In Woman's Sexual Life, writer and sex educator William J. Fielding examines female sexuality through the biological, psychological, and social theories available in the 1920s.
Moving across puberty, sexual desire, menstruation, marriage, pregnancy, motherhood, menopause, and mental health, Fielding argues against the once-common belief that respectable women possess little or no sexual desire. He emphasizes the importance of female sexual satisfaction within marriage and challenges some of the shame and silence that historically surrounded women's bodies and sexuality.
At the same time, the work reflects many assumptions characteristic of early twentieth-century medicine and psychology. Fielding's discussions of gender, race, nervous disorders, and female behavior include theories that modern science no longer accepts.
Originally published in 1925 as part of the Little Blue Book and Rational Sex series, Woman's Sexual Life is best approached today as both a historical work of popular sex education and a revealing document of changing attitudes toward women, sexuality, marriage, and reproductive health.
