Tag: history

  • Medieval stone penis confused archaeologists: what was this 15-centimeter-long object used for?

    Medieval stone penis confused archaeologists: what was this 15-centimeter-long object used for?

    A 15-centimeter-long stone penis-shaped object was discovered at the Torre de Meira archaeological site in Spain. The spicy medieval find and the markings on it helped reveal the habits and brutal intentions of the people who lived here.

    Archaeological objects in the shape of a penis are usually found in Roman, not medieval settlements, so this find puzzled scientists – what was it used for?

    According to historians, penile pendants and amulets were used as decoration or talismans to bring luck and success during the Roman Empire. Meanwhile, a medieval stone penis found in Spain is believed to have been used to sharpen weapons such as daggers, swords or knives. This is evidenced by the specific signs of wear found on the stone penis.

    In Spain, a stone object in the shape of a penis was discovered on the territory of a medieval mound. Árbore Arqueológia e Restauración S. Coop. Galega’s photo

    According to scientists, the shape of the penis for sharpening was not chosen by chance – it shows a spirit of determination, strength and hyperbolized masculinity.

    “This object is a symbol of violence, weapons and masculinity. This association, as we know, existed in the Middle Ages, but it is also prevalent in our society’s culture today,” archaeologist Dario Peña told Hyperallergic.

    In Spain, a stone object in the shape of a penis was discovered on the territory of a medieval mound. Árbore Arqueológia e Restauración S. Coop. Galega’s photo

    Near the city of Vigo, in the area of Torre de Meira, in the neighborhood of Moanya, the fortress standing on a hill was destroyed in the middle of the 15th century during a civil war and rebellion.

    At that time, the peasants tried to win freedom from the nobles. About 130 castles and fortresses were destroyed during the conflict, including Torre de Meira, artnews.com reports.

    These wars were fueled by the ensuing chaos in many European countries, fueled by the medieval crisis of the 14th and 15th centuries. At the time, against the backdrop of religious conflict and political instability, plague ravaged much of Europe, people were disillusioned with the existing order and hungered for revolution.

    The Torre de Meira castle, which was demolished more than 500 years ago, began to be studied only in 1976. Scientists, who started archaeological work at that time, found the preserved complex of castle walls, armory, moat and watchtower.

    13 historical sex facts that aren’t taught in school

  • Prostitution in Soviet times

    Prostitution in Soviet times

    The USSR blessed and tried to convince everyone else that it was the most antique country in the world and that there was no prostitution. Of course, this is not true, but the highest quality bean peel. During the USSR, there were street daughters, just like in any other corner of the world. However, it is the most important profession, and it also existed in the USSR, but as if underground. In essence, the situation in the USSR with moths was similar to that with “speculators”, namely that these people met the same needs and provided the same services that were freely available in the “rotting West”, only the USSR was much more complicated and less secure.


    If once there were no girls in the USSR, then back in 1956, the USSR law enforcement agencies had compiled one very interesting document in which the ‘ communal opera men’ had listed and collected information about some 600 fence squirrels gnawing nuts and cones in Leningrad at that time. (these are only the triggers that managed to be counted during the operational activities). At the time, it was found that the shy ladies copied their customers at train stations, city parks, expensive restaurants, and cafes.

    Places, prices and non-existent laws

    During the investigation, Leningrad investigators found that the Soviet prostitutes working process with nothing different from a prostitute working the process in other countries, namely meitieši invited customers to your home or to some early preparation Pritoni , generally, it was an old Babushka apartment also Babul from it all bounced off. It was also possible to talk in a taxi (everything was agreed with the driver, so it disappeared for a while), or in a quiet staircase, on the stairs, or in an abandoned yard (there was no shortage in Leningrad at that time).

    The price of the moth in the 1950s ranged from 25 to 100 rubles, which would have been only 2.5 to 10 rubles after the 1961 monetary reform. A bottle of vodka in the USSR before the military intervention in Afghanistan cost 2.87 rubles, but a good lunch – about a ruble, so calculate for yourself whether it was a little or a lot.

