Alexandra Vasti is a literature professor by day and USA Today bestselling romance writer by night. After finishing her PhD at Columbia Univ

Regency Sex Ed — History News Network

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2025-01-17 16:30:03

Alexandra Vasti is a literature professor by day and USA Today bestselling romance writer by night. After finishing her PhD at Columbia University, she moved to New Orleans with her family. Her books have been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, and elsewhere.

Perhaps the greatest side plot in Season 3 of Netflix’s Bridgerton involves the sexual education of the Featherington sisters. Overbearing mama Lady Portia Featherington (Polly Walker) is desperate for her married daughters to reproduce in order to secure an inheritance; in one of the show’s most hilarious and incisive scenes, Lady Featherington corners her daughters at a ball and demands an update on their progress toward an heir. Daughter Philippa (Harriet Cains) declares her marital congress frequent and regular, while Prudence (Bessie Carter) glumly reports that she does not enjoy carnal conversation with her husband.

Lady Featherington is undeterred and launches into a motherly tutorial on the sexual act, complete with evocative hand gestures. “A lady’s pleasure is more subtle than a man’s,” she begins. “You see, when he inserts himself—”