Sexual Autonomy and the Status of Women: Models of Female Sexuality in U. S. Sex Manuals from 1950 to 1980

Abstract

Sex and marriage manuals contain sexual scripts about female sexuality and the role of women in heterosexual relationships. As attitudes change, new scripts become marketable; and as manuals articulate new scripts, they legitimate a redefinition of women's sexuality and roles. This paper looks at 49 manuals published in the United States from 1950 to 1980. These manuals generally reflect one of three distinct models of female sexuality: different-and-unequal, humanistic sexuality, or sexual autonomy. Each model rests on a different set of assumptions and values, and each has social and political implications. The popularity of the sexual autonomy model since 1975 is particularly noteworthy and provides a basis for potentially radical revisions in notions of women's sexuality. Human sexual experience, like other aspects of life, is organized and understood in terms of a socially constructed reality. That is, the nature and meaning of human sexuality are not selfevident but are historically developed and socially transmitted (Gagnon and Simon, 1973). With regard to female sexuality, such social constructions are sociologically important not only for their role in organizing people's sexual actions but also for their ideological functions. Sexual scripts, and changes in those scripts, both reflect and reinforce the status and role of women in heterosexual relationships as well as in society more generally. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, female sexuality has been defined in ways that connote a sinister or tarnished character. Early leaders in the Church blamed female sexuality (Eve's seduction of Adam) for the fall of man in the Garden of Eden and, ultimately, for the crucifixion of Christ (Queen and Habenstein, 1974:198). Later, during Europe's notorious witch hunts of the 15th-17th centuries, female sexuality was alleged to provide a special link between a witch and Satan - for example, through diabolical copulation (Institoris, 1970). In fact, the only way women could attain marked respect in the eyes of the Catholic Church was by denying their sexuality and becoming a celibate nun. In the 20th century, religious doctrine has become less influential in defining female sexuality in the United States, although its influence is still felt in public debates over abortion, birth control, and public welfare programs (e.g., payments for illegitimate children). Authority has increasingly shifted to secular and scientific sources which provide models of female sexuality to the public through influential and popular sex and marriage manuals. This paper analyzes how female sexuality is portrayed in such manuals published between 1950 and 1980. Concomitant with the resurgence of feminism and a rhetoric of equality between the sexes, we found changes in the sexual scripts used to discuss female sexuality. We identify those script changes and consider their implications for further social change. In so doing, we build on the work of Michael Gordon and his associates, who have analyzed sex and marriage manuals published between 1830