The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society

Written by Eleanor Janega

Narrated by Samara Naeymi

A vibrant and illuminating exploration of medieval thinking on women's beauty, sexuality, and behavior.

What makes for the ideal woman? How should she look, love, and be? In this high-spirited history, medievalist Eleanor Janega turns to the Middle Ages, the era that bridged the ancient world and modern society, to unfurl its suppositions about women and reveal what's shifted over time-and what hasn't.

Enshrined medieval thinkers, almost always male, subscribed to a blend of classical Greek and Roman philosophy and Christian theology for their concepts of the sexes. For the height of female attractiveness, they chose the mythical Helen of Troy, whose imagined pear shape, small breasts, and golden hair served as beauty's epitome. Casting Eve's shadow over medieval women, they derided them as oversexed sinners, inherently lustful, insatiable, and weak. And, unless a nun, a woman was to be the embodiment of perfect motherhood.

In The Once and Future Sex, Janega unravels the restricting expectations on medieval women and the ones on women today. She boldly questions why, if our ideas of women have changed drastically over time, we cannot reimagine them now to create a more equitable future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Jan 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9781696610551

Reviews for The Once and Future Sex

[Ramya Kirtisinghe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Definitely intend to listen to this again. Informative and thought provoking.

[Brown Charlotte · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliantly accessible to the lay person, (me!), amusingly written at times, always easy to absorb. Though nothing much new is said here if you have read many books on social construction and European women’s roles through this period in history - it’s a great gateway book into the subject!