Wonon's saxuaslity has been sc mich denicd, abused and degraded - both cn a and net sc scientific grounds - that the earnosty of a beck such as
( Wonen (by Drs Phyllis and Eberhaud Krerhauson, published by Corgi be ene 19 Oo) Verges on provocation. It is a well-known fact that if a wenan is “normally developed mentally and wall bred, hor séxnal desire is emall"., Kraft Ebbing said so only some fifty yoars ogo and Kraft Ebbing was an honourable sexclcogist. “Otbvicus sox interast only happens in leativicus. wonen!" schoed another medical auttority of tha tine. Woman aro theroforo condemoed either to the lewdness ef a brothel or to the beradon of the marital bod. Tho sexless nethor, tho sinloss siater on one hand = the lascivious wonan of flesh, the insatiablo whore «n the «thor hand. But Evo and the Holy Virgin aro the two sides cf the sano coin - whither blessod with frigidity or possessed with greed a women is alwaya deprived of the dignity of an erotic boing: sublination and seorn aro now oqually offeotiva weapcns, Tho twin myths fo the "puro women" and sf the "impuro wonan" was codifiod again and again. Froud gavo it a scientific gloss. In Three Esse : 1 i 4 (oy mo monas his major work, but unfortunately tha most widely read), Froud statas that tha transition from childhood to womanhood will only ba esucecasful if tho clitoris abandcns its sominl prinacy tc the vagina. If a wouan doce not achiave “tho aabty and complete relogation of the sensitivity of tho clitcria" which was tho leading ercgoncus zono ef tho body cf a littic girl, sha will romain "clitorally orionted" and "paychosoxmally imaature", As tho clitoris is an "atrophied yonis", a wonan ia 4 castrated oala whe bas hed to atruggic all through her Life to acsopt the appalling fact that sho has not boon provided with a sox, that ia to say with & porta.
Yot Froud himself was not entirely satisfied with his theory and repantodLy ednittod that bis knowledge cf women wos inadequate, He hoped that fenmalo
F
=
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psychoanalysts would bea "able, to coprehend the facta with grenter case". Jt is sadly significant.that the most cagor post-Freudians to cling to this most imperfect theory wara.wonen psycheanalyate (Maric Bonaparte, Anne Froud, Holon Tnitech ...)s women themselves hava booone convinced ef their own inforicrity! Purtherodre what Freud -hopad would be taken as basis for further studies becona instead « rigid bible for his successore (A nisfirtane which he shares with Marx and a few others), For instanca, though frigidity should technically be defined as total inablityy to. achieve orgasn, the ultro-Fraudians defined it as on "inability to achieve vaginal crgasm", and ware thus cnablod to say. in 1944, that between 70% and ve af women ware, frigid. Thie would certainly heave délizhtod Kraft-Bbbing and his ocllvagucsa!
