This text is the guest editors’ introduction to the special thematic section of the issue on “Being in Shape: The Culture of Aphrodisiacs in Europe”, featuring contributions by M.V. Domosiletskaya, A.A. Novik, S.A. Sidneva, and O.D. Fais-Leutskaia. The contributors address various questions in the social life and culture of Europeans by inquiring into the part that aphrodisiacs played in the past and continue to play today in a number of European societies.