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Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America |  | Authors: John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.50
Buy Used: $8.44
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Seller: dcgoodwill
Rating:  reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2nd
Pages: 466
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0226142647
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.70973
EAN: 9780226142647
ASIN: 0226142647
Publication Date: February 28, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The first full length study of the history of sexuality in America, Intimate Matters offers trenchant insights into the sexual behavior of Americans, from colonial times to today. D'Emilio and Freedman give us a deeper understanding of how sexuality has dramatically influenced politics and culture throughout our history. "Fascinating. . . . [D'Emilio and Freedman] marshall their material to chart a gradual but decisive shift in the way Americans have understood sex and its meaning in their lives." --Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times Book Review "[With] comprehensiveness and care . . . D'Emilio and Freedman have surveyed the sexual patters for an entire nation across four centuries." --Martin Bauml Duberman, Nation "Intimate Matters is comprehensive, meticulous and intelligent." --Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World "This book is remarkable. . . . [Intimate Matters] is bound to become the definitive survey of American sexual history for years to come." --Roy Porter, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
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| Customer Reviews:
 Dry Academic Work That Doubts The Benefits Of Sexual Liberation October 5, 2006
Chris Luallen (Nashville, Tennessee)
8 out of 21 found this review helpful
"Intimate Matters" is a survey of the changing sexual attitudes in American history from the Puritans through the 19th century to our contemporary society. I prefer books that contain a depth of knowledge but that are also well written enough to be a pleasure to read. Bernard Lewis and Karen Armstrong are two respected scholars who manage to both write well and maintain their academic integrity. In contrast, "Intimate Matters" contains the dry prose that is often associated with academic works that fail to appeal to a broader audience. Of course, the subject itself is inherently interesting and I did learn some compelling new historical facts. For example, some of the Puritans actually used the death penalty to punish pre-martial sex, non-reproductive sexual acts and homosexualty.
I know that academics need to maintain objectivity and so I didn't necessarily expect this book to be in praise of sexual liberation. However, the authors seem to take a sex negative point of view which I found troubling. For example, they describe the harsh punishments of the Puritans without condemnation. But, when discussing the relative sexual freedom that came with urbanization, they lament how women were now becoming less "protected" from the sexual attention of men. They make the same point while criticizing the sexual revolution of the 1960's. I believe that women are strong and intelligent enough to make their own decisions and that they don't need to be "protected" by a sexually repressive society. So I find the authors' perspective that sexual liberation places women in danger to be insulting and patronizing.
The book does contain some worthwhile information on the history of American sexuality. But I would recommend finding a book that is better written and with a more positive attitude towards the benefits of sexual freedom.
 Important social history of evolving attitudes towards sex December 14, 2004
Joseph Havermann (Columbia, Missouri)
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
D'Emilio and Freedman have provided their readers with a thoughtful, entertaining, and concise history of American sexuality. As their title suggests, their perspective is historical rather than psychological. Like most social histories, "Intimate Matters" adopts a bottom-up approach, choosing to emphasize how groups of people experience (and have experienced) sexuality within their own economic, racial, gendered, and cultural contexts, rather than on the decisions of elite policymakers.
There is plenty of interesting information here, ranging from the sexual practices of the early colonists to grassroots campaigns to censor sexually explicit literature. The authors capitalize on a wide variety of evidence, citing both quantitative and qualitative research to buttress their arguments. "Intimate Matters" is an important contribution to a neglected area of historical inquiry, and offers readers important insight into how economic and cultural forces shape, and are shaped by, human sexuality.
This book is a remarkable piece of work! October 22, 2004
R. Maynard (Epsom, New Hampshire United States)
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
The authors did an excellent job of writing and presenting an accurate description of sexual practices in our country, including its history - obviously, an extremely difficult undertaking.
In early America, the main deterrent to premarital sex was the fear of pregnancy and the severe consequence of social ostracization.
However, sexual desire was always there for both men and women, regardless of social class or standing. Control over casual sex lay in the hands of family and/or the mores of society. Premarital sex was not permissible for anybody. In practice however, this sexual taboo applied mostly to women.
Men - on the other hand - had choices! They were the creators (always with god's help - of course) and enforcers of the rules and laws governing our social behavior! Talk about one-way streets!
Margaret Sanger (born 1883) was a nurse who fumed over this grossly unfair treatment between the sexes and began the search for a dependable means of birth control. She needed a means or device that women could use to counter their fear of unintended pregnancy. She locked horns, clanged heads with the law (mainly the Comstock laws), and ended up with a number of warrants issued for her arrest. She fled to Europe while a number of her friends and associates kept the ball rolling in search of a positive, reliable means of birth control for women.
In 1915, she announced she was returning to America to surrender and stand trial on the charges against her. As soon as the courts heard of this, all charges against her were dropped; the bureaucrats feared her like no other woman.
For the first time, women got reliable birth control devices, and could begin to enjoy sex outside of marriage, without fear, just as surely as men did.
By the turn of the century, in order to finish leveling the sexual playing field, women needed a place to go and a means of getting there. Two World Wars, one in 1914 and the other in 1941, would provide the answers.
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