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Stories

  • Article

The shocking ‘treatment’ to make lesbians straight

Being a lesbian has never been a crime in the UK, but 50 years ago, some psychologists experimented with treatments to try to ‘cure’ women of their orientation. Find out what this involved.

  • In pictures

Sex and syphilis

Before antibiotics, syphilis unleashed centuries of misery, countered by desperate but largely useless remedies. With the spread of syphilis on the rise, it’s worth remembering what our forebears suffered.

  • In pictures

A brief history of contraception

From douches to diaphragms, and condoms to caps, discover the wide range of contraception methods people have used over the centuries.

  • Article

Nymphomania and hypersexuality in women and men

The history of nymphomania is closely bound with society's views on women and their sexuality.

All stories (24)

Images

  • Advice for men on treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Colour lithograph after A. Games, 1949.
  • Dice representing gambling with health; an advertisement for the Genito Urinary Medicine Clinic (GUM) for treatment and advice on sexually transmitted diseases like Aids by The Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland. Colour lithograph.
  • A table of sexually transmitted diseases and their clinical and therapeutic treatments issued by the Ministério de Saúde, Brazil. Colour lithograph, ca. 1995.
  • The letters VD (venereal diseases) being broken through by an invisible hand, representing early management and cure of the diseases. Colour lithograph by A. Games, ca. 1951.
  • In the museum of the quack doctor, the viscount Squanderfield holds out a small pill-box as a girl dabs her face with a handkerchief. Coloured aquatint after William Hogarth.
  • In the cabinet of the quack doctor, the viscount Squanderfield holds out a small pill-box as a girl dabs her face with a handkerchief. Engraving by B. Baron after W. Hogarth, 1745.
  • Pharmaceutical bill-head of Injection Brou: the head of Hippocrates, a couple in a forest and ballet dancers. Etching, 186-.
  • Risques d'IST chez les lesbiennes / Crips Île-de-France.
  • Risques d'IST chez les lesbiennes / Crips Île-de-France.
  • Risques d'IST chez les lesbiennes / Crips Île-de-France.
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Catalogue

All works (488)