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Arousal: Bodies and Pleasures

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I first encountered Martha Roth as the author of the very moving novel, Goodness (Spinster's Ink, 1996). Reading Goodness hardly prepared me for Arousal. Goodness made me feel good; it is a novel about good people, good love, good sex. Arousal is not a novel. Arousal aroused me. Stimulated me. Asked difficult questions for which I had no easy answers. At the same time I had a sense of playfulness, of fun, a sense that the author enjoyed writing this book. And there was courage too. To display erotic images in words, that takes courage. And to not be prurient, that takes art. And to wrap it up in a grand theory linking reading (symbolization) to erotic pleasure, now that takes a kind of courage cum ambition that takes my breath away. To sum up: I am glad I read Arousal. It provided the stimulus for some rousing good conversations with the man in my life. Britomar Lathrop, PhD Psychologist Rockford, Illinois

Martha Roth
Arousal: Bodies and Pleasures

(Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions, 1998) 161 pages
(ISBN: 1-57131-220-X; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: BF692.R66 1998)

A work of literature rather than sexology,
the author discloses glimpses of her own sexual imprinting,
altho she implicitly believes
that sexual arousal is learned from life-experiences.

Martha Roth is a feminist writer.
And many of her sources are other feminists.
She seeks to express female sexuality
without the male bias it usually gets
(as responding to male sexuality).

For sexology, this is more a personal memoir
than a scientific study.
But it provides more raw data for future analysis.

If you are interested in the science of sexual arousal,
search the Internet for the following bibliography:
"SEXOLOGY---SEX-SCRIPTS---BEST BOOKS".

James Leonard Park, author of
Imprinted Sexual Fantasies:
A New Key for Sexology.