They Said What?! A Brief (and Bonkers) History of What People Told Us About Women and Pleasure

Let’s be real. Women’s pleasure has always scared people.

Powerful? Sure. Shameful? Apparently. Dangerous? Only if you’re fragile.

For centuries, the world has tried to explain, diagnose, or flat-out deny what women feel in our bodies. Spoiler: they got it wrong. Repeatedly. From ancient empires to Victorian "medicine" to mid-century manuals that forgot the clitoris existed, history is basically one long cringe compilation.

So in true Cheeky fashion, we’re taking you on a rapid-fire, slightly feral tour of the absolute nonsense people once said with a straight face.

You ready? Buckle up that chastity belt.

1. Ancient Nonsense: The “Wandering Womb” Era

Let’s start with Hippocrates, often called the father of medicine. He believed a woman’s womb could literally travel around her body, causing anxiety, dizziness, and even madness. The cure? Get married. Pop out a few babies. Calm your tits.

In other words, ancient gynecology was a mix of fear, guesswork, and absolutely zero orgasms.

Meanwhile, in early Taoist texts from China, female pleasure was actually considered useful... but only if it recharged a man’s life force. A woman’s orgasm was fine, as long as it extended his vitality.

Romantic, right? Nothing says equality like being someone’s human power bank.

2. Medieval to Renaissance: Witches, Sin, and Too Much “Heat”

By the Middle Ages, pleasure was suspicious.If you were a woman with knowledge of herbs, birth control, or just enjoyed sex a little too much, congrats, you were probably a witch.

Even the church got in on the action, declaring female desire as a weapon of the devil. There were pamphlets warning that women who felt too much heat down there might be burning with sin.

Apparently, if you got too warm down there, it meant Satan was RSVP’ing to your vagina.

Someone get these people a fan and a vibrator.

3. Victorian Vibes: Hysteria and the Invention of the Vibrator

Fast-forward to the 1800s, when doctors started diagnosing women with "hysteria"—a catch-all term for basically any emotion, desire, or resistance to their husbands.

The prescription? Medically sanctioned handies. By a man. In a waistcoat. With a stethoscope he wasn’t using.

Eventually, doctors got tired of hand cramps and invented the vibrator just to keep up with demand. So if anyone ever asks who vibrators were made for, tell them: stressed-out Victorian housewives with zero patience for patriarchal nonsense.

4. The 1900s: Freud, Cold Showers, and Clitoral Erasure

Oh Freud. This man, who never met a clitoris he liked, decided any woman who enjoyed hers was emotionally stunted.

Because clearly, the problem wasn’t centuries of sexual suppression. It was your developmental delay.

By the 1950s, sex ed books were still telling women that pleasure wasn’t necessary for reproduction, and that good girls should just lie back, smile politely, and never ask “but what about me?”

Good thing Betty Dodson was warming up in the bullpen.

5. The Revolution Begins (Sort Of)

The late 20th century brought a wave of finallys:

• Finally, someone (hi, Dr. Ruth) said it’s okay to talk about sex out loud.

• Finally, someone (hi, Betty Dodson) put the clitoris back on the map.

• Finally, the conversation started shifting from “how to please a man” to “what do you want?”

We’re still clawing our way out of that mess with one hand, while the other is trying to find our own damn G-spot.

6. So… Now What?

At Cheeky, we’re not just here to make cute things you can stick on your laptop or water bottle. We’re here to make a little history of our own.

We believe that pleasure isn’t something to apologize for. It’s something to explore, celebrate, and share. With yourself. With your partners. With the world.

So the next time someone tries to tell you what your body should feel,Smile. Wink. Moan on purpose. Buy the vibrator. Be the villain in someone’s 1950s sex ed filmstrip.

Want more cheeky rebellion in your life?

Follow us @feelingcheekyaz, browse the sticker collection at feelingcheeky.shop, and grab the design that says everything the history books were too scared to.

Sources & Further Reading

Because yes, the “wandering womb” was a real theory.

• Hippocrates’ Woman – Helen King

• The Gynecological Sourcebook – M. Sara Rosenthal

• Art of the Bedchamber – Douglas Wile

• Witches, Midwives, and Nurses – Ehrenreich & English

• Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe – James Brundage

• The Technology of Orgasm – Rachel P. Maines

• Sex Is Not a Natural Act – Leonore Tiefer

• Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality – Sigmund Freud

• Intimate Matters – John D’Emilio & Estelle Freedman

• Sexual Behavior in the Human Female – Alfred Kinsey

• Human Sexual Response – Masters & Johnson

• Sex for One – Betty Dodson

• Sex for Dummies – Dr. Ruth Westheimer