The Shere Hite Reader

by Hite, Shere

• ISBN13: 9781583225684
• ISBN10: 1583225684
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-04-01
• Publisher: Seven Stories Pr

Summary

The Shere Hite Reader brings together the writings on female sexuality that revolutionized our collective understanding of women's sexual relationship to men, with new, never-before-published essays on sex, human rights, and globalization, linking our understanding of sexuality to present debates around human rights, globalization, the War on Terror, and "traditional family values."

Author Biography

SHERE HITE, one of the great feminists and cultural anthropologists of our time, is internationally recognized for her work on psychosexual behavior and gender relations. Hite has lectured at universities around the world including the Sorbonne, Harvard, Columbia, Cambridge, Oxford, the London School of Economics, and others. Hite also writes regularly for international newspapers and journals. Director of the National Organization for Women’s feminist sexuality project from 1972 to 1978, since that time she has directed Hite Research International. Her continuing study of sexual behavior includes major new discoveries on, for example, male sexuality, teen sexuality, and the relationship of sexuality to globalization. The Hite Report, first published in 1976, has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	15	(4)
Preface	19	(2)
A New Sexual Culture	21	(16)
Sex and Human Rights	21	(1)
Female Sexuality	21	(6)
The ``New Women'' or ``Women on Top'' Cliche of Equality	22	(1)
Orgasm Pressures on Women	23	(2)
Sexual Equality---What Does It Mean?	25	(1)
Feeling Dishonest	26	(1)
Male Sexuality: Oedipus Revisited	27	(2)
``Bad Girls'' and ``Traditional Values''	29	(1)
Sex and Politics, Peace, and Love	30	(7)
Doubts about the Sexual Revolution	32	(1)
Cupid and Psyche	33	(4)
PART 1: FEMALE SEXUALITY DEFINED BY WOMEN (1976)	37	(74)
The Female Orgasm as Metaphor	39	(72)
G-Spot or C-Spot? (Toward a New Conception of Sex)	41	(2)
If Sleeping Beauty Begins to Awaken on Her Own	43	(1)
Sexuality As a Social Construction	44	(2)
Do Most Women Orgasm from Intercourse?	44	(2)
The Glorification of Intercourse: A Reproductive Model of Sexuality	46	(6)
The Sexual-Pleasure Model of Reproduction	46	(2)
Patriarchy and Monogamous Intercourse	48	(2)
The Freudian Model of Female Sexuality	50	(2)
Redefining Sexuality (Can We Redefine Sex?)	52	(1)
``If You Don't Have Orgasms During Intercourse, You're Hung Up''	52	(1)
Rethinking Female Sexuality	53	(1)
The Myth of Women's ``Abnormal Genitals''	54	(3)
Masters and Johnson on Coitus	55	(2)
A New Theory of How Women Orgasm During Intercourse	57	(1)
Do It Yourself	58	(1)
Why ``Orgasm'' Should Be a Verb	59	(1)
Masturbation	60	(2)
Leg Position for Orgasm	62	(1)
The Meaning of Clitoral Stimulation	63	(1)
Orgasm From Clitoral Stimulation by Hand	64	(3)
Do Most Women Orgasm Regularly from Clitoral Stimulation by Hand?	64	(1)
Women's Feelings About Clitoral Stimulation to Orgasm	64	(3)
Clitoral Anatomy	67	(3)
The Pleasures of Intercourse	70	(2)
Conclusion	72	(1)
Emotional Orgasm	72	(2)
The Suppression of Female Sexuality and Orgasm	74	(6)
Habit	75	(1)
Love and Sexual Slavery	76	(1)
Economics	77	(3)
Women Rebel against the Sexual Revolution	80	(1)
Pressure on Women to Have Sex	81	(3)
