Upper Paleolithic
28,000 BCE Many societies globally have fertility symbols that are present, such as the Venus of Willendorf, a Venus figurine found in Austria.
Bronze Age
400-200 BCE The Kama Sutra is compiled by the Indian philosopher, Vātsyāyana , a book that explores the art of living well, or more commonly interpreted as the spirituality of sexual pleasure.
High Middle Ages
1140 The Benedictine monk, Gratian, introduced the concept of marriage as consent between two people in his canon law textbook, Decretum Gratiani. Prior to this, marriages were arranged between families.
1275 The Statutes of Westminster ruled that sexual intercourse with a girl ‘within age’ (under the marital age of 12) was illegal.
1500s
1549 Marriage vows were written by Thomas Cranmer in the ‘Book of Common Prayer’ for English Protestantism.
1563 Marriage was officially deemed one of the seven sacraments within Catholicism by the Council of Trent, although there are earlier assertions of marriage as a sacrament dating to the 12th Century.
1576 Sexual intercourse with girls under the age of 10 was classified as a felony: sexual intercourse with a girl aged between 10-12 was classified as a misdemeanour.
1600s
1670 Parliament passed an act to allow divorce on the grounds of a wife’s adultery.
1700s
1753 The Clandestine Marriage Act required couples to get married in a church or chapel by a minister. Couples were also required to issue a formal marriage announcement (or ‘banns’), or obtain a licence.
1800s
1836 The Marriage Act allowed non-religious civil marriages to be conducted in registry offices.
1843 Dr. Martin Barry discovered the link between spermatozoa fertilising the ovum and pregnancy.
1875 The age of consent was changed: sexual intercourse with a girl aged between 10-12 was a felony, while between 12 and 13 was classified as a misdemeanour.
1882 The diaphragm (or ‘Occlusive Pessary’) was invented by Dr. Wilhelm Mensinga.
1885 The age of consent was raised to under 13 as a felony and a misdemeanour for 13-16 years of age.
1886 The German psychiatrist, Dr. Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, publishes a study on sexual perversity.
1889 The first sex education course at a British school is run by Cecil Reddie at Abbotsholme School, near Rocester in Staffordshire.
1892 The term ‘heterosexual’ was first published in C.G. Chaddock’s translation of ‘Psychopathia Sexualis’ by Kafft-Ebing.
1900s
1901 Havelock Ellis published ‘The Studies of Psychology of Sex’, a book that suggested that women do enjoy sex, also that homosexuality was an inherent trait.
1905 Nettie Stevens, a geneticist who researched beetles, suggested that sex was determined by the X and Y chromosomes.
1916 Margaret Sanger established the first birth control clinic in New York, however she is arrested ten days later and is imprisoned for a month.
1919 Magnus Hirschfeld established the ‘Institut für Sexualwissenschaft’ (The Institute for Sexology) in Berlin, a multi-agency institute consisting of doctors, psychiatrists, marriage counsellors, and so forth. It was destroyed by the Nazis in 1933.
1919 Frederick Killian develops the latex condom. They had previously been made from rubber, animal skins, cloth, and even horn.
1920s
1920s The ‘rhythm method’ of contraception was developed by Japanese and Australian scientists.
1930s
1938 The USA decriminalise birth control.
1940s
1948 to 1954 Dr. Alfred Kinsey publishes a series of reports on sexuality within society.
1950s
1953 Hugh Hefner publishes the first edition of ‘Playboy’, featuring Marilyn Monroe on the front cover.
1960s
1969 The Divorce Reform Act allowed couple to cite martial breakdown as the reason for divorce.
1970s
1973 The magazine ‘Playgirl’ is first published.
1978 Louise Joy Brown was the first baby to be born from in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
2000s
2000 The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act of 2000 stated that the age of consent for penetrative sex, oral sex, and mutual masturbation is 16 years of age, regardless of sexual orientation. If a person is aged under 18, the maximum prison sentence is 5 years: of over 18, the offender may receive up to 14 years.