Orgasm (BOOK REVIEW)
Orgasm
Photographs & Interviews
by Linda Troeller and Marion Schneider
Daylight Books
Hardcover, $35.00
188 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-0-9897981-3-6
Book
Review by Kam Williams
“Due
to the repression and shame imposed by patriarchy, we are still at the onset of
exploration of female sexuality and eroticism. Not only does this book reveal
the power, divinity, originality and necessity of female orgasm, but by giving
women agency and voice regarding their sexuality, it becomes a deeply erotic
work in itself.
Each
woman, a brave sex artist mapping a landscape of pleasure, explosion and mythic
delight. The project makes it clear that orgasms not only liberate women’s
lives, but can save the world as well.
This
book is an orgasm.”
--
Eve Ensler (page 69)
Given America’s Puritanical
cultural roots, it’s no surprise that it’s considered déclassé even to mention the
female orgasm in polite society. Sure, we might have all laughed at an
exasperated Teri Garr joking in the movie Tootsie that “I’m responsible for my
orgasm!” Or at that hilarious deli scene from When Harry Met Sally where a
matronly patron told her waitress, “I’ll have what she’s having,” after
watching Meg Ryan climax while eating a sandwich at an adjoining table.
But other
than such humorous asides, the climax is rarely the topic of casual
conversation let alone of serious clinical examination. Now, thanks to photographer
Linda Troeller and historian Marion Schneider, who in 1998 published “The
Erotic Lives of Women,” we have a groundbreaking book blowing the sheets off
(pun very much intended) the taboo subject.
For this
collaboration the pair found 25 women of every age and ethnicity and from
countries as far apart as Holland, France, Israel,
Germany, Colombia, Portugal
and the United States
who were willing to be photographed while answering questions about a most
intimate aspect of their sex lives. They were all asked to recount their first
and their most powerful orgasms, as well as their greatest fantasies and what
orgasms mean to them.
The responses varied
wildly. Co-author Marion
describes hers as “the building up of energy focused on a certain point: my
vagina” where “the energy buildup becomes so great that… it needs to discharge
into the universe.” By contrast, Dragonfly, an African-American, sees hers as
“a pleasurable reflex, much like a sneeze or a hiccup, or when you jerk your
knee when the doctor hits it with the hammer.” Keren from Israel defines
hers as “the release of tension… related to some kind of emotional overflow”
after which she feels both “clearer” and “emotionally cleansed.”
An eye-opening project
that plunges with abandon into the deep chasm of sexual freedom and sexual
identity.
To order a copy of Orgasm, visit:
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