My introduction to women's oral history in rural Lincolnshire came about as a result of my joining a local Workers’ Education Association class, entitled ‘Women's role’ My interests finally resulted in the book We Didn't Know Aught: a Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire During the 1930s, '40s and '50s. My background and approach were in some ways unlike the normal ‘academic’ ones, and so it may be worth initially recounting to readers how this study developed, before discussing some of the difficulties in considering a range of topics that often raised many sensitive and moral issues.