Followers

Thursday 6 March 2014

THE SEXUAL WILDERNESS



Writer: Vance Packard
Title: The Sexual Wilderness
Subtitle: The Upheaval in Male-Female Relationships: the Breakup of Traditional Morality: New Trends In Sexual Behaviour among the Young
Introduction: Vance Packard
Language: English
Place of Publication: London
Publisher: Longmans
Year of Publication: 1968
Format: 142x220mm
Pages: 553; Appendices, 491; Reference Notes, 513; Index, 537
Illustrations: one black and white picture of the writer on back cover by Etienne Hubert
Binding: boards in colour dust jacket designed by Colin Mier
Weight: 786 gr.
Original Price: 36/- net
Entry Date: 2014004
Entry Date: 6th March 2014

BOOK REVIEW

Vance Packard, one of the most astute observers of the contemporary scene, author of such bestsellers as The Hidden Persuaders and The Status Seekers now turns his skill at social analysis to the most fascinating subject of all: the male-female relationship in all its aspects today. The Sexual Wilderness is provocative, often funny, at times frightening.

Not since Kinsey has so comprehensive a survey been made of the prevailing sexual climate, especially among the young. Questionnaires about male-female relationships –and , specifically, physical relationships –were answered by more than two thousand individuals in the United States, Britain and four other carefully chosen countries. The responses were analyzed with the co-operation of a team of social scientists at the University of Connecticut. The author reveals how chaotic and conflicting our beliefs and behaviour have become. Literally hundreds of questions concerning the changing sexual scene have been penetratingly answered in this book:

How much has premarital sexual activity

increase in the past few decades?

Are women gaining in ‘power’?

Is infidelity increasing?

Are the sexes becoming alike?

What is the impact of today’s restlessness and mobility on marriage?

Has the Pill changed sexual behaviour?

Are British and other European girls more liberal or more conservative than American girls in their relations with boys?

Why are the young more bewildered than rebellious in sexual standards?

Is there greater conflict in marriages today than among previous generations?

Are divorces, now terminating almost half of the marriages, still on the increase?

What new forms of marriage may develop by the next century?

What Mr. Packard’s  study reveals about the way most men and women act and think today in their relations to each other will startle and surprise many. Can we move in a direction that will be more beneficial both to the individual and to society? Packard believes we must, and the final part of The Sexual Wilderness deals with his proposals for new sexual and marital codes. These proposals will be viewed as radical by many. But Packard, whose earlier books have changed many of our attitudes toward ourselves and our society, feels they are necessary to meet the needs and responsibilities of the individual and the requirements of a productive, progressive society.