Sex and Sexuality in Georgian Britain was a fascinating read. I learned much more than I thought I was going to. Well researched as well.

Sex and sexuality in Georgian Britain cant be that scandalous, after all this is an era not as stiff upper lip as the Victorians but still proper! Think again, this book is an excellent read with great insight into this historic time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

As a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, I write this review. In reviewing other works of non fiction who explore societies perception on sex and sexuality would be in Victorian Britain. Now in this review shall I focus then on sex and sexuality in Georgian Britain authored by Mike Randell he uses known stereotypes within this era and shows the underbelly to how people in this society wrote, created works of art, had political intrigues and developed a nuanced examination into Georgian sexuality. Randell examines the political shifts that occurred during this time period ( eighteen and early nineteenth-century Britain) giving allowances for tastes,styles, in sexual behavior to become developed or known. Randell gives a voice to the spiritual and to the prevailing opinions in science at the time as well. This book was one that kept my interest and give it a strong four out of five stars on goodreads.

Excellent. While we often assume that sexual mores (outside of Puritanism) have been the same throughout time, each era has its own unwritten rules, acceptances, and taboos. The Georgians may surprise by being somewhat modern. Mike Rendell provides a well researched look at individual stories and general practices. Interesting read.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the book. Very informative and highly recommend! Great read for history buffs!

Mike Rendell's examination of Sex and Sexuality in Georgian Britain is an interesting and, for the most part, relatively expansive book, considering how brief and readable it is.

I appreciate the ways in which it pushes against the all-too-common idea that queer sexualities and gender outside a rigid binary are new or ahistorical, but, given that, the book notably fails when it comes to talking about cross-dressing/transvestitism and people like Dr. James Barry, who lived their lives as a gender other than that which they'd been assigned at birth. I understand to some degree avoiding ahistorical labeling and terminology, but this feels like an invalidation of the historical figures' own self-identification to a disappointing degree. Frankly, it feels less historically authentic and conscientious than respecting and reflecting on people's identities would have been. It's a small part of the book, but unfortunately striking, not in a good way.

In general, I do think the book could have benefitted from greater analysis, connection, and contextualization, rather than a certain amount of just providing the information; it reads more as a reference, or a book of interesting historical anecdotes & details, than as a substantial history on the topic. Not uninteresting by any means, but not as enlightening as I'd hoped for; informative rather than thought-provoking.

I received a copy of this book from Pen & Sword History via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a thorough examination of the morals and mindset of Georgian Britons towards sex and sexuality, and it doesn’t shy away from any of the unpalatable truths - like the age of consent for marriage being 12 for much of the era. Or that venereal disease was both rife and pretty much untreatable by any medical intervention.

There’s some genuinely fascinating information here, like some thumbnail character sketches of some of the era’s most famous courtesans - the It Girls of their day - and some summaries of court cases which can only outrage modern sensibilities, covering as they do some fairly ghastly crimes where the accused was acquitted despite apparently incontrovertible evidence of their guilt. Trigger warnings apply for the entire book for the extremely sensitive topics of rape, paedophilia, spousal abuse, involuntary prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases, homophobia and more. It’s an extremely frank and sometimes pithy look at a society which had quite different views on sex to the fairly sanitized view you might get from reading novels set in the era.

Where the author makes a major, and pretty unforgivable, mis-step is in the chapters regarding what he calls ‘cross-dressing’ and ‘transvestites’. The author’s complete failure to respect Doctor James Barry’s right to self-determination of gender - and indeed, failure to note any of his achievements - felt frankly transphobic, and it wasn’t the only place this happened, just the most egregious. Considering the thoughtful examination of homosexuality and lesbianism, this transphobia - and the bi erasure I also noted - was severely disappointing.

I honestly don’t know how to rate this. Some of it is so, so good; it’s well-written, engaging and educational, and exceedingly useful if you’re writing Georgian romance in particular. And yet there’s the transphobia and the bi erasure.

I think in the end, I can only give it three stars; as a reference book, your library should maybe have it in stock, but I don’t think I’d want it in my personal collection.

