The Once and Future Sex – Joy Reads Books

I’ve wanted to read “The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society” for quite a while and I’m glad I did! I It’s a fun and historically exacting romp by historian and broadcaster, Eleanor Janega.

In it, she explores the multiple roles of women in society and the ever changing perceptions of beauty and women’s bodies, labour and intellect. Dr. Janega dispels the idea that time is on a linear course from the “dark ages” and illiteracy to enlightenment, space travel and human rights.

Being a human is messy business and I’m more likely to ascribe to the notion of societal values existing on a sort-of pendulum that swings back and forth, bringing us forward towards equity and justice a little more with every swing. Even when it feels that we’re moving backwards, there’s always something fighting to keep us from going too far back. “The Once and Future Sex” explores that swing over the last 1000 years and the changes it has made throughout history in Western Europe.

This is an approachable history book, presented in a very straightforward way for the average adult reader. In the appropriately named chapter one, “Back to Basics”, Janega goes over ancient human history and the great ol’ boys who created our now familiar concepts of science, knowledge, and existence. Notably, Aristotle and Plato who knew nothing about women nor did they want to, which is why everyone believed in brain semen and floating wombs for so long. They and their ilk were responsible for many treatises, diatribes and general asshattery about women and their nature, the essence of being a woman (as if the essentialism wasn’t enough),and one though-line of it all is that women are somehow inferior.

Medieval thinkers used the ancient scholars as their baseline to understand women and as Janega points out, “when it comes to sex differences, the ideas of a core group had an outside influence on medieval thought.” How disastrously familiar as we see our neighbours to the south become beholden to the whims of evangelical Christians bent on manhandling the healthcare system with superstition and fear. In this way, our society continues to hold on to the motherhood requirement in order for women to be considered a proper woman. The value of class and wealth continues to be displayed on women’s bodies but instead of small apple breasts and a soft belly (the medieval ideal), women are to bear children then show no sign of it,with a tight stomach and perky, ample breasts. How a woman spends her time and money is reflected on the body.

We’re able to make choices about our bodies and our lives, obviously in comparison to medieval women, but I think we continue to carry the burden of a society built on taking that choice away.

An engaging read, Dr. Janega is the type of historian who is able to bring all the nuance, quirks, and weird bits of history alive. She dispels multiple myths about the medieval time period, those poor folks didn’t have germ theory and they were trying their best. She gives careful consideration and represents all classes of society. Lower and middle class women are most often found in legal records, not everyone was a fancy gal in King Henry’s court.

I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by Samara Naeymi and she is great at conveying Janega’s writte nemphasis and wit. Dr. Janega has an irreverent sense of humour. Her irreverent voice is well on display in the Once and Future Sex (especially if you’re family with her History Hit podcast, Gone Medieval).

A note about use of binary language – such is the nature of discussing sexism throughout history. This is not to say that queer, intersex and gender non-conforming folks didn’t exist, but if they barely understood cis women, today’s discussion on gender identity would send the average medieval person into some knots.

Tag: The Once and Future Sex

Medieval Thoughts on Gender: Review of Eleanor Janega’s “The Once and Future Sex”

Recommended Reading