The Double Standard	84	(1)
Be a ``Good Girl''!	85	(1)
The Right Not to Have Sex	86	(2)
Women, Power, and the Sexual Revolution	88	(1)
The Future of Intercourse	88	(1)
Do Women Always Want Intercourse?	89	(1)
``Foreplay'' and Other Pleasures	90	(2)
Do Men Need Intercourse?	92	(1)
Resisting the Myth of Male ``Need''	93	(1)
Touching Is Sex Too	94	(3)
Stepping Outside Patriarchal Culture to See How Sexuality Could Be Different	94	(3)
What Kinds of Touching Do Women Like?	97	(1)
Sleeping Together	97	(1)
Pressing Together	97	(1)
Toward a New Theory of Female Sexuality	98	(1)
Female Eroticism	99	(1)
Undefining Sex	100	(1)
Do Men Really Enjoy Their Definition of Sexuality So Fully?	100	(1)
Continuing Controversies Over the Nature of Female Orgasm	101	(1)
Reintegrating Sexuality and Spirituality	102	(2)
Requiem for the G-Spot, Hello to the C-Spot! (Are We Really Modern?)	104	(2)
A Missing Name	106	(1)
The Female Orgasm	106	(1)
Female Sexual Identity	106	(5)
PART 2: MALE SEXUALITY AND LOVE DESCRIBED BY MEN (1981)	111	(116)
Origins of Male Psychosexual Identity	113	(114)
Sexual Violence and Betrayal of the Mother	113	(1)
Breaking Up with the Mother	114	(2)
Father, Behold Thy Son	116	(2)
Boys and Their Fathers	118	(2)
How Boys Learn to ``Be Like the Other Guys''	120	(2)
Two Men Speak about Their Private Lives	122	(12)
The Varied Sexual Pleasures of Being Male	134	(10)
What Is a Man's ``Sexual Nature?''	134	(2)
The Image of Men in Pornography	136	(5)
Pornography	141	(1)
Probably Men Like Pornography?	142	(2)
Do Men Believe in Love?	144	(1)
Most Men Don't Marry the Woman They Most Passionately Love	145	(2)
Men's Great Sensuality---As Yet Untapped?	147	(1)
Origins of the Definition of Sex As Intercourse for Men	148	(12)
Deconstructing Intercourse	151	(3)
Is ``Male Sexuality'' a Simple Hormonal Drive, a ``Biological Fact of Life,'' or Is It Socially Constructed?	154	(1)
Is Men's Focus on Coitus ``Natural''?	154	(3)
Male ``Sex Drive''	157	(1)
Built-in ``Inadequacy'' for Men in the Current Definition of ``Sex''	157	(1)
Penis Size	158	(1)
Pressure to ``Make Her Come''	159	(1)
Doubts and Lack of Information about Women's Orgasms	160	(8)
Bottom Line	168	(4)
Is the Solution That ``Women Should Speak Up''?	172	(1)
Men's Feelings of Alienation, Blame, Guilt, and Anger	172	(2)
Men and the Clitoris	174	(5)
Men's Feelings about Giving a Woman Clitoral Stimulation to Orgasm	174	(5)
Similarities between Clitoral and Penile Anatomy	179	(3)
How Do Men Feel about Stimulating a Woman to Orgasm Clitorally by Hand?	182	(5)
Vibrators and Men, Vibrators and Women (What's the Problem?)	187	(1)
Men's Feelings about Cunnilingus	188	(7)
How Does Clitoral Stimulation to Orgasm Affect Men's Sexuality?	195	(1)
Women's Resistance to Traditional Sex and Intercourse	196	(4)
Rape and Sexual Violence	200	(3)
Pornography's Definition of ``Male Sexuality''	203	(1)
Men, Marriage, and Monogamy	204	(3)
Are Men Angry at Women?	207	(1)
Men's Perception of Women As Weak	208	(2)
Do Men Now Want to Redefine Their Relationships with Women?	210	(1)
What Do Men Think of Women's Liberation?	211	(3)
A Time of Change?	214	(1)
Who Are Men Today? Who Is the Modern Man?	215	(2)
Do Men Like Marriage?	217	(2)
Are Men Monogamous?	219	(1)
Combat between Fathers and Sons for Power/Turmoil in the Kingdom of Fathers and Sons	220	(3)
