With pleasure : thoughts on the nature of human sexuality

321 Pages·1995·17.14 MB·English

by  Abramson

Witk Pleasure
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With Pleasure
Thoughts
on the Nature
of Human Sexuality
Paul R. Abramson
Steven D. Pinkerton
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1995
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
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and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1995 by Paul R. Abramson
and Steven D. Pinkerton
Pubished by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Abramson, PaulR., 1949-
With pleasure : thoughts on the nature of human sexuality /
Paul R. Abramson arid Steven D. Pinkerton.
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-509358-5
1. Sex. 2. Sexual excitement. 3. Pleasure.
I. Pinkerton, Steven D.
II, Title.
HQ23.A25 1995 306.7—dc20 94-44883
2 4 6 8 9 7 53
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To pleasures
Everlasting and ephemeral
Derived from my daughters
Annaka and Sienna
(P.R.A.)
To my lovely wife Heidi
with dreams of Kauai
(S.D.P.)
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Acknowlea^ments
As Cicero noted in 54 B.C., "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues,
but the parent of all the others." Lest we be accused of being without
virtue (and to give praise where praise is due), we therefore wish to
extend our thanks to the many people who provided guidance and
inspiration in the long road from incipient theory to published book.
First and foremost we want to thank our friends and colleagues who
sacrificed their scant leisure time to provide feedback and insightful com-
ments on various drafts of the manuscript. The list of reviewers includes
Joe Allen, Allan Brandt, Gil Herdt, Heino Meyer-Bahlburg, Angela
Pattatucci, Paul Robinson, Jim Slater, Don Symons, and Don Tuzin. We
also wish to thank our students from the UCLA "Last Stand" Personality
Seminar (Jeff Blum, Monique Cloud, Mario Heilmann, Paul Okami,
Alan Shafer, and Jeff Wachsmuth) for contributing their thoughts on an
earlier draft.
Thanks are also due to Sydel Silverman and the Wenner-Gren Founda-
tion for Anthropological Research for their support and funding of a
landmark interdisciplinary conference (Theorizing Sexuality: Evolution,
Culture and Development, held March 19—27, 1993 at Cascais, Portugal)
that provided a forum in which to discuss and debate both nascent and
established theories of human sexuality. The conference was co-organized
by Paul Abramson and Gilbert Herdt. Participants included Robert Bai-
ley, Richard Berk, Lawrence Cohen, Franz de Waal, Michel Feher, John
Fout, David Greenberg, Thomas Gregor, Gert Hekma, Gilbert Herdt,
Edward Kaplan, Igor Kon, Lenore Manderson, Heino Meycr-Bahlburg,
viii / Acknowledgments
Paul Okami, Angela Pattatucci, Mary Pavelka, Alice Schlegel, Donald
Symons, Donald Tuzin, Carole Vance, Kim Wallen, Jeffrey Weeks, and
Jean Wilson. (The research presented at this conference is summarized in
Abramson & Pinkerton (Eds.), Sexual Nature / Sexual Culture, University
of Chicago Press, 1995.)
We also wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to our editor at Oxford
University Press, Joan Bossert, who believed in this project from the
start, and nurtured it to the finish. Thanks arc also due to the entire
Oxford staff (editing, marketing, promotion and sales) for making the
publication experience a delightful one.
Our acknowledgments would, of course, be sadly incomplete with-
out our profound thanks to our spouses and families for tolerating the
usual sorts of inconveniences a project such as this invariably entails, and
for providing needed encouragement and a willing car.
Contents
1. Introduction 3
Reproduction and Pleasure 4
Sexual Pleasure—What a Concept! 8
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants 11
The Varieties of Sexual Experience 13
Just Say No 15
Lessons from the Past 17
Preview of Coming Attractions 18
2. Sex as Procreation: Is That All There Is? 21
Just How Natural Is Nonprocreative Sex? 23
Sex: It's Not Just for Procreation Anymore! 25
Oral Sex as a Form of Birth Control 30
The Evolution of Sexual Pleasure, Part I 35
The Evolution of Sexual Pleasure, Part II 37
The Two Types of Pleasure 39
The Multiple Functions of Sexual Pleasure 42
The Qualia of Life 45
Childhood, Leisure, and Sexual Pleasure 50