I have long been interested in Georgian Britain - not just the historical romance books I read, but how people of the time lived. This was an interesting read that shared some insight. Thank you to the publisher for sharing an early copy!

This is the 1st book I've read written by Mike Rendell ; great job at writing a good book; I can’t wait to read more of his books.

The story line caught my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested throughout the entire book.

I loved the characters.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.

A pretty good read, though the formatting of the e book wasn’t the best. It was well organized, informative and included good and expressive illustrations.

Good for those who have an interest in either the Georgian era or sexuality history. Different topics and people talked about.

Positioned as a contrast to those oh so uptight Victorians, the English of the Georgian era are more lusty, more permissive (at least for the men and the rich), and (at least in London) much much much more into prostitution. I read this book to get an idea of the love and sexual atmosphere surrounding the culture of Jane Austen's novels and it is clear that the rest of England was very different from London. The author does a good job of exploring the different mores, scandals, habits, and assumptions of English sexual life in this period, and two things became quickly clear: that while some women could get away with more licentiousness than the past, society expected a fall and punishment. The same was not true for men (King George's wife was left locked in a tower in Germany while his mistresses inhabited his English bed!). Second, the amount of prostitution and venereal disease in London was astounding (there were even thick guidebooks with reviews for prostitutes published regularly). And third, there was one set of consequences for the rich and another for everyone else. In sum this was a more sober and depressing read than a titillating one.

A beautiful book - but I was sent a version for my phone which was essentially a PDF, which meant it was incredibly hard to read without zooming in for every paragraph and moving back and forth. Happy to properly review with a print copy, but it wasn't really possible on my phone.

It's an informative and well written book that kept me hooked and helped me to learn a lot.
I liked the style of writing and how the book is organised.
it's recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was an interesting read and I feel the author did a good job with the subject matter. I hope to read more

Well written and very informative but done so in a manner that was equally as entertaining, I very much recommend this book!

Having read the book on sex and sexuality in Victorian times, I was keen to read this, especially as it sort of related to the Harlots TV series.. An interesting read, well researched, very informative..

A really interesting and well researched book. I'm sure everyone has heard of the Covent garden ladies , whether it be through tv, film or in books . There was such a lot of information without reading like a text book . Lots of famous and infamous figures appear on the pages and it gives the reader a different perspective of the Georgian period. They definitely had some strange ideas when it came to the difference between the sexes .I thoroughly recommend it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
3.5 stars. I found this book mostly informative, especially to combat the idea that everyone in history was cishet and didn’t experiment with sex when it was permissible, as some pearl clutchers seem to think. Some of parts make for uncomfortable reading (like the bits about pedophilia), but I appreciate the author for shining a light on it. I also liked the compassionate, informed discussion about venereal diseases.
The section on “cross-dressing” is poorly done though, especially given some of the knowledge that has come out in more recent times about figures like James Barry in regards to trans identity. Even if trans as a label did not exist back then, it still invalidates the lived experience of people like Barry to say he was just a cross-dressing woman, when he viewed himself as a man.
Otherwise, this is a fairly informative overview, and one that can serve as starting point for history enthusiasts.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Sex and Sexuality in Georgian Britain by Mike Rendell is a look at sex, the sex trade, and attitudes about sex in the 1700s in Britain. It starts off with presenting the prevalence of prostitution, particularly in London, and defines the strata of prostitutes from the lowliest “bunters” and “bulk mongers” to the highest and priciest courtesans. Mini-biographies of the best known courtesans are given. There is also a nod to the rampant gonorrhea and syphilis during these times. The book provides anecdotes to show how people had sex (primarily how the rich and titled did), how they dealt with unwanted pregnancy and with infertility, and how women and the poor were exploited. There are chapters on homosexuality, flagellation, and the emergence of art and literature focused on sex.

In short, the book delivers on what the title indicates it will be about. There are interesting facts and anecdotes in the text. But, although it was organized into chapters, it read as a string of material that didn’t hold together particularly well. There was not enough historical context to explain why any of it was particular to Georgian Britain. There was no thoughtful analysis of the information. In the end, I felt as though I had just read a long list.