Will the ``New Man'' Change Corporate Culture?	223	(1)
Are Men Questioning the Cliches? Changing the System and Themselves?	223	(1)
The Janus-Heads of Male Psychology	224	(3)
PART 3: WOMEN'S VIEW OF LOVE (1987)	227	(70)
Redesigning and Renaming Female Psychology	229	(68)
What Is Love?	229	(2)
``The Emotional Contract''	231	(1)
Naming the Problem	232	(1)
``Real Love''	233	(1)
The Covert Emotional Contract	233	(1)
How Do Women Feel about Their Love Relationships?	234	(1)
What Is ``Emotional Equality''?	234	(1)
Do Women ``Love Too Much''?	235	(1)
Identifying Gender Discrimination in Love	236	(1)
Women's Rebellion against Potential Slurs on Female Identity	237	(2)
``Women Lack Self-Esteem''---Or Do They?	239	(1)
Everyday Language As Ideology	239	(4)
Cliches about Women	240	(1)
Teasing and Other Put-downs	241	(1)
Sexist Vocabulary	242	(1)
``Emotional Harassment''	243	(1)
Emotional Violence	243	(2)
Anger and Alienation---Inevitable Reactions?	245	(1)
Does Fighting, ``Bringing Up the Issues,'' Work?	245	(1)
How Does Change Come About?	246	(1)
Men Should Welcome Women's Anger, Not Fear It	247	(1)
Does Therapy Help---or Is It Harmful to Women?	247	(2)
Cliches about Private Life That Need to Change	249	(1)
Being Single	249	(2)
How the Emotional Contract Applies to the Dating Scenario	249	(2)
Patterns in Single Relationships	251	(3)
The Seduction Scenario	252	(1)
Trashy Behavior and Bad Manners	253	(1)
Are Men to Blame? How Do Men Feel?	254	(1)
Sexual Miscommunication	255	(1)
Reappraising the Sexual Revolution	255	(1)
The Right to Be Single	256	(1)
What Is Love?	257	(9)
How Women Feel about Painful Love Affairs	257	(3)
Practicality Versus the Soul	260	(1)
Why Is ``Real Love'' So Important to Women?	261	(1)
If Women Change Their View of Love	262	(1)
Women's Dissatisfaction	262	(1)
The ``Other'' Transformed/Conclusion	263	(1)
A Cultural Divide	264	(1)
Challenging the ``Biological Difference'' Belief	265	(1)
Men's View of Love	266	(2)
The Sexualization of Boys and Male Alienation	266	(1)
Adam and Eve as Early Gender-Role Propaganda	266	(1)
Fundamentalist Religious Views	267	(1)
Men and Love	268	(3)
How Is It Learned?	269	(1)
Men Are Blackmailed into Obedience to the System	269	(2)
Two Cultures	271	(1)
Does This Mean That Women Are ``Better''?	272	(1)
Women's Deeper Questions	273	(1)
``Family Values''	274	(1)
Seeing the World through New Eyes	274	(1)
Friendships between Women	274	(2)
Why Are Women Happy with Their Women Friends?	276	(3)
The State of Marriage Today	279	(2)
What Kinds of Love Do Women Feel in Marriage? Which Kind of Love Works Best in Marriage?	279	(2)
Democratizing the Family	281	(1)
Home	281	(1)
A Cultural Revolution in Progress	282	(1)
Family Values and Love	283	(2)
Men's Fear of Being ``in Love''	285	(1)
How the Socialization of Men and Boys Affects World Affairs	286	(1)
Where Does Our Men-on-Top Society Come From?	286	(2)
Men and Women	288	(2)
``To Make a World in Which More Love Can Flourish''---How?	290	(2)
Women's Code of Honor	292	(5)
A Nonviolent Philosophical Framework: Paradigm Change	292	(1)
A New Landscape	293	(1)
Not ``the Human Condition''---Not Forever	294	(3)
PART 4: ICONS OF THE HEART: LOVE, POWER, AND SEX IN THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY (1994)	297	(44)
Democracy of the Heart	299	(42)
Moving toward the Future of Family and Society with a More Mature View	299	(2)
