Folkway #6 - Sex

So, did the pioneers have sex lives?

Simply put: yes.

In fact, it might surprise many of their descendants to discover just how open they were about the subject.  Victorian prudishness did not take hold on the Central Florida frontier to the extent it did elsewhere in the English-speaking world.

Part of this was due to a general lack of privacy.  As noted in previous postings, early residences often consisted of no more than one room.  Thus, nudity was commonplace, not taboo.

The steady birth rate on the Central Florida frontier underscores the robust sex life of its pioneers.

The infrequent divorce decrees issued during the pioneer era are rife with evidence that not all sex was of the wholesome variety.  They are full of allegations of infidelity, prostitution, venereal disease, and impotence.

Indeed, prostitution proved a lucrative enterprise at least in the earliest days of the pioneer era, when the male-to-female ratio was woefully out of balance. 

One of the most successful frontier madames was Pine Castle's own Jane Green, who had the ingenuity to "take her show on the road."  She would drive wagonloads of willing women out to the prairie beyond polite civilization to entertain cattlemen who could not travel all the way to Orlando to visit the various houses of ill-repute.

The bottom line: our pioneers were quite human.  And, thank goodness.  Otherwise, many of us wouldn't be here today!

To learn more about Florida's frontier folkways, come to Pioneer Days on February 21st and 22nd at Cypress Grove Park, 290 West Holden Avenue, Orlando, FL 32809.  Complete details may be found at www.pinecastlepioneerdays.org.