The Latest on Slut-Shaming + Bodily Autonomy

The Netflix series Bridgerton features a plotline about a nineteenth-century noblewoman desperately seeking a sexual "pinnacle" that cotius withholds from her — yet not her husband. Meanwhile, The New York Times Wirecutter product review site recommends vibrators you can buy at Walgreens.

My, times have changed.

Fifty years ago, Shere Hite (1942-2020) published The Hite Report and revealed to the world that most women don’t orgasm from intercourse alone. Thousands of women had told her explicitly what worked for them and what did not.

And how did the American public respond?

Women were overjoyed to learn there was nothing wrong with them, and The Hite Report went on to sell an astounding 48 million copies. But the backlash was vicious, and many people who felt threatened by the facts sent Hite death threats. They were hostile when she appeared on talk shows. Critics picked apart her methods and ignored her message. Responding to the relentless attacks, in many ways she became her own worst enemy. She often behaved, unfortunately, like a diva.

I had the privilege of meeting Hite in 1995 and dining with her on the Upper West Side of Manhattan along with our mutual friend, author and women's-health activist Barbara Seaman (1935-2008). I still pinch myself that I had this extraordinary opportunity to share an intimate meal with two of the greatest feminist minds of my lifetime. Despite Hite's flaws, she was, and is, a hero of mine.

So I took great interest when, several months ago, Jennifer Baumgardner, the founder and editor of LIBER, the excellent feminist review journal, gave me a heads-up about a new book on Hite. As I read an advance copy, I was dismayed about how much the biographer got wrong. I did some fact-checking.

Here is my brutally honest review.