The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality

By Catherine Blackledge

Book Overview

It is the seat of female sexual pleasure, the site of the creation of humankind, and the channel for its birth. It is also a potent arouser of sexuality. Yet why is it that we know less about the vagina--its structure and function--than we do about any other organ of the human body? The Story of V explores how female genitalia have been and continue to be conceived and misconceived. A new look is long overdue. More than two millennia of misinformation has resulted in a Western culture where we refrain from mentioning or showing the vagina; where this organ, when seen publicly, is most commonly viewed as pornographic; and where, of all the organs of the human body, the vagina remains the most clouded in mystery, myth, and biased, out-dated beliefs. In the past, medicine may have misrepresented female sexual anatomy, reducing its remarkable complexities to the notion of a passive vessel, but, as this book shows, science is at last beginning to reveal the true structure and function of female genitalia and the dynamic nature of the vagina's role in both sexual pleasure and reproduction. The result is nothing less than a vaginal revolution. With a wide-ranging perspective that takes in prehistoric art, ancient history, linguistics, mythology and folklore, evolutionary theory, reproductive biology and medicine, Catherine Blackledge unveils the hidden marvels of the female form.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813534550
• ISBN13: 9780813534558
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Amazing!

Blackledge writes from research and experience, inserting bits of her life in this work. I did the same thing! The Sacred Female It is very comprehensive, covering sexuality in many cultures throughout the ages: comparing and contrasting. It is really humerous to me that only the European edition allows color plates in her book. US and UK have all the plates in B & W, showing how far we have to go. This book will help us get there.

A methodical, meticulous discussion of female sexual organs

The Story Of V: A Natural History Of Female Sexuality by science writer Catherine Blackledge is a methodical, meticulous discussion of female sexual organs and their role in sexual pleasure, reproduction, and myth throughout history. Black-and-white illustrations are sparsely included; the text itself is straightforwardly clinical as it describes physical biology and representations of the vagina in art and architecture in-depth. A serious and scholarly treatment of an often-overlooked portion of the human body.