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The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report

The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report

by Rosa Campbell

Melville House ·2026 ·216 pages
New Release
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
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49/99
Maybe Someday

49/99

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About This Book

Come and meet Shere Hite—the feminist hero whose notorious work revolutionized how we think about sex, marriage, and the female orgasm... Despite being one of the leading thinkers of the second wave feminist movement, today Shere Hite is little known, little written about, and, unsurprisingly, little read. Her groundbreaking book, The Hite Report, was the first feminist exploration of the link between sex and male power. It sold millions of copies when first published in 1976 and revolutionized the way people thought about marriage and the female orgasm. How, then, did it, and Hite, disappear from public consciousness? Using original research material and sharp cultural analysis, Rosa Campbell explores Hite's complicated life and literary legacy. Campbell expands on Hite's ideas about sex — namely, that sex is sexist — and tracks Hite through her fraught childhood, her struggles working in the porn industry, and her eventual cancellation by the far-right Evangelical movement. All the while, Campbell holds Hite and The Hite Report to account for their own failings and absence of intersectionality. In a post-Dobbs, post-MeToo world, this book's examination of shifting ideological movements is essential to understanding both the current feminist movement, as well as how conservative, reactionary, counter-mobilization efforts can silence even the most successful of women. Contains 8 black and white vintage photos.


Reviews

"The Book That Taught the World To Orgasm and Then Disappeared is an odd title for a study that features women who used words like vulva, clitoris, and cunt, and knew exactly how to orgasm when they took care of it themselves."

Claire Potter· The New Republic Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"Seems more than a little under the spell of her subject."

Laura Miller· Slate Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"Readers will find this an essential account of an oft-overlooked feminist pioneer."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Campbell writes in her preface that, when she told friends she was working on Hite, they shrugged and said they had never heard of her."

Margaret Talbot· The New Yorker Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"A portrait of a complex woman in fraught times."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"The Hite Report delivered feminism and better sex to the suburbs."

Rosita Sweetman· The Irish Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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