Tea & Vulgarity
By Talley Gale
Fetch your smelling salts! The Victorians were right naughty! Lady LeTITcia and other members of the social register clink cups and read scintillating erotica from...Victorian-era England.
NSFW. 18+.
Cover art: Taylor Hopkins.
All music under a Creative Commons License.
Opening and closing clips: Mendelssohn's String Quintet No.2, Op.87, Musicians from the Ravinia Festival's Stean Institute
Tea & VulgarityFeb 11, 2022
Emma Goldman: Love Is Indeed a Stranger
Emma Goldman: The Hideous Epithet, Bastard
Emma Goldman: A Mute Beast Fattened for Slaughter
Emma Goldman: Slavish Acquiescence to Man's Superiority
Emma Goldman: Remaining Strangers
Emma Goldman: Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here
Flea-Sized Pod 14: Her Posterior's Aperture
Flea-Sized Pod 13: The Huge Genitals of Father Clement
Flea-Sized Pod 12
Flea-Sized Pod 11
Flea-Sized Pod 10
Flea-Sized Pod 9
Flea-Sized Pod 8
Flea-Sized Pod 7
Flea-Sized Pod 6
Flea-Sized Pod 5
Flea-Sized Pod 4
Flea-Sized Pod 3
Flea-Sized Pod 2
Flea-Sized Pod
Footnotes: Flea Fetish
Why would someone associate a flea with sex? Well, both fleas, and fleas on people, were a fairly common part of Victorian life. This is a short footnotes episode to give some context.
The Autobiography of a Flea: Chapter 2
The Flea witnesses Father Ambrose (Count Frolo, Mister Tumnus, & the Hot Priest rolled into one) helping Bella...um...atone...for her sins. Bella ascends to the Heavens. Lady Axewound joins again to spill some flea tea.
Featuring Jillian Leff.
The Autobiography of a Flea: Chapter One
Lady Taintbury returns with Lady Letitia to read the 1887 erotic novel The Autobiography of a Flea. In this first chapter, we learn of this "most exalted" flea (whom we envision as PT Flea) and his "host," the lovely Bella.
Somehow, A Bug's Life, Fleabag, and Veggie Tales all find their way into this world.
Featuring Molly Wagner
Olden Songs: "9 Inch Will Please a Lady" & "The Lusty Young Smyth"
Footnotes: Astrology
Body Politic member, sex-therapist-in-training, and astrology buff Lida Rubanava discusses the connection between the planets and our relationships.
Book featured: The Astrology of Love &Sex: A Modern Compatibility Guide, by Annabelle Gat
Check out: wearebodypolitic.com
Nonfiction: The Directory of Covent Garden Sex Workers
Featuring Ashleigh Becker
Gamahuche My Cooch!
Thank Venus we brought in Lady Shagsworth. She does a MARVELOUS American accent -- who knew? Today we get philosophical with some Dr Johnson, discuss the origins of "gamahuche," read "The Origin of Copulation," tell a bit of gossip about American women, and revel in how Lady Pokingham seduces a servant.
Featuring Raven Pierson
Footnotes 3: A Family Affair
Jillian Leff (aka Lady Axewound) has read some INTERESTING literature, and Talley discovered something shocking about one of the more prolific women poets. Listen as we but scratch the surface of lesbian writers, familial outlooks on sex, and how [upperclass] Victorian society viewed queerness.
ASMR bonus episode
For, indeed, why ever not? Some of Lady Letitcia's favorite excerpts, read in intimate manner...
ASMR: Autonomous sensory meridian response. Meaning certain sounds make your body get all tingly.
A Man's Perspective: God Save the Queen!
Featuring Jack Wallace.
Lesbians, or, The Reprise of Mossy
This episode is the first of several dedicated to women loving women. The selections are naughty but also frequently sweet. We also include some non-Anglo works.
Did you know the woman who wrote "In the Bleak Midwinter" also wrote a homoerotic nursery rhyme? BY MY TROTH, SHE DID.
With Lady Axe-wound, aka Jillian Leff
"And flourishes her jutting arse"
Lady Axewound makes her teatime debut! Along with Lady Letitcia, she indulges in: "Arithmetician: a Fact," an ode to an opera dancer, a couple dirty acrostics, more Lady Pokingham (a derriere affair), and a warning to ladies about violet powder. Unbutton your bustiers!
Featuring Jillian Leff
Footnotes 2: Art, Seattle, Strange Laws
Molly Wagner joins Talley again for more thoughtful footnote talk. Queen Victoria was a racy lady. Have we "cleaned up" our interpretation of the nude in Western art? Seattle thrives all thanks to a Madame.
Hot Priest: A Man of the Cloth is Still a Man
Featuring Matthew Duncan
Where's My Barrister?
The tireless Lady Taintbury is back to nosh crumpets and spill the tea with Lady Letitcia. Our friends recite poetry and read more about Lothair, who's gamahuching before he becomes a man of the cloth. Lady T fills us in on her own sordid past. Lady L hopes Dave's Killer Bread won't sue her.
Featuring Molly Wagner!
Footnotes 1: Other Racy Publications
THE PEARL wasn't the only publication the Victorians salivated over. Molly Wagner (aka Lady Taintbury) joins Talley in the first of our "educational real-talk" episodes to discuss the other...um...literature published during this period.
Speculum in Batches
Lady PlumPudding (from the penal colony) attends tea with Lady Letitcia to read a letter, muse on syphilis (let's bring it back!), and dissect a ballad about the Contagious Diseases Act.
Featuring Amy Nasseri of Orgasm Lab
Vibrator Chair
Lady Blossombosom reluctantly joins Lady LeTITcia to sing a bawdy song to the tune of an old hymn.
Featuring Ian Katee Gale.
All music under a Creative Commons License.
Mossy
Lady Taintbury, an old schoolfellow of Lady LeTITcia's, puts her wit to work reading about Mister Pego, moss, beavers, and other names for our genitalia.
Featuring Molly Wagner
All music under a Creative Commons License.
Crumpet
Welcome to Tea & Vulgarity! Grab your smelling salts, and be ready to meet Ladies Letitcia and Blossombosom as they read tittilating tales from Victorian England.
Music: Musicians from the Ravinia Festival Stean's Intstitute; Benjamin Moser; BNTT