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. 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.