Discussions about sexuality permeate all fields of medicine and yet are still taboo.1 If medical professionals were to promote a liberated dialogue about sex, we could encourage a societal shift towards acceptance. This could benefit not only individual patients, but also public health outcomes.2 Hafferty and Franks found that prevailing ethics and the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society, that is, sociology, are often embedded in medical education,3 but this alone does not guarantee patient-centred care. Reflecting on past popular culture might better cultivate best practice as it allows us to consider historical narratives around medicine, and how these influence our patients’ perceptions of the field. William Hogarth’s series Marriage A-la-Mode (c. 1743) offers a deeply satirical commentary on the sexual hedonism of a young couple married not for love, but for social and financial gain. Such artefacts can aid our understanding of the evolution of social norms.
WOMEN’S SEXUALITY
In The Tête à Tête (image, above right), we encounter a Viscount and Viscountess having both returned from wayward evenings with other sexual partners. The woman’s mischievous expression and languorous posture suggest that she has been disturbed by her …