'Because for them there is no such thing as homosexuality or heterosexuality, instead you are either a sodomite or you're not,' she said. She added that medieval people also did not view sexuality in the same way that modern people do. 'We know that they can be sold with harnesses and things like that.' 'And we do tend to think that they are used in what we would call 'lesbian circumstances' a lot of the time. She said: 'We know for example that a lot of dildos exist because we have things like receipts for them, so leather workers who would make really intricate dildos for people, that's a thing. Pictured: A scene from The Decameron, written by Gioovanni Boccaccio in the 14th centuryĭr Janega also revealed in the new podcast that sex toys were also popular in the medieval period. 'Medieval people seemed to be really interested in the kind of sex that we call foreplay or not real,' she said. She added that people living today have 'internalised' what she called the 'church's view on sex' – that it is only 'real' when it is 'penis in vagina'.
