Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique (book)
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Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique is a famous popular scientific treatise and self-help book published in London in 1926 by Dutch gynecologist Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde, retired director of the Gynecological Clinic at Haarlem, The Netherlands, and "one of the major writers on human sexuality during the early twentieth century. (Frayser & Whitby, p.300). It was the best-known work on its subject for several decades, and was reprinted 46 times in the original edition. After World-War Two, it sold over a half-million copies. A revised edition was published in 1965. and a subsequent one in 2000. (Melody & Pearson, p.96).
It proclaimed the "critical goal of marriage consists of sexual pleasure shared by husband and wife" (Melody and Person, p. 93) A 2000-edition of the book described itself as concentrating "on the cultivation of the technique of eroticism as an art in marriage."
Frederica Mathewes-Green writing in National Review Online described it as
" the best-selling sex manual of all time. Over half a million copies were sold in the United States alone, and it enjoyed equal success in Europe. ... This is not a prude's book. Young couples who grab a used copy off the Internet may have even as much fun with it as their great-grandparents did. " [1]
The first printing had an insert: "The sale of this book is strictly limIted to members of the medical profession, Psychoanalysts, Scholars, and to such adults as may have a definite position in the field of Physiological, Psychological, or Social Research." It was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1931.
[edit] References
- Teaching America About Sex: marriage guides and sex manuals from the late victorians to Dr. Ruth. Michael Edward Melody, Linda Mary Peterson. NYU Press, 1999. ISBN 0814755321 Chapter 4, Sexual Eruption and the Reaction: The Interwar Years.
- Sex Manuals at the Library of Congress American Memory
- Studies in Human Sexuality: A Selected Guide By Suzanne G. Frayser and Thomas J. Whitby. Libraries Unlimited, 1995. ISBN 15663081308.
- Sahli, Nancy Ann. Women and Sexuality in America: A Bibliography. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1984.
- 'Kiss without shame, for she desires it' :Sexual foreplay in American marital advice literature, 1900-1925" by Peter Laipson. Journal of Social History, Spring, 1996
- Guidelines for Marital Sex: An Analysis of Fifteen Popular Marriage Manuals" by Dennis Brissett, Lionel S. Lewis The Family Coordinator, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Jan., 1970), pp. 41-48. doi:10.2307/582144 JSTOR
- Fertility and Contraception during the Demographic Transition: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Szreter, Simon Journal of Interdisciplinary History - 34:(2), Autumn 2003, pp. 141-154 Project MUSE
- Arnold A. Lazarus "Working Effectively and Efficiently with Couples" The Family Journal, Vol. 8, No. 3, 222-228 (2000)DOI: 10.1177/1066480700083002
[edit] Contemporary Reviews
- Harry Stack Sullivan. Review of Ideal Marriage: Its Physiology and Technique. By Th. H. Van De Velde, M. D. Translated by Stella Browne. Introduction by J. Johnston Abraham, M. D. (London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1928, 323 pp.) American Journal of Psychiatry 1929 86: 218-223
- Connubial Hygiene Time [Review of Marie Carmichael Stopes's Married Love and Ideal Marriage, Its Physiology & Technique by Dr. Th. H. Van de Velde,] [2] "he analyzes and describes the minutiae of male and female physiological activities pertaining to sexual activities. Incidentally he defines a kiss 'an irregular intermittent pneumatic massage.' " (As Laipson discusses, it 'contained graphs depicting the comparative trajectories of women's and men's sexual excitement.")[[Category:Sexology}}
