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The Once and Future Sex

Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society

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The Once and Future Sex

By: Eleanor Janega
Narrated by: Samara Naeymi
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About this listen

A vibrant and illuminating exploration of medieval thinking on women's beauty, sexuality, and behavior.

What makes for the ideal woman? How should she look, love, and be? In this high-spirited history, medievalist Eleanor Janega turns to the Middle Ages, the era that bridged the ancient world and modern society, to unfurl its suppositions about women and reveal what's shifted over time—and what hasn't.

Enshrined medieval thinkers, almost always male, subscribed to a blend of classical Greek and Roman philosophy and Christian theology for their concepts of the sexes. For the height of female attractiveness, they chose the mythical Helen of Troy, whose imagined pear shape, small breasts, and golden hair served as beauty's epitome. Casting Eve's shadow over medieval women, they derided them as oversexed sinners, inherently lustful, insatiable, and weak. And, unless a nun, a woman was to be the embodiment of perfect motherhood.

In The Once and Future Sex, Janega unravels the restricting expectations on medieval women and the ones on women today. She boldly questions why, if our ideas of women have changed drastically over time, we cannot reimagine them now to create a more equitable future.

©2023 Eleanor Janega (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Europe Gender Studies Medieval Social Sciences Women Middle Ages Ancient History
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It’s rare to find a book that’s so enjoyable and hugely enlightening in equal amount. It’s also not everyday that you find a history book that so deftly lines up contemporary issues with their historical counterparts and draws such a neat line between the two. I would have loved the book to be narrated by the author; the narrator does a fantastic job, but Dr Janega is such a wonderful orator that it seems like a waste. That being said, her voice shines through in the text nonetheless.

History done right

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I love Eleanor Janega in everything I can find from her. I love the way she writes about the past. It feels accessible and … well like real people in the past. 10/10. Also the voice artist did an amazing job.

Books like this make me love history

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I enjoyed the colloquial style of the book. It was really fun and easy to listen to. I liked that it looked at church, state, science (or natural philosophy as the medieval person understood it) and kept circling back to the lived experiences of the peasantry.

Makes history so accessible

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I loved this book. It was so fascinating to get a glimpse into the attitudes of the Middle Ages while also being slightly infuriating at some of the schools of thought. the narration hit the funny, tongue in cheek moments really well. It was also very well researched and thoughtful. Immediately tuning into Gone Medieval to hear more of Eleanor Janega’s thoughts and findings.

Interesting, funny, infuriating.

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Love Eleanor Janega's writing style and the upturning of the idea that The Working Woman is a modern concept. I would have loved to hear Eleanor reading this - you can still hear her voice through her words though! Excellent book - an absolute banger!

Challenging The Working Woman modern concept!

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