The Harley Lieberman illustration tells the history of sexual toys. 359 pp. Pegasus Books. $26. 95.
How to women's rights in vibrator country-
The toy store has changed the entertainment business of Lynn Comella 278 pp.
Duke University Press$25. 95.
Think about it for a while, until 1968 of this year.
Martin Luther King
Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.
The Beatles released the White Album.
North Vietnam launched a Tet offensive.
Women in the United States found the clit. O. K.
The last one may be a bit exaggerated, but 1968 is a short article by Anne cord, the myth of vaginal orgasm, which was circulated in the viral version of that era.
Jumping off the majestic bombs of master and Johnson, women who do not have orgasm during sexual intercourse can reach multiple orgasms with vibrators, koedt called for the replacement of Freud's fantasy about the climax of "maturity" with the real life of women: it's all about the clit.
Single assertion
In fact, women depend on themselves.
Like political behavior and claim that the climax is an important step in the full liberation of women.
It also threatens many people who are afraid of being out of date, or at least fear of losing dominance.
Norman Mailer, a famous phalanx scientist, slammed the passionate "climax" created by "laboratory expansion, vibrator" in his book "Sex prisoners "! ” (
There is another reason besides the whole stabbing, to pity the man's poor wife).
To be fair, the Meller company
There's an earthquake.
The pursuit of sexual self
As revealed by two new books on the history and politics of sexual toys, knowledge will be the driving force of feminist social change, creating a blow to the excessive insecurities and attempts of men (
Still with us today)
Control the body of a woman.
As Lynn Comella wrote in the vibrator country, retailers like San Francisco's good vibrations create a porn consumption landscape that is different from women in the past, A safe, welcoming and ultimately subversive presentation of women's sexual satisfaction as "not related to reproduction, mother, and one-wife"
Even straight.
As you can imagine, these two books (
Which contains a lot of overlap)
Starting with Betty Dodson, who is the Piper of the female onanism, she often shows in person-in the nude —
How to use a vibrator to achieve orgasm in her early sexual consciousness
Workshops in New York.
I'm a woman. listen to me.
However, it's tricky to get your own vibrator back in the past.
The leering male gaze in a typical "adult" shop is at best inappropriate
For most women
Amazon's sex toys are like fresh produce, with just a click of the mouse and still a glimmer of light in Jeff Bezos's eyes.
Dell Williams created the mail order company Eve's Garden in 1974, when he was humiliated by Macy's clerk while watching the Hitachi wand.
Followed by the first feminist toy store-good vibration;
It is very interesting to read the background story of the late Founder Joani Blank of Good vibs, and the radical "sexperts" such as Suzy bright and Carol Quinn.
The authors of vibrators country and Buzz both observed the sales of sex toys in a timely manner, so they had a first-hand understanding of the industry.
Whose views will be more attractive depends on the interest of the reader: in Buzz, Harry Lieberman offers a broader perspective that allows us to review for about 30,000 years, when our ancestors carved the penis with tin stone;
Continue to introduce the creative use of olive oil by ancient Greeks;
Buxton medical devices in the 19 th century (
It is disappointing that the notorious doctor
Using vibrators in the office to treat female "hysteria" is urban legend);
And early influences. 20th-
Obscenity Law of the century
Incredibly, sex toys are still illegal in Alabama.
Before digging deeper into more contemporary influences.
In addition to the feminist retailer, Lieberman is weaving in the story of a man like Ted Marche, his family business
Hire his wife and his teenage children.
Starting with the artificial belt.
Ons of male impotence;
Gosnell Duncan, who made sex aids for disabled people, was the first to expand dildo production beyond Caucasian pink, once referred to as "flesh color ";
Malorrus brothers of Gag gift manufacturers (
Think of penis pencil top); and the hard-
Reuben Sturman, the core porn distribution tycoon, has repeatedly violated the law, resulting in catastrophic consequences.
Although their X
Unlike feminists, rating goods should bring a climax to women
These toys are mainly sold as equipment that is beneficial to men.
In other words, like the sexual revolution of this era, they maintain and even continue the status quo of gender discrimination.
The "vibrator country" pays more narrow attention to women --
Their mission is how to compete with the needs and restrictions of the market.
Those early entrepreneurs, Comella wrote, believe that "women with orgasms can change the world.
However, like other utopian feminist visions, this vision soon broke down.
What constitutes "sexual enthusiasm" and what constitutes "women-
What constitutes a "woman" is friendly.
"Is it politically correct to store and even produce feminist pornography?
Have BDSM lesbians been invited to the party?
Will the store serve transgender people?
The "decent" aesthetics of white and middle class?
The founder of class, cross-class and racial translation?
If the goal is yourself
Through an iterative exploration, what about customers (
Any gender or sexual orientation)
Who wants toys for cooperative games, or who likes penetration sex?
A sex store that sold nine.
Inch, veined dildos retains its feminist sincerity?
Dell Williams solved this particular problem by entrusting Gosnell Duncan with a representative silicone device called "Venus rising" for disabled people.
Others followed closely.
Still, Comella wrote that retailers are still struggling to make a living: Feminist stores in principle refuse to pay for customer anxiety
There is no "tightening cream", "numbness cream", penis amplification or anal bleeding that will increase the profit of the typical store.
Employees are considered "educators" and sales are a secondary factor in providing information and support.
More importantly, good vibrations are especially non-competitive;
Blank shares her business model freely with any woman who is interested in spreading love.
Consumer culture and feminism have always been strange partners, the former often overpowering the latter.
Like Virginia Remus.
Chose the message of liberation in their 70 s, because the Spice Girls swallowed up the grrrl power in their 90 s, so the feminist store had an impact on the mainstream, but was eventually dominated by the mainstream
At 2007, good vibrations were sold to GVA-
TWN, very vulgar super-sex-
It was founded to destroy the store company.
While there is no physical change in the store, the good vibrations are no longer womenowned.
Lieberman wrote that while aesthetics has not changed, the idea of feminist sex toys as a source of women's liberation has disappeared and almost disappeared.
A notorious episode in Sex and the city, making rabbits the hottest vibrator in the country, also portraying female masturbation as addiction and loneliness, which can lead to permanent loneliness
Sex toys in fifty-degree Grey are entirely for traditional sex and gender roles: a man is responsible for the sexual awakening of Anastasia Steele, and the orgasm is properly experienced through co-sexual intercourse.
At the same time, it turns out that the climax gap between men and women is more stubborn than the wage gap.
Women still experience orgasm every three times, and men experience orgasm in the opposite sex.
Less than half of the girls aged 14 to 17 have masturbated.
At the end of "Buzz", Lieberman made a provocative point: Viagra was underwritten by the insurance company, but the vibrator did not, probably because, while erection is considered medically necessary for sexual function, this is not the case with female orgasm.
Like our feminists, she envisioned a new utopia. D. A.
Regulatory sex toys to ensure their safety, to impart their knowledge to children in sex education courses, covered by insurance, and they are seen as a way to promote women's sexual health, even get subsidies worldwide.
In other words: we 've gone a long way, baby, but with the clarity of "vibrator country" and "buzz", we may not be enough.