Women and Love: A Cultural Revolution in Progress [Paperback]

Shere Hite (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1989

Shere Hite's first two bestselling reports exploded the fictions of human sexuality. Now Women and Love shatters our outdated notions about relationships, love, and being a woman today. An emotionally gripping chorus of women voicing their innermost feelings about probing questions.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The culmination of the Hite Report trilogy, this massive, potentially controversial work is a zealous indictment of men's attitudes toward love and "domination and condescension" shown in their behavior toward women: "Men need to create a new style of relationships with women. Right now, men's idea of the 'male' way of life as heroic and courageous is in direct conflict with their treatment of women, their frequent lack of emotional development in personal relationships, disinterest in equal sharing with women, and the pain they often inflict on others and themselves." Much of the complaints (the bulk of the book includes overwhelmingly extensive quotes by women and statistics Hite compiled from 4500 responses to her questionnaire) aren't newbut women readers will empathize and feel validated. In this paean to womanhood, Hite dismisses Freudian and other psychological viewpoints that label women as masochistic or neurotic rather than acknowledging that they suffer from "real problems created by a real social ideology." She is less than articulate ("Women are being 'f----ed over' by a culture which is trying to persuade women to take on the 'male' ideology") and succumbs to offering tit for tat: "On a personal level, if we find that men aren't treating us with much respect, we can stop treating them with so much respect, also." Literary Guild featured alternate.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Following The Hite Report: a nationwide study of female sexuality and The Hite Report on Male Sexuality , the final volume of the Hite trilogy reports on the responses of 4500 women to open-ended questionnaires about their emotional relations with men and with each other. The sure-to-be-widely cited statistics document widespread dissatisfaction among both married and single women; and their mass decampment (either actually or emotionally) from the men in their lives. Generalizations are illustrated with lengthy, often poignant comments from respondents, followed by statistical tables. There will be the usual quibbles about methodology, but this is a study of major importance that addresses the realities of many readers' lives. Beverly Miller, Boise State Univ. Lib., Id.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 729 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Mass Market Paper (February 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312913788
• ISBN-13: 978-0312913786
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,185,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the best book on women in patriarchy, May 27, 2010

By 

Elizabeth Stoney - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women and Love: A Cultural Revolution in Progress (Hardcover)

I read this book when it first came out, years ago. It changed my life. It validated what I thought I was seeing: the sometimes covert emotional abuse and contempt that men heap upon women, even when they think they love women.

It's a long, thick book full of stories written by women about their lives with men.

You are not alone.

For some reason, maybe because the information in books like this is still so shocking, the feminist revolution has sort of stalled. Women have made a lot of progress in the working world: we can go into any profession and be very successful in almost any field, provided that we don't let marriage and children hold us back.

Note that the two recent female appointees to the Supreme Court are unmarried, childless women, while the majority of the men on the court are not. This is not an accident.

Private family life is still the last frontier in feminism.

1.0 out of 5 stars Sad deluded and bitter rantings, December 12, 2011

By 

Sp Sansom "Sal" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women and Love: A Cultural Revolution in Progress (Paperback)

What a shame this author dose not recognize the real fulfilled and powerful women abundant in our society or those past.An altogether poor ,under researched and very dated account of women and love save your money