Sexology & Sexual Behavior - General & Miscellaneous, History of Sex, Sex, Marriage & Family - History, Spirituality, Socio-Cultural Anthropology - General & Miscellaneous, Sex - General & Miscellaneous
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Overview
Eisler's absorbing epic exposes the truths about sex that have been swept under the rug of religious dogma and scientific jargon. Showing what has gone wrong between the sexes, it reveals a whole new history of intimate relations - and how these affect and are in turn affected by all our relations, whether in the public or private sphere. It charts our course from prehistory, when sex was a celebrated mystery linked to all that is sacred, through the invasion of Europe by nomadic warriors, when sex became a means of domination, to the earliest Western civilizations, the reign of the church, and into our time of "culture wars" - when women and men all over the world are searching for new ways of living and loving. Along the way, it looks at the economics and politics of sexual and other intimate relations, the modern revolution in consciousness, the epidemic of AIDS, the failure of traditional morality, and the emerging new ethics for sex and spirituality.Editorials
Donna Seaman
isler's "Chalice and the Blade" (1987) has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, proving her own assertion that people are hungry for fresh perspectives on the human condition. In her new book, the bold paradigm-challenger continues her quest for a more comprehensive understanding of the cultural, spiritual, and political forces that drive us by exploring the complex realm of intimate relationships and posing some startling questions about our attitudes toward pain and pleasure, sex and spirituality. Why, Eisler asks, did sex, once the "sacred gift of the Goddess," become synonymous with evil? Why did veneration for women and their capacity for sustaining life change into such contempt and loathing? As Eisler traces the path of this destructive and pervasive bias, she reveals just how adverse its effect has been on every aspect of human life. Eisler makes some stunning points in this strongly argued, well-supported, and mind-stretching narrative, then urges us to imagine viable alternatives to the "sacralization of pain" and the "eroticism of violence" that stand in such stark and baffling contrast to our inherent "yearning for connection" and our aptitude for love. This is a gutsy and very important book.Book Details
Published
May 1, 1995
Publisher
[San Francisco, Calif.] : HarperSan Francisco, c1995.
Pages
506
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780062502933