Abstract
At the centre of sexology, the orgasm, and above all ‘the female orgasm: ‘the delicious erotic trip’. O for orgasm. Everybody’s talking about it, endlessly, women especially. Evenings out, social occasions, are quite an ordeal for the sexologist who hears of nothing but that: ‘I’m always very apprehensive about invitations to dinner for, sooner or later, the conversation turns to sex and the women round the table divide sharply into two categories: those who have the orgasm and those who don’t.’ Two categories, one topic: the ‘Big O’.
‘The Erotic Path to the “Big O”’
‘J’, Total Loving, 1977
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
‘vivid orgasm …’ William Howitt, Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets (London, 1847) vol. I p. 425. ‘for 30 years …’ The Lancet 22 November 1862, p. 570; Tilt is reported as making this comment in a monograph under review entitled Uterine and Ovarian Inflammation. ‘Nature intends …’ / ‘with orgasms …’ ‘J’, Total Loving, pp. 102, 90.
‘the naked ape …’ / ‘By making …’ Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape (1967) (St Albans and London: Triad/ Panther Books, 1979) pp. 56, 73.
‘Other female primates …’ / ‘a “borrowed” male pattern’ ibid. pp. 49, 70. ‘blind beakishness’ D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928) (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1960) p. 210 (‘They talk about men’s selfishness, but I doubt if it can ever touch a woman’s blind beakishness, once she’s gone that way. Like an old trull!’; in The Plumed Serpent (1926), Lawrence had already talked of ‘beak-like friction’, ‘the seething electric female ecstasy’, and brought his heroine Kate to ‘realize the worthlessness of this foam-effervescence’ (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971) p. 439.
‘the uterine orgasm’ ‘Female Orgasm, Where Are You?’, Playboy vol. 27 no. 7 (July 1980) p. 264. IT HAPPENS …’ ‘J’, Total Loving, p. 78.
six possible sources Kinsey et at., The Sexual Behaviour of the Human Male, p. 159. ‘It’s not just to fuck …’ Reich, Reich Speaks of Freud, p. 37. ‘the repression …’ Cooper, The Grammar of Living, p. 40. ‘partial releases …’ / ‘ultimate vegetatively involuntary surrender’ Reich, The Function of the Orgasm (1942) (St Albans and London: Panther Books, 1968) pp. 119, 120. ‘phallic-pornographic-clitoral …’ Reich, Reich Speaks of Freud, p. 241. ‘clitoral genitality …’ / ‘there are human beings …’ Reich, The Function of the Orgasm, p. 201.
‘in the first-world bourgeoisie …’ Cooper, The Grammar of Living, p. 44. ‘In the sexual act …’ Lawrence Lipton, The Holy Barbarians (New York: Julian Messner, 1959) p. 158. ‘Orgastically potent individuals …’ / ‘the healthy woman …’ Reich, The Function of the Orgasm, pp. 116–17, 118.
‘a moistened middle finger’ Brown and Faulder, Treat Yourself, p. 61. Gerald Zwang Lettre ouverte aux mal-baisants (Paris: Albin Michel, 1975). ‘In a recent questionnaire …’ Cooper, The Grammar of Living, p. 115 n.
‘good sex …’ Brown and Faulder, Treat Yourself, p. 15. I Love You Translation of the title of the book already referred to by Michel Meignant, Je t’aime: le livre rouge de la sexologie humaniste. ‘sexuality is …’ Bernard Muldworf, ‘Irruption de la politique’, La Nef no. 58 (1975) (special number devoted to ‘love and sexuality’) p. 38.
‘the glorified body’ Marielle David, Lettres de l’École Freudienne no. 19 (July 1976) p. 134.
‘the alpha …’ Serge Ledaire, Psychanalyser (Paris: Seuil, 1968) p. 163.
‘An extinction …’ Moustapha Safouan, La Sexualité feminine (Paris: Seuil, 1976) pp. 16–17.
Copyright information
© 1982 Stephen Heath
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Heath, S. (1982). VI. In: The Sexual Fix. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16767-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16767-8_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-32751-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-16767-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)