Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body--New Paths to Power and Love

Rating:
Summary: Woman Heal
Review: A very interesting and enlightening book for anyone seeking to understand World Sexuality and Sexuality in our own lives.
Modern times show us everything from burka's to genuine hard-core pornagraphy that in American is a multi-billion dollar a year industry.
How does one make sense of all this?? KNOWLEDGE
Eisler's book is a good place to start. As with "The Chalice and The Blade", there are a lot of proven historical facts. Makes one take a closer look.... especially in regards to what we consdier "sacred".
5000 years of historical information will make one rethink their own personal values.

Rating:
Summary: It's about time!
Review: FINALLY we get a hard look at the history of humanity's most intimate relationship and the role it plays in our greater society. A book that is millenia overdue. I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how the greater culture is based on our interpersonal relationships. Saying society is based on the intimate relationships between men and women is about as obvious as saying matter is based on the intimate relationships between neutrons and eletrons, but the lengths certain people will go to in order to deny this basic fact are incredibly funny.

Rating:
Summary: Well-meaning, I'm sure, but boy, does it have problems
Review: I looked forward to reading this book for a long time. I am deeply interested in connections between sex and spirituality, and I am also in agreement with Eisler about the problems that patriarchal society has created in both of these areas and especially the place where we try to integrate them.
I was deeply, deeply disappointed by this book. I believe that many of Eisler's theories are correct, but she simply doesn't cite evidence that supports them. The structure of the book seems to work like this:
1) Present theory. (Example - children are frequently abused in patriarchal society.)
2) Give a piece of evidence that might be related. (For the theory given above, Eisler writes that several Victorian doctors wrote in their journals that many children of parents with venereal disease also have venereal disease.)
3) Re-state theory. (Patriarchy is terrible for children!)
The trouble is, frequently the evidence does not say what she claims it says, and even when it does, it's only a tiny piece of a very large puzzle that we can't see. In the example above, for instance - venereal disease is often passed from mother to child during the birth process. Also, lower hygiene standards in the Victorian era means that it was very easy to pass all sorts of diseases. Touch your genitals while passing urine, touch your child's hand, your child touches their genitals and voila! We now have disease transmission. And, even if this piece of evidence had said what Eisler claimed it said, that's two doctors talking about the patients that they saw in their lifetimes - that doesn't allow for the specific demographic of patients they saw, geographical differences, differences over time, or pretty much anything else. It's close-up photography - what we see may reflect what's going on in the big picture, but it may not, and there's no way of knowing.
This is just one example - I could cite twenty more, and I'm not a serious student of history. That makes me very concerned - I worry that for every error I noticed in this book there could be five more that I just didn't have the background to recognize.
I was also deeply frustrated by Eisler's PC attitude towards sex. Sex is essential and wonderful, she writes, but pornography and BDSM are inherently tied to "dominator culture." If we live in a dominator culture, which I believe we do, isn't everything going to bear its taint? If negativity about sex is a significant part of what sustains dominator culture, which Eisler did convince me of, shouldn't we be doing all we can to validate diverse forms of sexual expression? She winds up giving a very mixed message. "Sex is great, but only if it's the right kind of sex!" That's not actually going to get us anywhere, that's the message we've been getting from our culture all along. "Sex is okay, but only if the husband is in the dominant position... sex is okay, but only if you're married... sex is okay, but only if you're straight..." Haven't we heard this before?
It's really a shame that the book isn't better written - there's so little material written on this topic that to have even one piece be sub-standard has a serious adverse effect on the available body of work.

Rating:
Summary: Well-meaning, I'm sure, but boy, does it have problems
Review: I looked forward to reading this book for a long time. I am deeply interested in connections between sex and spirituality, and I am also in agreement with Eisler about the problems that patriarchal society has created in both of these areas and especially the place where we try to integrate them.
I was deeply, deeply disappointed by this book. I believe that many of Eisler's theories are correct, but she simply doesn't cite evidence that supports them. The structure of the book seems to work like this:
1) Present theory. (Example - children are frequently abused in patriarchal society.)
2) Give a piece of evidence that might be related. (For the theory given above, Eisler writes that several Victorian doctors wrote in their journals that many children of parents with venereal disease also have venereal disease.)
3) Re-state theory. (Patriarchy is terrible for children!)
The trouble is, frequently the evidence does not say what she claims it says, and even when it does, it's only a tiny piece of a very large puzzle that we can't see. In the example above, for instance - venereal disease is often passed from mother to child during the birth process. Also, lower hygiene standards in the Victorian era means that it was very easy to pass all sorts of diseases. Touch your genitals while passing urine, touch your child's hand, your child touches their genitals and voila! We now have disease transmission. And, even if this piece of evidence had said what Eisler claimed it said, that's two doctors talking about the patients that they saw in their lifetimes - that doesn't allow for the specific demographic of patients they saw, geographical differences, differences over time, or pretty much anything else. It's close-up photography - what we see may reflect what's going on in the big picture, but it may not, and there's no way of knowing.
This is just one example - I could cite twenty more, and I'm not a serious student of history. That makes me very concerned - I worry that for every error I noticed in this book there could be five more that I just didn't have the background to recognize.
I was also deeply frustrated by Eisler's PC attitude towards sex. Sex is essential and wonderful, she writes, but pornography and BDSM are inherently tied to "dominator culture." If we live in a dominator culture, which I believe we do, isn't everything going to bear its taint? If negativity about sex is a significant part of what sustains dominator culture, which Eisler did convince me of, shouldn't we be doing all we can to validate diverse forms of sexual expression? She winds up giving a very mixed message. "Sex is great, but only if it's the right kind of sex!" That's not actually going to get us anywhere, that's the message we've been getting from our culture all along. "Sex is okay, but only if the husband is in the dominant position... sex is okay, but only if you're married... sex is okay, but only if you're straight..." Haven't we heard this before?
It's really a shame that the book isn't better written - there's so little material written on this topic that to have even one piece be sub-standard has a serious adverse effect on the available body of work.