Psychosexual Development in Children	301	(2)
Origins of Girls' and Boys' Sexual Identity	303	(1)
Puberty in Boys	303	(2)
Girls at Puberty	305	(1)
Psychosexual Identity As Developed by Daughters with Their Mothers	306	(2)
Why Do Girls Have Orgasms before They Can Reproduce?	308	(1)
Beauty and Fights between Mothers and Daughters	308	(3)
Girls' and Boys' Psychosexual Development is Different	311	(2)
The Redefinition of Puberty in Girls	313	(2)
The New Alice	315	(1)
What is ``the Hymen'' and Female Virginity?	316	(2)
When Do Girls Become Sexual?	318	(1)
Spanking	319	(3)
Girls and Their Mothers	322	(1)
Teenage Girls with Their Best Friends	323	(2)
Is Sex by Definition ``Impure''? Are Girls ``Impure'' After Puberty?	325	(1)
Sex, Purity, and the Family	326	(1)
Icons of the Heart	327	(1)
What Does the Phrase ``Traditional Family'' Mean?	328	(2)
What Is Democratization of the Family?	330	(1)
Exploding the Nuclear Myth	331	(3)
Bullying of Boys, Sex, and Society	334	(1)
Bullying	334	(1)
``Isn't It Strange to Think of Your Parents Having Sex?''	335	(2)
A New Framework for Growing Up/Bringing ``Family Values'' Up to Date	337	(4)
PART 5: LESBIANISM, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND GAY RIGHTS: TO SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY (1976, 1981, 1987, AND BEYOND)	341	(56)
Are Homosexuality and Lesbianism Natural?	343	(54)
Lesbianism	344	(1)
What Percentage of Women Are Lesbian?	344	(1)
What Is Sex between Women Like?	345	(1)
What Do Women Do Together Sexually?	345	(6)
Listening on Another Frequency	351	(3)
Origin of the Taboo	351	(3)
Is Love between Women Another Way of Life?	354	(1)
1987 Statistics	354	(1)
How Do Lesbian Women Speak of Love?	355	(1)
Are Women in Gay Relationships Monogamous?	356	(6)
Coming Out Is Hard to Do---But Most Women Sound Very Happy about It	362	(3)
Women Over Forty	365	(3)
Where Is the Dividing Line between Gay and Straight Affection for a Friend?	368	(1)
Lesbianism Can Be Political	368	(2)
Being Woman-Identified	370	(1)
Another World, Another Culture	370	(1)
Sex and Love between Men	371	(3)
Sexual Games between Teenage Boys	374	(1)
What Is Sex between Men Like?	375	(6)
Performance Pressures in Sex between Men	381	(1)
Love Stories between Men	382	(2)
Do Gay Men Prefer ``Promiscuity'' or Long-term Relationships?	384	(4)
The Politics of Being Gay	388	(1)
Are Women Still Marginalized in the Gay World?	389	(1)
The Future of Women	390	(3)
Will More Women Choose Lesbianism?	390	(3)
Gay Marriage and ``Family Values''	393	(4)
PART 6: SEX, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND GLOBALIZATION (1996-2005)	397	(58)
Reevaluating Family Values and the Sexual Revolution	399	(52)
Where Are We in the ``Morals Revolution''? Transition or Collapse?	399	(2)
Female Sexuality	401	(1)
Are We Groping Toward New Global Values about Women?	402	(2)
Women's Rights in Iraq	404	(2)
A New Sexual Culture to Go with a New International Politics	406	(1)
``Make Love Not War'': Is This What Our Politics Means?	406	(1)
Human Rights, Equality, and Sex	407	(2)
Undefining ``Sex''	409	(1)
Women Redefining Sex	410	(1)
Family Values	411	(2)
A Deep Feeling of Unease	413	(1)
Where Are We Going from Here?	414	(1)
In Praise of Secularism	414	(1)
Has Women's Liberation Been Derailed/Hijacked by the Sexual Freedom Movement?	415	(1)
