Written in the Flesh: A History of Desire

Awards:   Short-listed for Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction 2005 (Canada)
Author:   Edward Shorter
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9780802094520


Pages:   300
Publication Date:   30 September 2006
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

Our Price $69.99 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Written in the Flesh: A History of Desire


Add your own review!

Awards

  • Short-listed for Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction 2005 (Canada)

Overview

Written in the Flesh is a history of sexual desire a startling and provocative history of what people yearn to do sexually. It is the story of the whole body's need for sexual attention rather than simply the genitalia and their procreational function. The desire for sexual pleasure and total body sex that is, the expansion of sexuality from a limited focus on the face and genitals to include the entire body is certainly not a new phenomenon: the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese, amongst others, were quite familiar with eroticism that went beyond the strictly heterosexual and procreational. In the long centuries of Christian Europe, when miserable conditions of life and religious repression conspired to minimize the expression of sexual longing, desire was driven underground. Yet in the late nineteenth century, increasing privacy, prosperity, and good health again permitted the underlying biological urge for total body sex to express itself, and encouraged a shift of erotic pleasure toward new and unexplored body zones: the mouth, nipples, anus, and further. This new work by renowned medical historian Edward Shorter demonstrates that desire is hard-wired into the brain, expressing itself in remarkably similar ways in men and women, adolescent and adult, and in gays, lesbians, and straights alike. Drawing from a wide array of sources, including memoirs, novels, collections of letters, diaries, and indeed a large pornographic corpus, Shorter explores the widening of Western society's sexual repertoire. Written in the Flesh is a history of what people like to do in bed and how that has changed. The change is relentless: human sexuality continually seeks new means of liberation in its expression of pleasure.

Full Product Details

Author:   Edward Shorter
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
Imprint:   University of Toronto Press
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 13.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 21.00cm
Weight:   0.426kg
ISBN:  

9780802094520


ISBN 10:   080209452
Pages:   300
Publication Date:   30 September 2006
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 2 Sex, a Baseline 3 A Baseline for Gays and Lesbians 4 Hindrances 5 Why Not the Romantics? 6 The Great Breakout 7 The Great Breakout for Gays and Lesbians 8 Towards Total Body Sex 9 SM and Fetish 10 Epilogue

Reviews

'A good argument is one of the joys of life, especially if it includes wine or dessert. Edward Shorter is the sort of intelligent, entertaining writer with whom it is pleasure to argue.' -- Wendy McElroy Globe and Mail


Author Information

Edward Shorter is the Jason A. Hannah Professor of the History of Medicine and a professor of psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

Aorrng

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List