NOTCHES Blog
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notchesblog.bsky.social
NOTCHES Blog
@notchesblog.bsky.social
NOTCHES is a collaborative and international history of sexuality blog that aims to get people inside and outside the academy thinking about histories of sex and sexualities in the past and in the present across regions, periods and themes.
“Ultimately, this is an exciting place to be, pondering all the histories we’re yet to uncover, all the complications to unearth. I look forwards to continuing watching this research elucidate the past, from the sidelines.”

12/12
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
"Smith’s work demonstrates the importance of regional histories and shows the limitations of generalised narratives of change. It reminds us that the history of sexuality is an incredibly complicated area, full of nuance and exceptions.

11/12
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“To round this all off, I’d like to share the work of Helen Smith, whose work on northern working-class communities highlights a distinction between sexual activity/desire and identity.

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10/12
‘Every time I see a cock I go funny’: what regional studies bring to histories of sexuality
When sexual desire was not attached to notions of sexual identity.
wp.me
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“I’ve also enjoyed Katherine Harvey’s various contributions to the blog. From stockings to perfect penises, the medieval explorations of Harvey’s work will continue to be some of my favourite articles of all time.

Read The Bishop’s New Stockings, or The Dangers of Love Magic: wp.me/p6JJ6S-zB

9/12
The Bishop’s New Stockings, or The Dangers of Love Magic
Love magic posed a real danger to medieval people, especially the clergy.
wp.me
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“Another article, Dardanella and Peter, explored sexual letters between two lovers (Harry and Gwyneth). This will stay with me, particularly in Nancy Christie’s exploration of microhistories.

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8/12
Dardanella and Peter: What does Microhistory offer to the History of Sexuality?
How is modern microhistory useful for understanding early twentieth-century sexual modernism in Britain?
wp.me
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
"Whalers’ pornography, for instance, was not something I had ever contemplated before The People’s Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America by Lisa Z. Sigel.

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7/12
The People’s Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America
The People’s Porn provides the first large-scale history of American handmade and homemade pornography.
wp.me
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“Beyond these specific interests, I’ve always found the histories NOTCHES shares brilliant at catching you off-guard in the best of ways.

6/12
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“Trans histories are also huge passions of mine, and seeing the range of these histories on NOTCHES has been enlightening. In particular, Raúl Luis Suarez’s Smile and The Ruthless Archive by Patricio Simonetto made me rethink agency and power in these histories.

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5/12
Raúl Luis Suarez’s Smile and The Ruthless Archive
As historians know, the archive is ruthless in preserving categories over time.
wp.me
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“Stephen Brogan’s work on nightclub Taboo, Leigh Bowery, and Marc Vaultier has been incredibly insightful and all three of these linked articles are fascinating.

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4/12
Contextualising Taboo: Leigh Bowery and the Media
Leigh Bowery’s nightclub Taboo is mythologised as London’s most decadent nightclub of the 1980s.
wp.me
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
"I have a particular interest in drag and cross-dressing histories, so the recent Jacob Bloomfield article on his monograph Drag: A British History, was a particular pleasure to read and promote.

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3/12
Drag: A British History
A fresh history of British drag performance in all its ubiquity, glamour, fun, and tawdriness.
wp.me
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“I’ve been with NOTCHES for around 4 years now, and it has been a privilege to help share the incredible body of academic work submitted to NOTCHES.

2/12
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“Cesarean birth […] still carries the weight of its sacrificial origins. And therapeutic abortion remains an unresolved embarrassment […] for a state that has never fully guaranteed the reproductive rights of women or other birthing people”

3/3
October 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Dornelas highlights that the nineteenth century shift in difficult childbirths from therapeutic abortion to caesarean sections arose not from medical, but from religious, legal, and moral reasons, and that these reasonings still shape the present day.

2/3
October 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Bourke’s work touches on the topics of dignity and rights, consent, and pet ownership, to name a few. A brilliant extract to revisit!

5/5
October 23, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Another fundamental tenet of Bourke’s work is that animals are treated societal agents, which ‘serves to challenge the anthropocentrism of history, human exceptionalism, and the idea that ‘culture’ is an entirely human preserve’.

4/5
October 23, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Examining how zoosexuality has been viewed within the modern period, Bourke argues that queer theory can be used as a lens to examine inter-species relations.

3/5

#queerhistory
October 23, 2025 at 5:01 PM
For today’s #ThrowbackThursday, we take a look back at Bourke’s work, exploring our complex, multifaceted relationships with animals.

2/5
October 23, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Looking at recordings of Dr Joan Malleson’s sexual counselling sessions, Rusterholz delves into 1950s ideas around heterosexuality, marriage, and pleasure.

Read the full article here: wp.me/p6JJ6S-3ss
‘This isn’t so boring if you can get an outside climax’: Dr Joan Malleson and sexual counselling in Britain
Archival recordings of sexual counselling sessions illuminate how sexual problems might be understood by both practitioners and patients.
wp.me
September 25, 2025 at 5:02 PM