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After Fourth Street I ran out and bought Hanne Blank's "Virgin: The Untouched History," since it got talked up so much at the panel on all things "F".
I liked it a lot (no surprise, as I remember enjoying Ms. Blank's writings from other venues). There were various areas where I wasn't sure that the book held together as one coherent and continuous argument, but that's something I feel about a lot of topical histories. Each individual section was interesting, which is my main desire out of this sort of history.
Personally, my reading of the book was heavily informed by (resonating with?) my reading of "A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis" by David M. Friedman. I think the two books could be entertaining reading together. The creepy bits in "A Mind of its Own" about various devices used to discourage male masturbation would go well with the bits in "Virgin" about having your virginity tested by straddling over something stinky and having someone smell your breath.
My main take away from "Virgin" came today at work as I was reading kids' books and thinking about how young girls in literature seem to have a different set of powers and knowledge than young boys. I was wondering if this is some kind of hold over from the "virgin bodies as magical bodies" concepts that Ms. Blank was discussing.
I liked it a lot (no surprise, as I remember enjoying Ms. Blank's writings from other venues). There were various areas where I wasn't sure that the book held together as one coherent and continuous argument, but that's something I feel about a lot of topical histories. Each individual section was interesting, which is my main desire out of this sort of history.
Personally, my reading of the book was heavily informed by (resonating with?) my reading of "A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis" by David M. Friedman. I think the two books could be entertaining reading together. The creepy bits in "A Mind of its Own" about various devices used to discourage male masturbation would go well with the bits in "Virgin" about having your virginity tested by straddling over something stinky and having someone smell your breath.
My main take away from "Virgin" came today at work as I was reading kids' books and thinking about how young girls in literature seem to have a different set of powers and knowledge than young boys. I was wondering if this is some kind of hold over from the "virgin bodies as magical bodies" concepts that Ms. Blank was discussing.
