Erotic Wars

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Despite the supposed new freedoms of the sexual revolution, many women still feel they are ``giving in'' by having sex with a prospective boyfriend, according to Rubin. In our culture, she claims, gender-based power struggles and inequality continue to mark the meeting between the sexes, with women still expected to play the role of compliant caregivers, and men equating sexual conquest with masculine identity. Rubin ( Intimate Strangers ) interviewed 375 adults and teenagers for this revealing, sensitive probe, supplementing that data with 600 additional questionnaire responses. Among her findings: ``Neither men nor women are terribly satisfied with the other in bed''; adolescents are highly tolerant of all types of sexual behavior; pornography has increasingly found its way into the lives of the ``respectable''; despite lip service paid to fear of AIDS, teens aren't using condoms. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Rubin looks at the sexual revolution and its interrelationship with the concurrent gender and psychological revolutions, focusing on heterosexual behavior and attitudes toward personal sexual behavior. With information from in-depth interviews and questionnaires on the intimate details of sexual behavior of adults and teenagers, Rubin confirms the widening margin of acceptability in sexual behavior, the continuing association of virginity with the value of women, and the positive movement toward finding more lasting satisfaction in relationships. This is a readable, interesting work for the general public, but because Rubin does not detail the specifics of her research, her findings and conclusions demand close scrutiny by researchers. --Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

Booknews

Results of Rubin's (sociology, Queens College and UC Berkeley) intensive interviews or questionnaires with some 1,000 heterosexuals aged 13 to 48 and members of all social classes. She studies the generation of the sexual revolution, that which came of age inheriting the new mores, and the young people of today. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)