Qne of tho narits of tho book nonticned ia to .dostroy this anezing definition of frigidity. Tho approach te the .problom,.of faninine sexuality is punuinoly scicntifio,and thoroughly naterialist. They ara concerned with one qucetion only, "hat. happens. to.a.wonan's. body when it is arguscd?" To’answor this quosticn thoy have takon chemical and elootronical moasurononts over a hundred wonwn whe agrood to hava thor pulgo rate, hoart beat, rospiration, notabblisn, vaginal acidity. brain waves. oto... .moagurad during tho. various stages of thoir, sexual responsa, Thoy have closely.cexariimed tho various parts cf tho body (vagina, cervix, broasts, clitoris oto.,..).at.syory stage of tho eyale. They uso the latest discovorics in medicine, scciology, anthropology cte.... And, thoy, largoly quota the ahswors given by the 500 women.,.whon thoy interviowed,in. Buyropo and Anorica. This ia indeod a vory useful, etimlating and highly readable book, I an convineed that it can and must bo: used: by sccialists as the background. for fruitful discussions cn fonale sexuality, for tho,concelusions saveroly challongo the nyth of wouan'a scxual. inforiority...In, faot-"woran, cay. very woll bo the more hiphly esaxed of tha hurian species", Tho. dichotomy of vaginal and cliteral ergesns is proved to be ontir ly falso. Wo now knew, tho avthors say, on tha basis ef such solid aciontific werk aa ip availnble, that there Pe ne nocd for a ehift or transfer of sensitivity fron the clitoris to thu vagina. ..On the contrary it is not the vagina, but the clitoris which ronding: throughout tha mit lifo, tho organ with tho greatest potential for erotic stimulation, This is bocauso the clitcris has the greatest concantration of sonsory norve jondings and,. proportionately, much creator oractila capacity than avén the male’penig!».Inifact, practically.all orgasms are centred arcund tho dlitoria whether they result.frou direct. prossura or indircct pressure (tho rubbing of the paniaeduring intercourse, for instance). This redically disconnocts the man's ojaculation fron the womants orgean. It. moane that wohén dé not have te rely on the man's soxual satisfaction to achieve gonuine sexial Satisfactich. A wonan is moti-orgasnic, if she is stimulated sfter hor, First: orgasm, sho is likely to have another, and then. another. But, if those crgasra do not vary in kind. thoy @o vary in) intensity. ;Nono cf..the wonon intarviowed ovor states that it is during intorsourso) that thoy, achicve thair most intonse orgasms. Many cf then give 4 vory duportant part to othor noans (nasturbetion and cunnilingus in particular). Many widoly secoptod ideas have to be, dismissod as wall, It is vot true that wonon are more reluctant to have casual relationships with their somial partnors, it is not truco that thoir scxual response is mora likely to be affected by nontal disoonfurts oto ... There is in fact "an onormous sox potuntial that lias dormant in most woron", And thay acom to he vaguoly aware thet they aro doprivod of sorething important, Tho overwhelming wajcrity of the women interviewsd say thay are npt satcsficd with their soxual life. Most of thon blame their partners for it, which ia obviously irrolevant, bet it is interesting to nota that they aro aware ef not having oxhausted their sexual possibilitics.
AK vory aignificant story is reportod by the authors. In Italy the word? Nadultery" has widoly different neanings depanding on whether it is used in roference to a man or to a wonam. If & woman has sexial intorcourga with a men whe ie not her husbehd it de eftultery. But her husband will have to koup a mistress in his cwn house or in a "public and notorious way" befére ho can * .atend to ba in the seno logal position, ‘This, apparently, is a violation of tho Italian Constitition which is supposed to grant equality to men and woron. ‘Two wonon who had boon convicted with adultory appealed to the Conetitutional Court, on thaso grounde. Tho Court eventually docided that "in confornity with commen epinion", it "constituted obviously a moro serious offence", Tho law, as tho (all male) court oxplainod, aired at “protecting the unity of the fanily" - tho patriarchal family, noodloss to say. This is tho hoart of the uatter. After Eraft-Dbbing hed assorted that the somal dosiro in women was vory anall, he monde this very .illuninating compont: “If thie wore not eo, the whole world weuld becona a brothel and marriage and a faaily inpossible". Marriage end a family es we know thom = are impossible if womon are soxually fully nature, that ie if mon end wonton are equal. To preserva tho fanily structure’ wonon hava to be kopt in a stato of inferiority, oconorically, legally, socially and sexuslly. This is the only roasen why fominino sexmality has boen eo savagoly represscd. ‘The little girl is told "It's not tho same thing for a woran"”. It ie only natural theroforg that she should ronein o virgin until her marriago and a faithful wifo afterwards, thus giving to hor husband tho corteainty that hie property will eo to his own flesh and blood. For the monogenic family etructura was a convenicnt way of stabilising private preporty upon which capdtalien is tuilt and it is now + convonicnt way of maintaining it, In retrospect, Proud's:theory appoara to be an obedicnt rationalisation of tha donial of wornen's sexual rights. Tha neod for a transfor fron the clitoris to the vagina and the supoericrity of "“waginal creesn" aro attorpts to liquidate forinine soxuality. Bocausco "varinal orgasm” is diffioult to achiove, fcr anatoriical reasons. And above all bocauso vaginal orgssn depends upon the man's ejaculation. Tho Victorians (and it is not mere ecincidenca that the mon of tho Industrial Revolution should be tho "Victorians", that is ta say tha non} Have beon the mest oagor to annihilate woman's sexual rights) honcured only ome aspoct of sex = ojaculation, which had the double advantage of boing strictly nocoesary to tho survival of the species and undoubtedly male - hero again Froud honbly plays his part. To oy knowledga, the only definition he aver gzvo of parvorsion was “soxual satisfaction which doos not ain at roproduction". Is porvorted, thorefcre, overy scxual activity which ia not commoctead with cjaculation and this mist inolude tho whclo of specifically fominine soxunlity which, os we have soon, is strictly indopondont from ojaculation.
