Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

by Janina Ramírez

And unlike many of her contemporaries, Hildegard also took a keen interest in the gynaecological and sexual well-being of women.50 Writing in 1150, she provided the first known description of what a female orgasm feels like: When a woman is making love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings with it sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act and summons forth the emission of the man’s seed. And when the seed has fallen into its place, that vehement heat descending from her brain draws the seed to itself and holds it, and soon the woman’s sexual organs contract, and all the parts that are ready to open up during the time of menstruation now close, in the same way as a strong man can hold something enclosed in his fist.51