The Sexual Revolution and the Double Standard	416	(1)
Should Sex Be Connected to Emotions? Where Does Love Come into It?	417	(1)
The Right Not to Have ``Sex'': Is Sex Necessary for Health?	418	(3)
What Was the Ultimate Significance of the ``Sexual Revolution'' of the 1960s?	421	(1)
Beauty and Women	421	(2)
Toward a New Sexual Culture	423	(1)
No More ``Battle of the Sexes''	424	(2)
Purity and Impurity East and West	426	(2)
Are Western Sexual Standards ``Decadent''?	428	(1)
Is the Western ``Sexual Revolution'' an Advance or a Decline?	428	(3)
Are ``Sexually Liberated Women'' in the West Causing ``the Decline of Morals''?	431	(4)
Love and Family Values Past and Future	435	(3)
Society Before the Greeks	435	(3)
Personal Politics	438	(1)
Sex and World Peace	439	(1)
Feminism, Female Sexuality, and World Terrorism	440	(2)
Church, Women, and Family	442	(2)
Responding to the Vatican Letter to Bishops on Women and Feminism, August, 2004	442	(2)
Increasing Domestic Violence against Women---Why Now?	444	(5)
A New Sexual Culture to Go with a New Sexual Politics	449	(2)
Sex, Globalization, and Peace	449	(2)
Afterword: Landscapes of the Mind	451	(4)
A New Emotional Landscape	451	(1)
Underwater Frescoes of the Mind	451	(1)
Myth Psychology (Basic Brain Software)	452	(3)
APPENDIX	455	(78)
An Introduction to The Hite Reports: Theory and Importance by Naomi Weinstein	457	(9)
The Hite Report on Female Sexuality	457	(3)
The Hite Report on Men and Male Sexuality	460	(2)
Women and Love	462	(4)
Observations on The Hite Reports, Wardell Pomeroy, Co-author with Alfred Kinsey, ``The Kinsey Report''	466	(2)
Write What You Want As Long As It's about Sex (Modern Mechanics of Censorship)	468	(5)
Censorship Feels Confusing to the Individual	469	(1)
Censoring Women's Thought	469	(1)
Modern Mechanics of Censorship	470	(3)
Dangers I Have Faced to Produce This Work	473	(4)
1987 Statement by Committee	474	(1)
1994 Statement by Committee	475	(1)
Methodological Essays	476	(1)
Controversies Over the Nature of Love by Dr. Linda Singer	477	(8)
Methodological Observations on The Hite Report Trilogy	485	(14)
Quantifying the Emotions by Gladys Engel Lang	485	(2)
Explication of Scientific Method as Used in Research for The Hite Report Trilogy	487	(1)
The Four Stages of Research	488	(1)
Questionnaire Design	488	(2)
The Difficulty of Studying Sex and the Emotions	490	(1)
Distribution of Questionnaires and Composition of Sample	490	(1)
Could the Study Have Been Done Using Random Sampling Methods?	491	(1)
Analysis of Replies	491	(2)
Presentation of Findings	493	(1)
Dialogue between Participant and Researcher	493	(1)
The Issue of Class as Related to Presentation of Data	493	(1)
Note on the Use of Terms ``Most'' and ``Many'' in the Text	494	(1)
Reactions by the Media and Scholars in the Field	495	(4)
Additional Scholarly Papers	499	(2)
Scientific Method As Used in Hite Report Research	500	(1)
Research Questionnaires on Female Sexuality, Male Sexuality, Love as Women Describe It, and Growing Up in the Family	501	(32)
Research Questionnaire on Female Sexuality, 1970-1977	501	(5)
Research Questionnaire on Men and Male Sexuality, 1974-1982	506	(12)
Research Questionnaire on Love, 1975-1988	518	(8)
Research Questionnaire on Growing Up in the Family, 1975-1995	526	(7)
Index	533	(26)
About the Author	559