    The most interesting thing in this whole story is that, unlike the speculators who were actually imprisoned for speculation, the street daughters of the USSR did not exist de jure, so there was no special article on prostitution in the USSR criminal law. Nevertheless, the infestations were held administratively and criminally liable for other side offenses, such as profanity, loud behavior, petty hooliganism, and so on. In general, the situation did not differ much from the situation in other spheres of ordinary people in the USSR. For the daughters of joy, there was one principle: “the ass is, but there is no word.”

    In order to hold the poor street daughters accountable for the side violations committed, campaigning for these women on city streets was organized and carried out from time to time. This was done not only by the militia, but also by all kinds of “volunteer policemen”, communist youth units, and militia support brigades.

    Spicy scenes with scenes in militia districts can often be seen in Soviet art films. It turns out that there are prostitutes in militia papers and Savoka’s art films, but never in communist reality?

    Elite hookers

    At the beginning of the 1970s, an interesting stage in the lives of Soviet joy girls began. According to the results of criminological research, the so-called “elite prostitute” variety appeared in those years. These ladies opened their legs and did other miracles just for the currency. As in the case of speculators, there was a whole infrastructure, including hotel management, which provided a working environment, restaurant management, which took responsibility for reserving tables in time for the needs of the street daughter and the client. For this, of course, everyone involved received a share of the street daughter’s income.

    At the same time, the KGB realized that it could benefit from this situation, so most of these “elite” servants who served foreigners became KGB agents. They were given various tasks, such as squeezing out information from a client, tracing someone, taking a photo of someone, making photocopies of documents, etc., or simply collecting compromising information about a person/client.

    This cooperation between the “elite schools” and the KGB worked particularly closely during some of the global events held in the USSR, such as the 1980 Olympics. During the Olympics, the recruits worked in the Moscow hotels RossiyaMetropolis, Inturist, and Belgrade, as well as in the Kyiv hotel Rusy. As far as we know, during the Olympics, all the usual street daughters were taken out of Kyiv, leaving only the “elite Chekist girls”, thus giving them a special opportunity to reach foreign clients who have to be treated as they should.

    A hierarchy that has survived to the present day

    This business of the elite street daughters of the USSR also had its own hierarchy. It appeared in Soviet times and has not changed much since the collapse of the USSR. At the very top are elite girls who only worked as currency in expensive hotels. Then comes the lower-ranking ordinary, who continued to give up on wooden rubles, finding customers often in cafes, restaurants, and similar places, and then providing services in a trap house Unlike the elite, the usual engaged in it only to earn outside work in factories and collective farms.

    At the very lowest purchasable women Hot was in the street daughters, who really worked on the streets, at railway stations, and on highways, their customers were generally Fur leaders and other šoferīši. Among the lower caste were the most sex workers with STDs, and many of them were criminally charged for poisoning clients with clofelin and collaborating with thieves by passing on valuable client information to clients for purification.

    From the beginning of perestroika, in the late eighties, the daughters of the street began to work much safer and more openly, often in a way forcing ordinary Soviet citizens and even militia to die of envy.

    Here are memories of the events of that time from an Internet forum, “Between 1983 and 1989, one tweak with an elite class prostitute costing $ 50, all night with $ 200 to $ 300” but they were high-class prostitutes. The girls were in first grade, higher education, knowledge of foreign languages ​​, and they were all registered. ”

    Here are memories of lower-class ordinary valleys, “Customers usually did not visit these women empty-handed. Then the workers had enough money not only to pay for simple sex but also for the atmosphere. It’s only nowadays – a worker just wants to just push a few times and everything… ”

    At the same time, with the onset of perestroika, many journalists promised to publish countless articles on prostitution in the USSR, from which they could learn a lot:

    The article is originally published on vatastan.com

  • Super medicine – Viagra: history and interesting facts

    Super medicine – Viagra: history and interesting facts

    As funny as it may sound, the super drug – Viagra – was made by mistake. In the 1990s, when researchers tried a new drug for angina, researchers were disappointed to find no cure for the disease. They asked the participants to return the remaining tablets. The women obeyed, but there was no mention of the men. When the insistent scientists asked for explanations, the men began to recount their experiences of the tablet’s great effects on their intimate parts of the body.

    The sadness of failing with anti-angina drugs was quickly replaced by enthusiasm for a possible revolution in another field of medicine. Employees of the American medical company Pfizer went to Europe, where it was easier to get permission to involve people in experiments.

