Vagina (58 page)
Authors: Naomi Wolf
D
ancer Loie Fuller creating the vortex shapes with her costume that scandalized audiences, c. 1902.
P
ortrait of Bessie Smith Holding Feathers
by the photographer Carl Van Vechten, circa 1936.
T
his book could not have been written without the help of many others, especially the many distinguished scientists, researchers, counselors, and physicians whom I interviewed. They shared their time and expertise generously in order to inform nonscientists about women’s health and sexuality. In order of their appearance in the book, I am very grateful to Dr. Deborah Coady of Soho OB/GYN in New York City; Nancy Fish of the same practice; Dr. Ramesh Babu of New York University Hospital; Dr. Jeffrey Cole of the Kessler Center for Rehabilitation in Orange, New Jersey; Dr. Burke Richmond of University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin; Katrine Cakuls in New York City; Dr. Jim Pfaus of Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec; medical writer Dr. Julius Goepp; and Dr. Basil Kocur of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Interviewing the scientists has been extremely inspiring in terms of witnessing their commitment to advancing the understanding of women’s sexuality, and interviewing the physicians has been similarly inspiring in terms of witnessing their sincere dedication to advancing the treatment of women’s sexual health. Many of these scientists and physicians read the manuscript in various versions, and I thank them wholeheartedly again for their time, which has many demands upon it, and for their valuable feedback. Any errors, of course, are my own.
I am grateful to Caroline and Charles Muir and Mike Lousada, who took time to inform me about the history and practice of Tantra.
Warm thanks are due also to the many women and men who shared their personal stories, whether under their own names or with pseudonyms.
I am deeply indebted to my brilliant editors Libby Edelson and Daniel Halpern of HarperCollins and Lennie Goodings of Virago. I could not have had more perceptive, challenging, and insightful readers and commentators. Thanks also to Michael McKenzie and Zoe Hood. The copyeditor, Laurie McGee, was meticulous and patient. Rashmi Sharma provided admirable help with research materials. John and Katinka Matson and Russell Weinberger of Brockman, Inc., my agents, also read versions of the manuscript and provided much-appreciated commentary.
My deepest gratitude, as always, is for my family—parents, partner, and children.
Naomi Wolf
is the author of seven books, including the
New York Times
bestsellers
The Beauty Myth, Promiscuities, Misconceptions, The End of America,
and
Give Me Liberty
. She speaks to audiences in the U.S. and globally about feminism, social justice, and the defense of civil freedoms. She was a cofounder of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, which trains young women leaders, and of the American Freedom Campaign, a grassroots democracy movement to defend the U.S. Constitution; she recently cofounded DailyCloudt.com, a globally scalable democracy-building website. She writes for
The New Republic, Time, Wall Street Journal, La Republica, New York Times,
Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, and
The Sunday Times
(London), among many other publications. She writes a weekly column for the
Guardian
(United States) and a monthly column for Project Syndicate, which is reproduced in newspapers around the world. A graduate of Yale University, she was a Rhodes Scholar. She is currently working toward a doctorate in Victorian literature and its discourses about sexuality at New College, Oxford University. She lives with her family in New York City.
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The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
(1990)
Fire with Fire: The New Female Power and How It Will Change the Twenty-First Century
(1994)
Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood
(1998)
Misconceptions: Truth, Lies and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood
(2001)
The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to Live, Love and See
(2005)
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
(2007)
Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries
(2008)
Cover and case design by Allison Saltzman
Case artwork: Lucas Cranach the Elder, Eve, 1531, photograph © by Superstock
Grateful acknowledgment is made to reprint the following lyrics: “Press My Button,” words and music by Lil Johnson. Copyright © 1941 by Universal Music Corp. Copyright renewed. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation. “Don’t You Make Me High,” words and music by Louisa Barker, Daniel Barker, and J Mayo Williams. Copyright © 1938 by Universal Music Corp. Copyright renewed. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation. “I Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl,” words and music by Clarence Williams, J. Tim Byrmn, and Dally Small. Copyright © 1932 by Universal Music Corp. Copyright renewed. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation. “If You See My Rooster,” words and music by Minnie McCoy. Copyright © 1933 Universal Music Corp. Copyright renewed. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.
The names and identifying characteristics of some of the individuals featured throughout this book have been changed to protect their privacy. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
VAGINA.
Copyright © 2012 by Naomi Wolf. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-198916-2
Epub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2012 ISBN: 9780062096968
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