Origin Stories: How Sex, Power, and Culture Shaped Human Desire

When we talk about origin stories, the hidden histories behind how societies understand sex, gender, and desire. Also known as sexual genealogies, these are the real events, laws, and myths that built the rules we live by today. They’re not just old facts—they’re the reason you feel shame about masturbation, why your grandmother never talked about orgasms, and why some people still think being bisexual is just a phase.

These origin stories connect directly to gender roles, the unspoken rules about what men and women are supposed to do, feel, and desire. Also known as socialized sexuality, they began in places like Victorian drawing rooms and medieval marriage contracts, where women were told to be pure and men to be providers. That system didn’t just shape behavior—it made pleasure dangerous for women and emotional weakness for men. Even today, when you hear someone say "real men don’t cry" or "good girls don’t masturbate," you’re hearing echoes of those old origin stories. And then there’s consent, the idea that sex requires clear, ongoing permission—not just a silent nod or a lack of "no". Also known as affirmative consent, this wasn’t always part of the conversation. For centuries, marriage was seen as a license, not a contract. The shift toward real consent didn’t come from lawmakers alone—it came from activists, survivors, and writers who refused to let silence be the default. Meanwhile, sexual repression, the systematic suppression of desire through religion, medicine, and law. Also known as moral panic, it turned clitoral pleasure into a medical emergency and lesbian relationships into something that didn’t exist in the archives. Doctors once prescribed vibrators to cure "hysteria." Courts banned poems with dildo references. And for decades, HIV was treated as divine punishment instead of a public health crisis. These aren’t ancient footnotes. They’re the roots of today’s debates over abortion, AI porn, transgender rights, and who gets to speak about their own body.

What you’ll find in these posts isn’t a dry history lesson. It’s the messy, surprising, often shocking truth behind why we think the way we do about sex. You’ll read about Etruscan tombs where sex was sacred, Victorian men being told masturbation caused madness, and how a single essay by Anne Koedt changed how millions understand female pleasure. You’ll see how police raids on gay bars led to Stonewall, how dowries shaped marriage for centuries, and why the female orgasm still confuses scientists. These aren’t random facts—they’re pieces of a larger puzzle: the origin stories that built your desires, your fears, and your freedoms. And understanding them? That’s the first step to changing them.