O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm

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Grove Press, 2005 - 416 páginas
Orgasm is one of society's most compelling, shaping forces -- and most of us probably think that we are living in its golden age. But are we? The history of the orgasm is as elusive as orgasm itself can be, for sex rarely makes the historical record. Now acclaimed British journalist Jonathan Margolis delivers the definitive history of the human orgasm, of sex for pleasure as well as conception -- from prehistory to Viagra. Most people manage just twelve minutes of orgasmic bliss per year. Some never experience it at all. Yet the urge for orgasm rules much of human life, across national and cultural boundaries. How much have we learned about female pleasure since the 1558 discovery of the clitoris? How has the drive for pleasure, and the fear of it, shaped various societies -- from Saint Francis of Assisi and the thorn bush, to "primitive" tribes who embraced maximum pleasure for both sexes? How much does the sensation of orgasm differ for different people? Drawing on the biology, literature, anthropology, psychology, and technology, Jonathan Margolis delivers the final word on both male and female orgasm in an enlightening history that is a pleasure to read.
 

Índice

The Sexiest Primate
1
Coming Coming Gone
13
Herstory
52
Afterglow
69
The Way We Were
83
The Evolutionary Paradox of Orgasm
102
Orgasm BC
133
Sex and the City State
155
Orgasm in the Middle Ages
224
The Foundations of Victorian Prudery The Orgasm from the Late Restoration to 1840
249
A Tale of Two Sexes? The Orgasm From Victoria to Health Efficiency
274
The Orgasm from Freud to Lady Chatterley
303
The Orgasm Comes of Age From Kinsey to the Swinging Sixties
321
A Little Coitus Never Hoitus From Fear of Flying to Sex and the City
344
Epilogue How Was It for Us?
385
Bibliography and Webography
394

Orgasm in the Orient
182
Faith Hope and Chastity Orgasm in the Early Christian World
206

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