Title: O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm Author: Jonathan Margolis Publisher: Grove Press Publish Date: 2004 Pages: 401 Genres:: History, Non-Fiction, Sociology Reviewer: J. Henry

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O: The Intimate History of the Orgasm centers on the history, the reasoning, the physical, mental and psychological aspects connected to the holy orgasm and answers many questions that you may (or may not) have been wondering. Scientifically speaking, women physically enjoy orgasms more than men as their whole body convulses. Yet men seem to crave orgasms more. While some women have been prone to fake just to satisfy their partner, some men are able to climax in the presence of a stranger. British writer Jonathan Margolis notes that the average orgasm can last up to 20 seconds or at most a minute; meaning in one’s lifetime, the length of an orgasm can calculate to 10 or more hours if one routinely climaxes every week.

Margolis provides an extensive amount of information on sexual behavior and the importance placed on the orgasm (particularly in the female).Half of O is dedicated to the perceived irrelevance of the female orgasm as it was assumed women could not have one. The “discoverer” of the clitoris, Mateo Colombo, was imprisoned in the 1500s for bringing such a gland to light in society and it would be 200 years before another researcher would bring it up in a slightly more acceptable time period.

Yet, the book’s subject matter is not exclusive to the orgasm.Margolis goes on to provide history of sexual manners in primitive cultures, the ideo logy behind pleasure, thoughts on conception, the fight for legal medical contraception and the perception of outside forces such as religion, government and family on people of how to act and feel when it comes to one’s sexuality.

Homosexuality was very common place in ancient society in the b c era but upon Rome’s invasion of Greece, the Empire’s methodologies and the ideals of Western c ivilization pervaded to make same sex relations seem unlawful -- even adultery would become taboo in a society where it was highly regarded (especially from the male standpoint). This would also become the case in terms of religion when adverse thoughts in Christianity incited undesirable views on any kind of sexual act with or without a partner. “The veto [by the Christian elders] on masturbation was just as puzzling. Here was a harmless act that did not lower the value of a woman, did not break either her hymen or her heart, and did not produce unwanted, illegitimate children.”

The differences between thoughts on sexuality in the past compared to the conquering of these hypotheses through scientific methods causes the reader to wonder how people were able to explore their sexuality with so much false information. Theorists like Freud condemned women as frigid if they did not find pleasure through penetrative intercourse, which led many to believe Freud a misogynist. Alfred Kinsey broke some barriers that held people from becoming more in tune with what they found arousing, bringing to light a lot of what people were doing but were afraid to accept as normal behavior.

There are a few typos, but they may go unnoticed when trying to retain all the information supplied. The array of records that Margolis provides makes this a great sexual history reference on societal prudery, timely sexual ideals and perceptions, while providing a substantial amount of the hypotheses that caused others to fear being different when intimate with their partner. So many questions that were not brought up are answered and you find yourself halfway through the paperback realizing that the author hasn’t finished scratching the surface of such topics.