Nanshoku: Homosexuality in Samurai Japan

On today's episode my colleague and friend Mat joins us to ask all of my listeners' questions about the podcast, me, homosexuality and the history of gay sex.  

In this episode Quentin returns to discuss the Newport Sex Scandal where the US Navy controversially investigated gay sex in the military. We then discuss some medieval gay romances involving the former king of England James the first! 

In this episode we break down the psychology of who tops and who bottoms during sex with Jamie and Austin from Queers In Your Ears podcast! We go over the History of Gay Sex poll I conducted back in December. We also cover a study by NIH and the Archives of Sexual Behavior on predicting who takes what sexual position in the bedroom.

Today Stuart covers the recent film Benedetta with friend and fellow podcaster Quentin from "Bridge and Tunnel" and "Bell Book and Scandal" podcasts. The film Benedetta explores the life of Benedetta Carlini who is considered one of the first recorded historical examples of female homosexuality in the West. Learn more as we untangle the real life figure from the one portrayed in the film.

The Sambia tribe of Papua New Guinea practiced a ritualized form of homosexuality as a male rite of passage. Except these rituals heavily surrounded one act: semen ingestion.  The tribe believed that puberty was impossible unless boys started consuming semen at a young age and that mothers could not gestate a child without semen ingestion as well. We cover all of this and more with guest host Mike for this episode!

It seems like everything these days is all about data. We live in a "data age" like never before. But how has data influenced our understanding of homosexuality? Not only have we come to better understand human sexuality but Alfred Kinsey's data on homosexuality in the 1940s was consequential to the gay rights movement in the western world. Learn more about the man himself and his findings that forever changed how we define truly normative human sexual expression.

On this episode The History of Gay Sex guest stars our fellow podcast The History of Sex by B.T. Newberg. BT explores the history of homosexuality in Germany during the era of Nazism."Were there really gays in the Nazi party, even though they sent thousands of homosexuals to concentration camps or worse? Yes. In fact, Ernst Röhm, the second most powerful man in the party in the early years, was gay - and a close friend of Hitler's. How could this be?"

The history of homosexuality in the city of London goes back hundred of years. Although the typical cruising was  documented since the 1700s, this city formed its own culture within the homosexual community that eventually led to the infancy of the modern gay rights movement. During this time the science of sexology was born and the first steps in the process of understanding same-sex attraction laid the framework for truly understanding homosexuality once and for all. 

History of Gay Sex host Stuart  joins Ben and Benja on the Bear Back Podcast!  Bear Back is a brand spanking new cultural comedy podcast. Join Warwickshire's same-name bear 'power couple' as they navigate their life together and discuss the quirks of their respective homelands - the UK and Argentina. Do the British do it best or is the Argentine way of life where it's at?

In this episode we discuss Nanshoku or "Male Color" as it is translated from Japanese. Nanshoku was the word for same-sex sex in Japan between 1500-1860s and was heavily centered in Japan's urban centers. Together we will explore a society and culture where unfettered homosexuality was not only widely tolerated but also widely practiced.