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This title in other editionsSolitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbationby Thomas W. Laqueur
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:At a time when almost any victimless sexual practice has its public advocates and almost every sexual act is fit for the front page, the easiest, least harmful, and most universal one is embarassing, discomforting, and genuinely radical when openly acknowledged. Masturbation may be the last taboo. But this is not a holdover from a more benighted age. The ancient world cared little about the subject; it was a backwater of Jewish and Christian teaching about sexuality. In fact, solitary sex as a serious moral issue can be dated with a precision rare in cultural history; Laqueur identifies it with the publication of the anonymous tract "Onania" in about 1722. Masturbation is a creation of the Enlightenment, of some of its most important figures, and of the most profound changes it unleashed. It is modern. It worried at first not conservatives, but progressives. It was the first truly democratic sexuality that could be of ethical interest for women as much as for men, for boys and girls as much as for their elders.
The book's range is vast. It begins with the prehistory of solitary sex in the Bible and ends with third-wave feminism, conceptual artists, and the Web. It explains how and why this humble and once obscure means of sexual gratification became the evil twin — or the perfect instance — of the great virtues of modern humanity and commercial society: individual moral autonomy and privacy, creativity and the imagination, abundance and desire. Review:"[Laqueur's] writing is free from embarrassment and needless jargon (though it does not shy away from complex formulations of manual sex's complexes), and, with 32 b&w illustrations, it should be a big hit on campus." Publishers Weekly Review:"Laqueur's penetrating analysis will fascinate social historians and the intellectual public. Recommended." Library Journal Review:"[A] compendious and witty analysis..." Jenny Diski, The Los Angeles Times Review:"Laqueur tackles with aplomb what has been called the last taboo....Sheds bright light on an aspect of human behavior hitherto relegated to history's shadows." Kirkus Reviews Review:"The narrative...bogs down in detail, although Laqueur helpfully advises readers where to jump ahead in order to pick up the primary thread.....[Laqueur's] fervor, it's a relief to report, is both contagious and guilt-free." Mark Holcomb, The Village Voice Review:"An engaging writer, [Laqueur] has a penchant for with-it language...and in the later part of his book he devotes too much attention to transgressive artists whose cultural importance is marginal." The New Yorker Synopsis:Working with material from the prehistory of solitary sex in the Bible to third wave, Solitary Sex is a fact-filled history of masturbation. Synopsis:A historical account of masturbation as a moral issue and cultural taboo. Synopsis:At a time when almost any victimless sexual practice has its public advocates and almost every sexual act is fit for the front page, the easiest, least harmful, and most universal one is embarrassing, discomforting, and genuinely radical when openly acknowledged. Masturbation may be the last taboo. But this is not a holdover from a more benighted age. The ancient world cared little about the subject; it was a backwater of Jewish and Christian teaching about sexuality. In fact, solitary sex as a serious moral issue can be dated with a precision rare in cultural history; Laqueur identifies it with the publication of the anonymous tract About the AuthorThomas W. Laqueur, winner of the Mellon Foundation's 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award, is Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 7 I The Beginning 13 II The Spread of Masturbation from Onania to the Web 25 111 Masturbation Before Onania 83 IV The Problem with Masturbation 185 V Why Masturbation Became a Problem 247 VI Solitary Sex in the Twentieth Century 359 Notes 421 Index 497 What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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