Review essay: a post-modernist theory of wanking: Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation.Abstract: Robert Darby, "Review Essay: A Post-Modernist Theory of Wanking: Solitary Sex solitary sex A sexual act by a single person, usually private, often understood to mean masturbation. Cf Consensual sex. : A Cultural History of Masturbation masturbation Erotic stimulation of one's own genital organs, usually to achieve orgasm. Masturbatory behavior is common in infants and adolescents, and is indulged in by many adults as well. Studies indicate that over 90% of U.S. males and 60–80% of U.S. . By Thomas Laqueur (New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Zone Books, 2003. 501pp.)." In Solitary Sex Thomas Laqueur aims to provide a comprehensive explanation for the anxiety (both medical and moral) over masturbation which gripped the western world from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. While the study is an important contribution to the debate on this problem, it is marred by lack of specificity, a disproportionate dis·pro·por·tion·ate adj. Out of proportion, as in size, shape, or amount. dis  pro·por focus on the eighteenth at the expense of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, insufficient attention paid to the contribution of religious ideologies, relevant medical history, such as developments in disease theory, the therapies devised to control the problem (particularly male and female circumcision female circumcisionn. Partial or complete removal of the clitoris, prepuce, or labia of a girl or young woman, as practiced among certain cultures, especially in parts of Africa and western Asia. Also called clitoridectomy. ), and a tendency to decorporialise the body. In this review article an attempt is made to indicate the strengths of the study while suggesting vital questions which the author has failed to pursue. |
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