I find it very amusing when the worst people are like “Its Just Biological men cant control not being cheaters/pressuring women for sex” when the medieval view was generally “unlike men, women are super horny and will absolutely bang the scarecrow if left unattended”
Every so often I read a thing about how medieval folks viewed sex as a reproductive act and yeah for male/female pairings it was more often than not. Because contraception amounted to tying a weasel’s testicles in goose skin.
Whole swathes of their gender relations, good and ill, are based around this idea! One of the handful of reasons a woman could get a civil divorce was impotence, and it wasn't just about children- it was considered a man's duty to please his wife (so she wouldn't go seeking satisfaction elsewhere).
I recall reading it in a book, but I can't remember which one- however, this method of divorce required "impotence trials" and those are widely written about because they're, uh, spicy. Men had to perform in front of an audience. www.salon.com/2023/02/11/t...
Wait, I do remember where it comes up at least once- "The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women" by Rosalie Gilbert, which also has a TON of general information on sex in the middle ages and all the unique cultural weirdness surrounding it.
