On the Orgasm of the Species

This essay interrogates the assemblage of female sexuality. Drawing on an analysis of Masters and Johnson's anatomical research and primatological research on monkeys, I argue that the female sexuality was the product of encounters between women, machines and monkeys. Orgasm's extra-species life produced a conception of female sexuality as natural in evolutionary and anatomical terms. The set of assumptions that follow this naturalisation of female sexuality through an emphasis on orgasm allow us to further deconstruct notions of female sexuality, naturalness and the politics of knowledge that produce this assemblage. Ultimately, I argue that this focus on anatomy and female orgasm allows us to see the stakes of an anatomically based sexual difference

Assemblage (archaeology) · Biology · Conceptualization · Human sexuality · Linguistics · Naturalness · Orgasm · Sociology · Ecology · Gender Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Philosophy · Psychology · Sexual function and dysfunction studies · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

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• Os Saberes Especializados E as Tecnologias De Intervenção Como Objetos Dos Estudos Críticos Sobre Sexualidade

  Open Access•Mauro Brigeiro•Sexualidad Salud y Sociedad (Rio…•2024

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• The Technology of Orgasm

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• Has Feminism Changed Science?

  L Schiebinger•Figurationen•1999

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• An American Obsession

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• Sex is not a Natural Act and Other Essays

  Leonore Tiefer•Sex is not a Natural Act and…•2018

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• The straight mind

  Open Access•Monique Wittig•Gender Issues•1980

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• Disorders of Desire

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• Hidden from History

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• Takin' it to the Streets

  Steven M Gillon, Alexander Bloom et al.•Journal of American History•1996

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• Male-Female, Female-Female, and Male-Male sexual behavior in the stumptail monkey, with special attention to the female orgasm

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  Open Access•David Andrew Puts•Archives of Sexual Behavior•2006

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• The Evolution and Nature of Female Sexuality in Relation to Psychoanalytic Theory

  Open Access•Mary Jane Sherfey•Journal of the American…•1966

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• The Context of ‘between Pleasure and Danger

  Open Access•Elizabeth Wilson•Feminist Review•1983

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• Primate Visions

  Elvira Scheich, Donna Haraway•The American Historical Review•1991

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• Object Lessons

  Robyn Wiegman•Object Lessons•2012

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• Freud's "Fetishism" and the Lesbian Dildo Debates

  Heather Findlay•Feminist Studies•1992

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• The Mythic Mannish Lesbian

  Esther Newton•Signs: Journal of Women in…•1984

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• Primate Visions

  Vernon Reynolds, Donna Haraway•Man•1991

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• Science and the Successful Female

  Open Access•Linda Marie Fedigan•American Anthropologist•1994

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