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Description
Edward Shorter, Written in the Flesh: A History of Desire (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2005)
IN HIS LATEST BOOK, Written in the Flesh: A History of Desire, Edward Shorter, the current Jason A. Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at the University of Toronto, argues that human brains are hard-wired to experience the desire to give and to receive what he labels "total body sex." The term refers to sensual pleasure involving every part of the body rather than just the face and the genitals. According to Shorter, the brain drives the individual toward total body sex. The mind assesses how that drive can or cannot be exercised based on external constraints. In sum, says Shorter, human desire can be understood as "the history of the almost biological liberation of the brain to free up the mind in the direction of total body sex."
To bolster his thesis, Shorter puts into place three caveats. First, he asserts that he is speaking only of the history of Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world because he is unfamiliar with non-Western cultures. Second, he claims that his work is based on the sexual practices of the more "innovative" segments of society. Third, he contends that research illustrating the existence of pleasure... |
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