Mary pooplo will arguo that all this is completely obsolete. Sex is no longer taboo. Women aro allowed to oxpoct ploasure fron their "narricd life"{1). There are"sericus" books availablo on the subject and your Family Plarming Contre will be gad to adyigo you. It is true that today vory fow pooplo would agred with a Tr Isaac Brown Baker, a aurgoon who porforned mamrous clitcridectonios on wonen to prevent any dangor of sexual gxcitenent, which, he was convinced, caused "insanitice", "catalepsy", "hyatoria" and cther discasos. But in fact very little has chayaud. Most of Victorian ideas which would parhape bo dismissad in their original forn, hava beon passed on to us through the channol of peoudo-sciontific litcratura, Marriage manuals for instanco are viciously prude, If the subjoct of scx could not bo avoided any moro it had to bocome hartilesa, mochanised, moaningloss, bering and aeceptable. No,sonaunlity - tho pubia hair was shaved, the human body docdorisad. All very nico and "Scandinyvian". By dint of (waterod down) quotations of Dr Froud
an cxtra prnssuro was put on women. They now feol that they mist at any coat expericnca vaginal orgasm, both to gratify their husband's phallic pride and to prove to thensclves that they aro not freaks, Sc, onee again, wonen are asacoiated te tho destruction of their cwn croticism and bullied inte conforming to the norns of thoir own soxuality, set by mon to bonefit non, And yot men are victins of it aa woll. I refuse to belicvo that in a society where fominine sexuality has beon so carofully destroyod, mon can bo totally mature soxual boings. Theo double opsessior Imst come/she must coma cannot be amrbody's idoal cf a satisfactory soxal relationship, It is truco that such rolationships will only ba possibla whoro oon and women havo achioved equality: oretic fiction (at I nay say so) mst havea a socialist society for background. Fut I beliove that such books as Soxual Response in Womon can bo useful. It can help wonon to bocorm conscious cf thoir own enormous soxual potential and try to define thonsalves their own croticien. This doca not noan that wo shall havo to substitute the mystique cf the clitoris to the mystique of tho phallus;obvicusly. It moans that any attempt to define faninine soxuality will hava to invelvoe carcful investigation cf all tha physical end subjective factors which affect it. This is the noccssary first stop towards an suthontio sexual liberation of both men and wonen.
(Sone of the material usod by Susan Lydon in her article"Understanding Qrgasm!" published by tho Anorican magngine Ramparts, Dec 14-28, 1968, has bean used in this article. Susan Lydon wae reviewing a book by Dr Willian H Mastera and Mre Virginia E Johnson Human Sexual Response which comes to very similar conclusions on the question of fominine sexuality.
With this issue of Sccialist Wonan wo say adiou to Marie Clairc, one of our cditors. Marie has been a roal activist, invelvod in all our ventures during the past yoar; an ardont aaleswonan of Si, e participant in our politiéal debataa and a noet cheorful comrade. A builder of barricades during tho May dave in France, she returns hone to continue tho fight,