Susan Quilliam, Consumer Correspondent of the JFPRHC writes:
Last Friday saw the ‘Sexual Pleasures’ lecture, a regular annual event in the RSM’s Sexuality and Sexual Health section’s seminar calendar. The Journal was delighted to see that Lesley Smith, curator of Tutbury Castle, specialist in historical sexuality, and author of many a fascinating article for our own pages, was one of the speakers.
Her talk – Sex and the Tudors – was a total delight. Not only did she rampage through Tudor history (with, unsurprisingly, strong emphasis on Henry VIII) giving us fascinating details about the effect of culture, religion and contemporary science. She also told us – and showed us, with visual aids – exactly what the Tudors did about contraception and STIs, en route debunking a few myths about chastity belts; apparently they are a myth with  most ‘examples’ being Victorian.
We were by turns fascinated, astonished and incapacitated with laughter. The coup de grace came with Lesley’s blow-by-blow description of how she had scientifically validated – and personally tested – the claim that lemons and limes at one time popularly served as a viable, cap-like contraceptive. (In case you’re wondering, limes are best, they’re very comfortable, and the juice protects against infection.)
Having witnessed at first hand Lesley’s ability to captivate an audience face-to-face, we look forward to her continuing to captivate Journal readers on our pages.