The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex - and Manners

All the five star reviews must've been written by the author's friends. The book was somewhat interesting but not very funny and too annoying with the author's corny sense of humor and "just between us"approach to writing.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought I knew quite a bit about the past that this book was about, but I actually learned a lot about the Victorian period. It really is not what is portrayed in most books and movies. I figured that living in that time period would have been tough, but I never really thought about how nasty things were then and how primitive medicine was at the time.

Kind of makes me wonder if people in the future will look back at our time period and think how gross we all were lol.

I laughed as well as outright stared in horror at what many women endured before and during the early 20th century as far as hygiene, dress, and social mores. I've often wondered how they went about everyday life that's not often mentioned in books, plays, and movies....now I have a pretty good idea! This should be on every high school library shelf, if not at secondary or even primary levels, considering what children are exposed to as far as television and the internet are concerned. Write on, Ms. Therese Oneill!!!!!!

Funny and lighthearted tone makes important feminist messages go down easy

Such an enjoyable read with great pictures and examples to give a sense of the reality of life as a wealthy woman in 19th century America - dirt, smells, deeply confusing rules and all. Well researched and very witty - I highly recommend it!

I taught high school English - my Brontes and Austins are fresh in my memory, but ooh this gives me a new view of what goes on beneath those petticoats. I have to say that fiction is my normal realm, but I needed this book. I laughed (I can't say that I cried - but you know I've got enough going on to make that happen anyway) - I needed to laugh. And to think about some of the glorious ways that life has changed. And to make sure that we don't want to go back that way again. I put the new Margaret Atwood novel on hold to read this and suddenly found myself on the funny side of a Handmaid's Tale - did you know that could be funny? So very glad to live in the post-Victorian, post-Truth era. So very much less to worry about!
I highly recommend for those of you who need a little history with their laughter or those who need a little laughter with their history (or their present).

I initially found the book interesting but the author lost me about the time she inaccurately represented Margaret Sanger as someone to be admired. Ms. Sanger was an extreme racist and proponent of eugenics to "cull" the unwanted for the purpose of purifieing the human race. I don't oppose legal abortion nor am I a religious person, I simply want accuracy and facts.

I enjoyed this book very, very much! ! In fact there were times when I was reading just before falling asleep that I had to stop reading so my laughing would not wake up my sleeping husband.Wonderfully enjoyable and enlightening book.

I enjoyed reading this incredibly well researched, funny, smart, and at times melancholy book. By the end, I was deeply grateful to have been born a woman in our time rather than the Victorian age. Read the book: it's good stuff.

Very enlightening but sad to think what our great grandmothers (etc) went through. Well researched material. My mom was one of the first women doctors in England, so I was EXTRA interested in this material. Naomi in West Virginia

Very interesting book answered a lot of questions regarding what they wore. Started losing me toward the end, though, because it got way into the sexual aspects. It just got kind of boring...but it it did help me understand my parents and grandparents a bit more, since they didn't communicate about Anything! It sheds some more light on Why.

This book provided answers for some of the questions that I have had over the years, such as what was used as toilet paper before toilet paper was invented and how did women handle 'that time of the month?' It also answered questions that I didn't have and would rather not think about regarding sanitation and hygiene. The information is easy to read and given in a rather light-hearted manner. The illustrations are wonderful. I bought the hardback copy and have decided to purchase two more for Christmas gifts for friends who are always moaning that they should have been born in that era. I think this book just might change their minds.