The Naked Woman null

This book written by a zoologist focuses on how women attempt to increase the contrast with males to make themselves more feminine. This book was published 16 years ago and would not have sold well today because the trend today is to stress a woman’s work skills, and deemphasize her physical attractiveness. The mantra is there are no differences between men and women aside from minor plumbing differences. At my college, the goal was to get more women in the trades such as welding and more men in childcare programs. We were awarded millions of dollars of grants to achieve this goal and were not very successful. One interesting part of the book was chapter 19 (p.192-202) on pubic hair and its functions. They include a visual signal of readiness to reproduce, as a scent-trap to store and release sexual pheromones, to act as a buffer between the skin surfaces of adult males and females, to name four and there are more in this detailed chapter. He also covers the why of its shaving.

All of the books by this author are speculations not science, a load of nonsense as far as I am concerned

This book by Desmond Morris is written from a space of deep appreciation. The following quote from the book captures the spirit is was written in well:"Every human female has a beautiful body. The brilliant end point of millions of years of evolution, loaded with amazing adjustments and subtle refinements, it is the most remarkable organism on the planet."The book is organized into chapters by body region. It starts with the hair and ends with the feet. Each chapter talks about the evolution of a particular area of the body, its significance in sexual signaling and presents interesting customs and social practices that have developed throughout history associated with that area.For example, in the chapter on feet, Desmond Morris points out feet are a gender signal. Women's feet are smaller and narrower. This seems pretty obvious, but he goes on to discuss how the shoe is a symbol of the female genitals and cites the nursery rhyme "The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe" as an example of this creeping into the unconscious mythological arena.. He also goes on to explain foot fetishes and how people leave a scented trail when they walk barefoot. He points out that some tribal people can use this scent to identify who walked down a given path and approximately when!The chapter on buttocks follows a similar approach and talks about how display of the buttocks became a symbol of both something offensive and sexually arousing. For example, he talks about how apes have flat behinds, whereas humans have round ones because of their upright posture. The prominent human derriere was reputed to be something the devil could not replicate when he took human form and that early Christians displayed their buttocks to ward off evil spirits. The buttocks of the devil was also said to take the form of a second face, which witches were said to kiss. This is the point in history where the expression "kiss my arse" entered our lexicon. According to Morris, it originated in an early Christian practice!This book may not be for everyone, but if you have an interest in the evolutionary purpose of anatomical variations between males and females, stories about the history of fascination with different areas of the female anatomy as well as trends in female fashion and ornamentation, then most likely you will enjoy this volume.The book is basically a good story about the development of the female form, the aesthetic aspects of it, and the role of its different regions in sexual signaling and the history of why women's bodies have been such an object of attention in all cultures.Although I haven't mentioned this specifically, there is also good scientific content such as what female attributes correlate to health and fertility, why symmetry is important and why breasts developed into larger structures when early humans started walking upright. The book even points out minor, but interesting differences between males and females such as the index finger being the second longest finger in 45% of females. This same chapter on the hand also goes on to discuss the origin of the custom of the ring finger used in the marriage ceremony.I put a lot of detail in here to give readers a feel for the type of content and basic approach of the book. There is nothing in here that is condescending to women in my opinion. It is a celebration of the female form through the eyes of a zoologist who is also an artist and fan of cultural history.I recommend this book highly, although it is not as good as some of his others such as the Naked Ape. Nonetheless, it's quite good and well worth reading.

Desmond Morris does for women what he did for the species in Naked Ape. He shines a spotlight on our behavior toward and by women to help us understand dynamics of relationships.

One of my favorite books. If you are interested in humans and the social sciences, this book is for you. It shows just how strange Homo sapiens are, and I love it.

This is a fascinating read. Possibly not in the same league as The Naked Ape or Human Zoo but then what book could eclipse those great works.Anyone who wants to understand how our species works must not miss this book.The objective discussion of the differences in the sexes is great in helping to understand why each behaves as it does.

Fun to read. Makes sense but some speculation , but thats ok too if it also makes sense to you.

I love anything written by Desmond Morris. I enjoy learning new facts about humans, and recommend this to anyone, male or female.

all the secrets.are yours to read.desmond does it again

Okay

Brilliant !

Desmond Morris's book is more a medical, technical, gynaecological, symbolical description of the female body.The text lacks the humour, the unexpected comparison or the brilliant exposures of 'The Naked Ape'.But, besides a 3000 year old Sumerian joke, one can still learn a lot about 'the most remarkable organism on the planet': e. g., why tongue-piercing can be very dangerous; why the base of the spine is calles sacrum; why the display of bare buttocks should drive away evil spirits; why legs reaching to the armpits are sexually attractive; why tears are bactericides; why Golden Lotus feet are sexually attractive in China; why hair is a species flag; why men's interest in women's breasts is not infantile?Or, what is the origin of belly dancing, the importance of the development of opposite thumbs, the law of Shifting Erogenous Zones, the function of eyebrow movements?And, what symbolize blond hair, pubic hair, ears, a tiny waist and cheeks?The author stresses rightly the importance of religion in gender matters: 'In ancient times the great deity was always a woman. But, she underwent a disastrous sex change. The benign Mother Goddess became the authoritarian God the Father.'A totally other religious affair is the circumcision of women: 'A leading Moslem theologian has issued a fatwa against anyone opposing circumcision, ordering the death penalty on, at the very least, 85 % of the entire human race (non-Moslems).'Desmond Morris castigates rightly 'the male diplomats and politicians of the United nations and other such impotent organizations, who take refuge behind convenient phrases like 'showing respect for local traditions and customs'.'As he states: ' The real reason of reducing woman's sexual pleasures is the fact that it helps to subordinate them to their tyrannical male partners.'This book is a very worth-while read.

Excelente libro, uno más de Desmond Morris que merece la pena leer a la par de A praise for the naked man y sin dudas de El Mono Desnudo y Zoohumano, un libro que no debe faltar en la biblioteca personal!