Victorian Sex Diaries

I read (parts) of 'My Secret Life' by Walther/Anonymous when still a teenager. It gets pretty boring and repetitive after a chapter or 2 or 3, but it was intriguing to read and i really did admire the author, not only for his large number of sexual experiences, but also for having the determination of writing it all down.

I had thought it was prtty much unique as diaries went. But I came upon this extract in an article of Victorian attitudes and customs on diary writing. Interesting and something I'd never heard of before:

'The diarist Anne Lister of Shibden Hall (1791-1840), the daughter of a Yorkshire landowner, and an active lesbian, began to keep a diary when she was 15, using code to record her sexual feelings and relationships as well as her financial insecurity. Her diaries, which comprise 26 bound volumes from 1816-40 as well as loose pages from 1806-10, are three times the length of Pepys’s famous diary. About 15 per cent is written in code. The symbol X was used to indicate masturbation and/or orgasm, while a ‘kiss’ symbol of a Q with a curl was used to mark a sexual encounter.

The code had been originally devised with her school friend Eliza Raine, who called Anne her ‘husband’ in writings that use the same code, and Anne went on to share the code with several other lovers, thus regulating and privileging access to the most private sections of the text. When her descendant John Lister first discovered the diaries and cracked the code in the 1880s, he promptly hid the diaries behind wooden panels in the walls of Shibden Hall; they were made available to the public only in the 1980s. '

I wonder if any member knew of this diarist?

I can't remember the name of the TV series off the top of my head, but I'm fairly certain this has been dramatized on BBC TV in the last couple of years. I certainly recognise the name of Ann Lister and Shibden Hall.

I'm not familiar, but diarists were many in that era. Apparently genealogists and historians love that aspect of Victorian life.

There is, of course, a fair bit of erotica written to emulate diaries of that era.

I think the TV series was "Gentleman Jack" @MCurious .

There is, of course, a fair bit of erotica written to emulate diaries of that era.

Not the least of which is "The Pearl", a compendium of short stories and serials from a magazine of the same name from the era. I have a paperback from the 1980s; it is still available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Journal-Facetive-Voluptuous-Reading/dp/0345410041

Not the least of which is "The Pearl", a compendium of short stories and serials from a magazine of the same name from the era. I have a paperback from the 1980 ...

I found a copy in the late 1960s, a paperback from Grove Press I think. It fascinated me to no end, the (short/serialized) stories, or the silly sex poems and limericks. The older Victorian names for genitals and 'intercoursing' were really cute and funny, sweet too.

It was probably from this book or maybe from 'My Secret Diary' that I must have learned about anal intercourse and what a pleasurable activity it apparently was for the prevention of conception and how it was quite normal, no matter which sex you enjoyed it with.

I also seem to remember lots of goings-on with female cousins. Probably because of the custom of large family get-togethers in those times, occasions where both sexes could more or less mix and interact without all the control and chaperoning it otherwise entailed.

I found my old copy a year or two ago and read some of the stories for old times sake. They were a bit repetitive and sort of 'tame' to my present tastes, but I guess that's because people evolve over time or become members of sites like Zity ... ha ha

Most of the content of The Pearl was written at a time when erotic works were not held to the same standard as other genre fiction. It's markedly better since, say, the early 2000s. Real plots, full character development, all kinds of special interests, even decent writing.

Frank Harris’ My Life, My Loves was good. I found it as an adolescent hidden at the bottom of a drawer.

I came across a large hardback edition of "My life and loves" which was illustrated. I was sorely tempted to buy it, but I thought some of the drawings bordered on kiddie porn.

Other than that, it was pretty expensive too. Probably a collectors item now.

@LordJim2 id love to reread it and focus on the parts I skipped to get to the dirty bits 🤣

@LordJim2 Is "gentleman Jack" related to The Way of a Man with a Maid? (The latter is a rather repetitive story about a man who lures young women into his den, ties them and rapes them but they come to enjoy it.)

"Gentleman Jack" was a TV series based on the diaries of the lesbian Anne Lister @Jacana .