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History
Written in the Flesh: A History of Desire
by Edward Shorter, 321 pp, with illus, $39.95, ISBN 0-8020-3843-3, Toronto, Ontario, University of Toronto Press, 2005.
JAMA. 2006;295:1069-1070.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings. |
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In this interesting book, Edward Shorter, professor of the history of medicine at the University of Toronto, sets out to make three main points: that sexual desire is biologically determined; that sex is a total-body phenomenon; and that, after full expression in classical antiquity, sex became mostly a genital activity, until the last 100 years (with dramatically accelerated changes during the past 40 years). Shorter makes clear that his book is a history not of sex but of sexual desire, that is, "what people yearn to do in their heart of hearts" (p 3). He also acknowledges that it concerns the West and not other cultures.
Shorter draws on a variety of historical sources to describe baselines for men and women, including heterosexuals, gays, and lesbians. Baselines are "universal underlying sexual desires, the force of which is such that they will be expressed in most times and places—unless hindrances are . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Philip E. Veenhuis, MD, MPH, Reviewer
Troy, Mich
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