    The first trials of the now-promising anti-impotence drug began in London, where men who were paid £ 5 an hour in a laboratory and received a tablet were seated in front of a television to watch pornographic films. After swallowing the tablet, their reaction began to be detected by sensors attached to the body. The blue pill worked great – men who had complained of impotence were themselves surprised by the pleasant makeovers.

    https://www.bostonmedicalgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/viagra-not-working.jpg

    25,000 VIAGRA PRESCRIPTIONS PER DAY AND SMUGGLING

    Then came a failure – one-night videotapes with porn movies were stolen from the lab, but Pfizer quickly forgot about the incident, as the owners now had to think of something else – the world was crazy about new drugs, the company’s stock was growing and money was rolling.

    Although the blue tablet, named Viagra, was officially only available in the United States and the Netherlands, the income from the outset gave it the title of the fastest-spread drug on the market. After appearing on sale in the United States, an average of 25,000 prescriptions were issued each day.

    Pfizer initially hoped to earn $ 200 million, but the result was even more beautiful: when Viagra was accepted for sale abroad, the profit reached two billion dollars. Southern Europeans, who could not wait for the single European medical administration to authorize the sale of medicines, traveled by a miracle to Andorra, a country between France and Spain that did not obey European bureaucrats.

    In contrast, in Israel, where the approval of imported medicines usually lasted four months, Viagra became one of the most sought-after black market products. According to an advertisement in the popular newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that “no more injections are needed, 100% effective”, the telephone numbers provided by illegal traffickers were constantly busy.

    https://health.clevelandclinic.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/08/GettyImages-1031909982.jpg

    HOW MUCH WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO PAY?

    320 shekels (around 80 euros) were charged for the three tablets – almost three times more than the drug cost in the United States. At home, the average price per tablet in the United States was $ 10 (about $ 6). Each new pleasure required the next tablet. Experts predicted that men with impotence would have sex on average twice a week (with Viagra). So each year everyone will need about a hundred tablets and 1000 dollars.

    The tablet had to be taken an hour before sex. It relaxes the muscles in the walls of blood vessels, allowing blood to flow more freely to the genitals. Experiments have shown that Viagra helps 80% of men, especially in cases of serious illness such as diabetes or, for example, men with spinal injuries. But there is one condition – the tablet does not work on its own. Lovers should not forget about foreplay and genital stimulation. Then Viagra will help maintain an erection.

    Psychiatrist Dr. Rensava from Lajola told a case. She had come to her a few days after her husband had taken his first Viagra pill. “They were in bed waiting for what would happen. Both fell asleep. The couple had forgotten about the foreplay and were waiting for an immediate erection. ” When the doctor reminded me of the stimulation, I soon received a happy message from the clients that after a three-year break they had managed to have sex.

    https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/05/07/business/Pfizer/Pfizer-superJumbo.jpg

    MILLIONS HAVE LONGED FOR SEX

    It is estimated that around 30 million men in the United States suffer from impotence in the 1990s, but as many as 140 million people worldwide may be interested in Viagra at the time. Statistics at that time showed that in developed countries, every twentieth man after the age of 40 and one in four after the age of 65 are impotent.

    The hysteria that arose after Viagra appeared on the market surprised medical professionals. Many men were known to be plagued by sexual intercourse, but no one had foreseen that there would be so many of them. In addition, a peculiar phenomenon was discovered – many men had concealed their problems, but after the appearance of the promising pill, they were no longer ashamed to discover their inability, because they knew that Viagra would help in the future.

    Doctor John Stripping from a hospital in Atlanta had prepared a rubber stamp for himself, saying it was cheaper to replace it when it wore out. Every day he stamped about 300 prescriptions for Viagra. The patients were very impatient. “Visits are often announced as urgent. On the phone, men complain of pain in the kidneys, blood in the urine. But when they come to my office, they start teasing me about Viagra. Amazing! These people have been impotent for years, but now they can’t wait a few days, “says the doctor.