Rating:
Summary: Riane Eisler's Ode to Joy
Review: In this book Eisler focuses on the issues surrounding joy. Why, she asks, are love and evil, cruelty and pleasure, so confounded in our private and public lives? With a surprizing mix of science, history and autobiography she sets out tracing the evolution of pleasure. At her hands a different Darwinism emerges, stressing the survival of those with the greatest capacity for joy, love and mutual care. In Eisler's critical path, the future belongs not to those with the greatest means of coercion, or even with the best means of production, but to those able to inspire partnership between former competitors.

Some critics claim Sacred Pleasure is unrealistic, and fails to recognize the harsh realities of evil and economics which make life the way it is. They imply that Eisler is too serious about the wrong things. But in comparing Eisler's world to certain other people's "real worlds", I am left wondering who is too serious about what.






Rating:
Summary: Partnership as a deep human need
Review: It is patently stupid to imply that the human urge towards partnership cannot possibly be real because "we haven't gotten there after 25 million years." We WERE there once. We can be there again. We're sentient creatures, after all, and uniquely gifted with the ability to act on our sentience. Never mind politics or bruised egos; it's about time the species grew up and quit committing species suicide. This book gives us one instrument for that purpose.

Rating:
Summary: An uplifting and inspiring read
Review: Raine Eisler once again breaks new ground as her research and hypotheses continue to boldly challenge the dominant paradigm under which the human family still lives. In this millennia sweeping text from the Paleolithic & Neolithic to the current media frenzy and possibilities for social transformation Eisler's exploration of and frank discussion concerning the myths and politics of "western civilization" is provocative and long overdue. Referencing prolific researchers like, Marija Gimbutas and Ashley Montagu the author paints a stunningly vivid picture of the other histories. The histories that have for to long gone unspoken, been buried, and deliberately hidden in order to maintain status quo. The author's scrupulously accurate examination of the politics of pain and how western culture has come to erotize violence will make any mindful reader rethink their own relationship to and responsibility for private and public tolerance of this dominate mythology and politics. Referencing events through out history Eisler traces the paths western culture has chosen, carefully marking each crossroads with examples, accurate evidence and a reverence for the triumphs of the human spirit even in the most dire of circumstances. The issue and impact of class structure within patriarchal society could have been explored with more depth although Eisler does address material poverty and politics of greed as one of the ploys of current social domination. As in her previous work, Chalice and the Blade and Partnership Way, the writing is accessible and a pleasure to read. Eisler is careful not to place blame, instead highlighting how this social structure has created deep wounds of the spirit to both women and men. In closing she attempts to provide a salve for humanity, offering clear actions that can be taken on individual, communal and global level to create positive change thus supporting her theory of cultural transformation. Sacred Pleasure, examines the complex realm of intimate relations between women and men looking at sexuality, communication, the mythology and politics that have brought current "western civilization" to its knees and, gives us the opportunity to seek alternatives to the current state creating possibilities of a future where sacredness is not a part of but, the whole of sexuality, mythology and politics. An uplifting and inspiring read

Rating:
Summary: The Way, the Truth and the Life
Review: Read this book and celebrate, or read it and condemn it because you're still mired in dominator ideology. For those of you who want some of the answers to the most important questions facing humanity, this book provides plenty of them. For those of you who don't see the answers this book provides, I hope you eventually learn to ask the right questions!

Rating:
Summary: It's about time!
Review: Reclaiming pleasure as our birthright is a bold and revolutionary act...one that I like a lot. I'm inspired by Eisler's vision and courage-it goes to the heart of what it means to be human. Several times throughout the book I've thought...surely we, as evolution's children, were't put here to bear and deal pain. It's way past time to leave domination behind! Embracing Eisler's partnership ethic is a pleasure, and it makes perfect sense.

Rating:
Summary: A tantalizing book that delivers.
Review: Reclaiming pleasure as our birthright is a bold and revolutionary act...one that I like a lot. I'm inspired by Eisler's vision and courage-it goes to the heart of what it means to be human. Several times throughout the book I've thought...surely we, as evolution's children, were't put here to bear and deal pain. It's way past time to leave domination behind! Embracing Eisler's partnership ethic is a pleasure, and it makes perfect sense.