Customer Reviews

Sex in History

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read this book at least 4 times, and I never get tired of it. Tanahill's writing is witty,interesting, and unbiased. She addresses the history of sexuality in almost every country and culture (not just Europe, which is what usually happens)and gives a history of humankind, from the Neolithic Revolution to the 1980s. It's well-researched and incredibly informative, filled with facts about gender roles and sexuality (and how this affects everything else in a society) throughout time.

Near the beginning, the author makes the ridiculous assertion that women can only be raped from the front. In the discussion of ancient Rome, she puts forth a theory that the Roman empire collapsed because the men of Rome allowed their women to buy too many material goods, thus creating a trade deficit. She states that Judaism encourages withdrawal as a method of birth control, when in fact withdrawal and condoms are the only two methods of birth control Orthodox Judaism FORBIDS. In the section on the Arab world, a drawing of a mule is labeled as a "mare". In the section on early Christianity, she covers the theology dominant at the time; but doesn't even mention the minority opinions on sex (like those of Vigilantius and Chrysostom) which became the official Church position in modern times. This work contains many much such inaccuracies and historical distortions.

Regarding the section on Europe, "A History of the Wife" by Marilyn Yalom covers the exact same topic without the inaccuracies and historical distortions. When purchasing "Sex in History" I was hoping for a book on how cultures regarded the actual act of intercourse. This book actually attempts to cover the status of wives and prostitutes, with some details the author apparently thought titillating (for example, she likes to use Sanskit words for anatomical parts as much as possible in discussions where English words would be much more natural) thrown in. On top of all this, the writing style is difficult to read - the author couldn't even make this an entertaining read!

I was highly disappointed in this purchase.

As publisher of the flagship forum of equalitarianism at The Backlash! I have long prized my well worn copy of Reay Tannahil's Sex in History: It is an unbiased overview of sexual relationships throughout history. In highly readable prose Tannahil tells the truth about women and men without lapsing into rants about either sex, and I recommend her book to everyone.

The author pinpoints the many historical and sociological reasons for our modern sexual behavior (i.e. sexual identity, clothing, dating, etc). She does it in a breezy, informative, and humorous style that is never ponderous or academic. One of my favorite books

It pinpoints clearly where many current but odd behavior patterns derive from. 5 Stars are not enough to describe this most unusual combination of high quality in research, structure and common sense. Many authors should take stile and approach as an example. As a typical human I have a complaint, the book is too thin.

What amazed me about this text is that it made an endlessly interesting topic even more fasicinating. Intelligent and jam packed with information which is well researched and massively diverse. Essential acaedemic and yet so much more.

I picked up this book by chance and could not put it down until finished. I would recommend it to anyone who would not be ashamed to say in public that they had read it. The weak areas of the book are those near the end. The discussion of the scientific and medical aspects of contraception research are only a sketch and do not discuss the many fascinating people who did this research. However, this is not a science text, so I am willing to ignore this deficiency.

Would you swig a magic potion containing leper's blood? You'll be asking yourself this and other strange questions (crocodile dung as a contraceptive?) if you read this very interesting book about mankind's sex practices since the times of early cavemen. The author wants to be scholarly (frequent footnote alert!), but there are many times when a snarky comment intrudes and you can't help but laugh. (The throwaway joke about pilgrims on their way to Mecca having sex with the camel boys AND the camels might have been easy to get away with in 1980, but it now seems a risky thing to write.) As the author goes through the centuries, regaling us with bizarre trivia about ancient birth control methods and abortion techniques and prostitution, you encounter memorable nuggets of arcane info that you'll want to share with friends and co-workers, though probably not with close relatives.

It's all here: masturbation, flagellation, sodomy punishments, menstruation fallacies, pornography, chastity belts, whorehouses, rape. The scope is practically global--Sumeria, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, India, Japan, South America. Each stop gives you more shocking detail about what our ancestors used to be in error about and how they always seemed to "do wrong," yet everyone kept breeding prolifically.

There are lots of cheap black and white pictures of poor quality. (I especially enjoyed the page of codpieces!) The pictured castration device might leave male readers squirming in discomfort, but the accompanying pages about the Ottoman eunuchs are quite diverting.

The text is well-written and expertly edited. I'm not sure if "wido" is a typo (page 188) or an alternate spelling for "widow," but it at least proves I read the footnotes. Also, sometimes the author just states something and moves on without proving or justifying; the claim about "the type of adult homosexuality that is permanent and genetic" needs a little more explanation. It's a great book if you're looking for lurid sensationalism. I found the final sections on the suffragettes and feminists easy to skim through rapidly. Since the book dates from 1980, the "modern" stuff seems rather old-hat by now.

A most informative and very objective book on this delicate subject... I enjoyed it so much that I have given this very title 24 times as a gift... "go girl"

The title of this book would make some think that they would be reading about sex, sex techniques, etc. throughout history, but the book is more about our beliefs, mores, and knowledge about reproduction throughout the ages. Not a boring or hard read. Moves along quickly and held my interest throughout. This is the second copy of this book I have bought as my original copy was stolen out of my house by some visitor. Friends who have seen this in my bookcase want to borrow it and all who have read it told me they enjoyed it greatly.