    POLITICIANS WERE NO LONGER ASHAMED EITHER

    In America, the media had been flooded with stories about the new miracle cure. “Chicago Earl McLean, 59, has been suffering from impotence for ten years due to diabetes. The first two tablets of Viagra did not help him. After the third time, he was able to have sex for the first time in four months. “I use them every day and I feel like I’m 30 again.” McLean’s medical insurance firm began claiming high spending. “Okay, I’ll put up with 20 pills a month,” Earl said, “Time magazine wrote in the year Viagra came out.

    Even more passionate was the confession of former US presidential candidate Bob Doula (who was over 80) that he had also tried the super tablet. The politician and his wife Elizabeth did not go into detail, only admitted to the journalists with joy: “The tablet helps!”

  • The strangest sex trends in history

    The strangest sex trends in history

    What are the strangest and most surreal sex trends in history? How have people had sex in the past? How has sex changed over the centuries? People have been involved in this type of physical intimacy since time immemorial, and historically, sex has been and still is exciting, full of interesting techniques, trends, and fashion items.

    This topic was often considered too intimate to discuss. And even the conditions of private life at homemade people feel uncomfortable. This led to the imposition of various rules imposed by society or dominant groups, such as the church teaching people how to properly build relationships with their loved ones. The Catholic Church believed that sex was for reproductive purposes only, while others opted for a more hedonistic approach. These restrictions created some rather strange ways for people to release their accumulated sexual tension.

    1. Pleasure devices were used for medical purposes

    Nowadays, it may seem obvious that women feel the same way as men, but in reality, this way of thinking has been introduced relatively recently. Before the 20th century, women were considered pure and innocent, and it was, therefore, absurd to think that they could experience lust. The accumulated dissatisfaction of women was called hysteria. Curing this so-called hysteria meant visiting a doctor’s office so that they could massage the afflicted area with a specially designed electrical pleasure device, from which modern equivalents also originated.

    2. In ancient Egypt, quite rough sex was practiced

    People practiced various rough sex games long before ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’ introduced it into the daily lives of modern people. In ancient Egypt, intimacy was revealed and often even expressed in public in many ways, which, given the time period, might seem shocking to us.

    https://i.pinimg.com/originals/de/90/8e/de908e179fcc9b95eaf2e0d4d07a2c2f.jpg

    The Etruscans played a harsh sex game, and the walls of the ancient tombs depict men engaging in these cruel activities with women .

    3. Lipstick was used to indicate the “skills” of oral sex

    When it comes to the appeal of lipstick, thank you to Heisel Bishop, a World War I chemist who invented a lipstick that doesn’t smear. The lipstick itself has existed since ancient times. In ancient Egypt, these cosmetics were used by both women and men. The sex workers’ brightly colored lips meant that the man was endowed with particularly good oral sex skills.

    4. Puritan love for animals

    Today, the Puritans are known for their religious zeal and chastity, but how pure were they really? It is believed that the Puritans agreed to have sex with animals. Known as sodomy, sex with animals was considered the most heinous crime and was punished accordingly.

    Of course, the law did not prevent people from doing so. An infamous sodomy practitioner, Thomas Granger, was executed for this reason.

    5. The postal service confiscated the sex toys

    The idea of ​​taking away mail because it doesn’t meet a standard seems weird? Believe it or not, in 19th-century America, there were official censors in the postal service who were obliged to seize any obscene mail, and one such person was Anthony Comstock.

    He believed in the moral ideal of Victorian times and confiscated thousands of fun toys during his lifetime, which he considered inappropriate.

    6. Spici shoe toes

    One of the most popular fashion trends in Northern Europe in the Middle Ages was to wear shoes with pointed toes. It was believed that the sharper the toes of a man’s shoes, the larger his size.

    https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silves-portugal-august-9th-2015-260nw-374969761.jpg

    7. Bread as a sex toy

    The Greeks were crazy about sex, as evidenced by the interesting ways they released their sexual tension. They used almost everything for it, including hardened bread. They were called Olisbo-Kollix and were soaked in olive oil for maximum slip.

    8. Foot fetish as a method of intimacy

    One of the most attractive and mysterious parts of the body is a woman’s legs. Foot and foot fetish is so widespread that this intimate trend was already present in 17th century Europe. At that time, various diseases were raging here, so proximity was not the best idea. It didn’t stop people from being creative and starting to turn to foot fetish.

    https://www.lelo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Foot-Fetishism.jpg

    9. The Greeks believed that lettuce was anti-aphrodisiac

    Healthy sex life was an integral part of the Greek way of life, so they had to follow a careful diet to maintain their sexual appetite. The list of foods that should not be eaten included salad, as it was thought to cause erection problems.

