Surprise Castle
/Books/Social Sciences/Core Disciplines
Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation

Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation - Paperback

$25.99
$35.00
-26%
Quantity
01

Pay over time for orders over $35.00 with

Availability:In StockContributor:Thomas W. LaqueurSeries:Zone BooksAudience:Young AdultPublish date:2004-10-30Pages:504
Language:EnglishPublisher:Zone BooksISBN-13:9781890951337ISBN-10:1890951331UPC:9781890951337Book Category:Health & Fitness, Psychology, HistoryBook Subcategory:Sexuality, Human Sexuality, Social HistorySize:9.00 x 6.00 x 1.60 inchesWeight:1.7527Product ID:SC47Y1VHH8

A historical account of masturbation as a moral issue and cultural taboo.

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 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.
Language:EnglishPublisher:Zone BooksISBN-13:9781890951337ISBN-10:1890951331UPC:9781890951337Book Category:Health & Fitness, Psychology, HistoryBook Subcategory:Sexuality, Human Sexuality, Social HistorySize:9.00 x 6.00 x 1.60 inchesWeight:1.7527Product ID:SC47Y1VHH8
Publisher: Zone Books

Edition

Revised Edition

Free shipping on orders over $75. Standard shipping takes 3-7 business days. Returns accepted within 30 days of purchase.

Recently Viewed

View All