinkers

Victorian Era Sex Survey

Well before the Kinsey reports, turn-of-the-century Stanford University hygiene professor Dr. Clelia Duel Mosher did a scientific survey of the sexual habits of her era’s women.
Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

Well before the Kinsey reports, turn-of-the-century Stanford University hygiene professor Dr. Clelia Duel Mosher did a scientific survey of the sexual habits of her era’s women. Dozens of women — mostly born before 1870 — told Mosher about their intimate thoughts, sexual habits and appetites, and their relationships with their husbands. Kara Platoni looks at Mosher’s life and career — and what she found out about her subjects’ attitudes toward carnal pleasure.

Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

Related

Up Next
A look at the factors behind the brutal civil war that has been taking place in the Congo over the past decade — and the epidemic of mass rape that has swept that country with it.