Sexidemic: A Cultural History of Sex in America by Lawrence R. Samuel (review)

In Sexidemic: A Cultural History of Sex in America, Lawrence R. Samuel attempts to trace the evolution of sexuality and sexual culture since the end of World War II, arguing that the dominant theme of American sexual history has been a “crisis … of epidemic proportions” (1). Samuel, who according to the book jacket is a writer whose company “[offers] cultural insights to Fortune 500 companies and their ad agencies,” tries to engage in the scholarly conversation by citing various established historians, but Sexidemic does not meet the standards of scholarly history. Yet given the numerous academic works that are referenced, including textbooks, the book also does not seem to be intended for a popular audience, making it very difficult to situate.

Samuel claims to be offering a “comprehensive exploration” of American sexual history, although the book is surprisingly concise for such a goal, at less than two hundred pages of text (2–4). In spite of years of established scholarship on the subject, and contradicting his own secondary source references, Samuel asserts that his is the “first real cultural history of sexuality in the United States since the end of World War II, filling a large gap,” and he expresses his surprise that “a dedicated cultural history of sexuality in America over the past two-thirds of a century has yet to be published” (2).

He focuses primarily on mainstream magazine discussions of sexuality, with an emphasis on publications like Time and Newsweek. Somewhat oddly, much of Sexidemic pairs this popular culture with contemporaneous scientific sexual pronouncements. It makes sense to address the impact of culturally significant studies such as the Kinsey reports, but lesser studies or magazines like Psychology Today were probably only occasionally a part of mainstream conversations. He also repeatedly comes back to the state of sexual education, as well as college sexual culture, nearly always relying—uncritically—on popular magazines as sources while missing opportunities to consult obvious primary sources, such as the papers or publications of the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).

In dissecting the 1950s, Samuel primarily centers on the Kinsey reports, with a brief exploration of standards in sexual education. He ignores many fruitful topics of investigation, particularly the case of Christine Jorgensen, the often fraught sexuality presented in films of the decade, the lavender scare, and many other media spectacles. His chapter on the sixties covers more ground, but only superficially, including further examination of major and minor developments in sexology (focusing on the work of William Masters and Virginia Johnson among others), sex education and college life, the Summer of Love, art, Broadway and Hollywood, and some popular literature. As Samuel’s work moves into the seventies, he adds the rise of pornography to the mix and discusses group sex trends, self-help and sex therapy, and bisexuality. The concluding chapters deal with the emergence of HIV/AIDS, lingerie parties, the Internet, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, abstinence-only education, and much more.

Samuel is correct in noting that his work is ambitious; he attempts to do many things in a short book—too many. Unfortunately, Sexidemic falls far short of actually providing a “comprehensive” history of American sexuality since the mid-twentieth century. With so many subjects vying for so little space, each discussion is shallow, and it is not clear how he chose his topics. Just as obscure is the justification for his periodization. A case could be made for a chronology that begins in the mid-twentieth century and ends in the present day. But given the many changes that took place over those seventy or so years, the era could be—and possibly should be—bookended differently, especially given his range of subjects.

While he does present an argument—that sexual culture in these years was marked by anxiety and conflict—Samuel’s writing is entirely descriptive rather than analytical, interpretive, or critical. He simply presents the stories...