European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 22, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Two views an he Viar report s by Leah Lark i staff writer Here is quite a girl. You really must talk Toher the woman working for the Macmillan publishing company is Shere Hite author of the much talked about the Hite report the bestseller about female sexuality that challenges some common beliefs about women and sex. At the Book fair in Frankfurt Hite visited Booths of International companies handling her Book. As she went from the Spanish stand to the German then on to the american stand you had to agree she is quite a representatives from the publishing companies were eager to Tell her How great the Book was. She was eager to discuss it with almost missionary Zeal. What makes the Book so popular for the first time women could say How they really Felt about sex. It s the first time a Book says women Don t necessarily have orgasms from Intercourse the author explained. She distributed questionnaires to 3,000 women to determine How they responded to sex what they liked and did not like How they fell about sex. The 60 questions in the questionnaire were technical detailed. Through the answers she concluded that contrary to most previous sex research most women do not experience orgasm through Intercourse but can reach orgasm easily through masturbation. Hite said she has received 10,000 letters since the English language edition of the Book came out last year. Women write that they Are relieved to learn they Are not abnormal. Men have written that they Are grateful to learn it s not their fault if they Don t bring women to orgasm she said. The 34-year-old author who has a . From Columbia University was surprised with the Success of her Book. I did t expect the Success. I thought it was too she feels terrific about Public acceptance of the Hite report. It s an Opportunity to change a Basic part of the world that s been oppressive to women. It s so satisfying. Who could ask for anything More exciting during the interview Hite makes it Clear she will discuss her Book and her work not herself. She will Tell you All you want to know about c lit Oral stimulation. But she rarely answers questions about herself. How has the Book and its Success affected her own social life i Don t talk about my own relations with men she answered obviously somewhat disgusted that the question was asked. Nonetheless the author s appearance stirs curiosity. She is fragile frail. Curls of Long Strawberry blonde hair surround a face so White and delicate. The Eye makeup is exotic. The Long fingernails and toenails Are painted Bright red. She wears beads bracelets earrings. The clothes Are soft and pretty. Somehow she looks More like a parisian fashion Model than the scholar who spent four years compiling research on female sex. Her Book is somewhat connected to her studies at co Lumbia where she wrote her master s thesis on the application of scientific method to social science. Between the master s and the . Degrees she got involved in the women s movement. She remembers discussing masters Sis by be Shere Hite i Felt it was important to put sex into historical and Johnson s second Book with a group of feminists. I noticed How hard it was for people to discuss. People were just not open in discussing she decided to distribute a list of questions on sex to women which would help in these discussions. When the answers began coming in she said she realized the value and importance of the material. Initially she hoped to expand the questions and develop the findings into her . Dissertation. But professors at Columbia did not accept her proposal. They were All men. They feared it would ruin the school s reputation even though i had a contract from a reputable Book company Macmillan Hite went ahead with the Book anyway. She said she had to borrow $35,000 to finance the research. I Felt it was important to put sex into historical perspective. People write about it As if it s a biological inner it ant rather than a historical institution reflecting the needs of society reproduction. We have a rigid idea of what sex is. Foreplay followed by penetration. Then Intercourse ends when the Man has an orgasm. There has been a Law for 3,000 years that says that s All you do. But if it s so natural Why do you need a Law Hite acknowledges that not everyone praises her Book. No one really disagrees with it. Yet some say perhaps the Survey Sample does t represent the whole population. But they said the same of Kinsey. It s True of All sex she puts men who criticize her Book into two categories those who say they Don t need to read it because they already know everything about women and sex and those who Don t want to read it for fear of learning that what they have been doing for years is All wrong. And she invites men to participate in the research for her next Book on male sexuality. For a copy of the questionnaire Send a stamped self addressed envelope to Shere Hite co now 47 e. 19th st., new York new York 10003. Saturday october 22, 1977 doily Magazine by de Reavis staff writer Frankfurt International Airport. Due to a mix up i had to wait an hour for Shere Hite to come. I Tell her it s too late now to do the interview but i want to take pictures. She decides to kill time talking to me anyway. I be been travelling for a year now promoting the Book and its getting to be she looks weary due to a hassle with a particularly Nasty Porter. If i were a Man i bet he would t do that. If i were your size he would t i say that i m surprised her German publisher did t take care of All this. I bet they would have if i were a Man. Don t you think so it turned out that her German publisher did t know she was leaving town. Do reporters tend to ignore your Book and try to get personal reporters will describe what i look like or be More interested in trying to discuss my sexual preferences because its easier than coping with the Book. Have you read it it s difficult not to fall to the temptation of de scribing rite s ethereal appearance with her pre Raphaelite porcelain skin which reddens quickly particularly there where nerves tend to meet . Corners of her eyes nose tip and her Gossamer Light Strawberry hair. I told her the introduction to her Book put me off and it was Only when i found something in the Middle of it that interested me thai i did read it All. I think that s a Good Way to get into the Book she said. We spoke of the number of women who find orgasms secondary not Many but enough to shake a myth. The women s movement taught women among other things that there was nothing dirty about their bodies their sexual organs. The evidence in Hite s Book shows that the lesson has to be taught to Many men. There Are a lot of men that say they Aren t put off by female genitals and then they add when we Wash them enough and then i wonder what they re really what did she say to the criticism that her Book advocated among women a do it your self approach to sex and forget waiting for that insensitive male to Wake up to the fact that a woman also has needs to be satisfied. And if this general picture of male ignorance or indifference is True would t the logical conclusion for women be to turn to their own sex for real under standing sexual fulfilment i think people who find my Book anti male Haven t read it. I think i take a lot of the stress out of the sexual act relieved the tension and anxiety of having to perform to have Perma nent erections. Yes we Are tired of serving men orgasms like cups of Coffee we demand recognition of our sexual needs but my Book in t necessarily a plea for lesbianism but that s All right another cup of Coffee and stares from our table neighbors a Cluster of american women who have been listening in. I said i also found fabulous the Many things that woman used for masturbation almost everything but men. That would turn Many men off they d feel they d become the objects. It s an act that should t de Grade anyone to an object. Many europeans have mentioned the idea that they doubt if european women would be As open in their replies As the american women were. But there Are several attempts now to see if they can get european women to reply to a similar question this raised the question of whether the difference of ethnic backgrounds in America made any differ ence in attitudes towards sexuality. Hite said there was no indication of this. Then she added that in Japan women were surprised that american women would fake an orgasm. You know the old myth that America is a Matri Archy. We re supposed to run the the stars and stripes Page 13
