Renaissance Fitness: Exercise Rediscovery
In his book, On the Art of Exercise, the Italian physician Girolamo Mercuriale writes in a way that makes you think that, just like Botticelli and Michelangelo had 'rediscovered' the art of ancient Greece in Renaissance Italy, he too had rediscovered a lost art, the art of exercise. But, was that true? Did people stop exercising with the fall of
How to Clean Your Body in the Renaissance
One of the silliest historical myths out there is that people in the past were somehow ‘dirty’ and had poor hygiene, especially compared to today’s standards. Of course, I’m generalising; each culture had different practices depending on time and place. But think of people living in the Italian Renaissance: how did they cleanse their bodies? Bodily hygiene was intimately connected
Not ‘fit for child-bearing’: Fatness and (In)fertility
According to the UK's National Health System, ‘Being overweight or obese’ is considered a risk factor for infertility. Pregnant people who are fat are often told about higher risks of complications during pregnancy and may have their birth choices limited due to their size. The fat acceptance movement have shown how fraught the relationship between health systems and fat, pregnant bodies health can be, and how pervasive and harmful fat shaming is. Unfortunately, it is also an issue that overweight people have dealt with for millennia.