A Short History of Bottoms (feat. The Bottom's Digest)

Historical Homos

"Gay didn't always exist, but 'bottom' kind of did!"

How did people douche back in the day? Did they have lube? And how'd they find other gays to get off with?

In a turn of events that will shock absolutely no one, history is FULL of queer men doing the deed.

We boinked, we douched, we lubed, we bathed, and we cruised – long before today's modern luxuries, like running water...or Gun Oil.

Join me and my fabulous guest, Alex Hall, creator of The Bottom's Digest, on this magical tour of history's bottoms, bottoming procedures, and bottom cultures.

Tune in for Mesopotamian shame, ancient Roman twerking, medieval Japanese lubes (there were many to choose from!), and of course, Renaissance cruising bars in 1400s Florence.

The history of bottoming is anything but straight.forward. Every land and every era has dealt with its bottoms in its own unique ways. And Bottom History © has so much to teach us about our own bottom culture today.

You can follow The Bottom's Digest on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for more of Alex's hilarious, amazing work.

And check out all the bottom-y treasures we mentioned in this episode:

• Greek vase of man wiping with pessos (MFA Boston)

• Ancient Roman tersorium aka sponge stick (Wikipedia)

• Chugi aka Japanese "shit sticks" (Wikipedia)

• Ancient enema syringe with bone nozzle (Science Museum)

• Chigo no soshi aka "Book of Acolytes" (British Museum)

For more from Historical Homos, you can join our cult at www.historicalhomos.com and follow us on Instagram and TikTok.

If you like what you hear, please leave us a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. Do it. Yeahhhhhh just like that.

This episode was written and researched by Bash, hosted by Bash, and edited by Alex Toskas.

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