    10. Ointment from mouse feces

    The Romans were as crazy as the Greeks in terms of lust. Although they actively engaged in various intimate activities, sometimes it was simply out of place. Therefore, they came up with an ointment that was designed to reduce men’s desire for sex. What was it made of? Of course, from mouse feces.

    11. Condoms of animal origin

    There are many things that people owe to modern medicine and science. One of them is the invention of latex, which is the material from which most modern condoms are made. The Romans did not have such a privilege. Their condoms were made from animal parts.

    https://miro.medium.com/max/640/1*mpm9-JCCPxn_u1ilXiFK8A.jpeg

    12. Crackers to reduce cravings

    Modern ‘Graham’ crackers were first made in the 19th century. The inventor Graham himself believed that a bad, unhealthy diet was to blame for lust, so he developed a methodology for living a better life without sin, and called his followers “Grahamians.”

    He thought that white flour was unhealthy, so he figured out a way to make bread with wholemeal flour. He also believed that a diet consisting of bread and water made by him was enough to eliminate the temptation after sex.

    13. Pharaohs of Egypt and the river Nile

    The creator of life in Egyptian mythology is the Atum. Want to know how he created life? By sharing your “fluids”. The myth is that his excessive division caused the Nile. Therefore, in honor of him, the Egyptian pharaohs would faithfully restore this scene by splashing their “juice of life” on the Nile.

    14. Octopus-inspired images from the 19th century

    We can only try to understand the Japanese surreal intimate passion for tentacles and various animated images. But this is not just a modern trend; it stems from popular pursuits in the far 1800s.

    https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/flat/beach-towel/images/artworkimages/medium/3/the-dream-of-the-fishermans-wife-1814-katsushika-hokusai.jpg? & targetx = 0 & targety = -93 & imagewidth = 952 & imageheight = 662 & modelwidth = 952 & modelheight = 476 & backgroundcolor = 383F2F & orientation = 1 & producttype = beachtowel-32-64

    The first artist to depict the intercourse of an octopus-man was none other than the famous Hokusai, who painted the Great Wave of Kanagawa. In 1814, he painted Fisherman’s wife’s dream, which shows the intimate activities of an octopus and a woman.

    15. Extreme treatment methods

    People born after the 19th century were fortunate to have the privileges of modern medicine to cure many ailments, such as erectile dysfunction. The only way to prevent dysfunction in the 17th century was to “cut” oxygen to its peak. It was considered a legitimate means of curing a person of his problems, although for obvious reasons it usually failed.

    16. Foot tickers in the Russian Empire

    The 18th-century Russian Empire consisted of a tsar and/or a queen whose power over her country gave them many privileges, including their strange fetishes. The Tsarina often used the services of official foot tickers. Their responsibilities included but were not limited to, beating and obscene music.

    17. The Catholic Church introduces a posture in which to have sex

    The aim of the Catholic Church was to ensure that the reception of offspring was as “clean” as possible. This meant that there could be no question of any deviation from the norm. To regulate this, they came up with a missionary posture as the most appropriate way to conceive a child , hence the name.

    18. Daoism encourages a man not to “finish” a woman

    Daoism is a teaching of Chinese philosophy that believes that everything has an energy called Qi. They believed that the proper flow of Qi is vital to a healthy and enlightened life. Therefore, it was believed that men’s body fluids are a vital life force and that draining too much would also drain Qi. To prevent this from happening, men were encouraged to avoid ejaculation and practice self-control after intimate activities .

    https://epsilon.aeon.co/images/ac0adb22-9d48-4d73-aff5-6cee8dff2b3c/header_v2-essay-wikimedia-china15.jpg

    19. Sex with animals was involved in the Celtic inauguration

    Gerald of Wales, a 12th-century Welsh historian, wrote down the rituals practiced by the Celts, especially the inauguration methods of their rulers. How did it happen? In the beginning, a white mare was brought, with which the king gave in to the joys of love. The mare was then slaughtered and eaten to mark the king’s new reign.