Review

Author(s): Daniel Kubat

Review by: Daniel Kubat
Source: Marriage and Family Living, Vol. 24, No. 2 (May, 1962), pp. 200-201
Published by: National Council on Family Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/347021
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the Puritans were overly grim in their approach
to sexual matters, our present society is tending
to become overly permissive. It is difficult to
set up satisfactory criteria to test either of the
foregoing views."
The author does take a more positive stand,
however, when discussing the research data on
contemporary premarital sex behavior and ar-
gues that a permissive attitude would be detri-
mental to society since the chief motivation
for marriage is sexual gratification and permis-
siveness would eliminate this incentive. The
implication is that the ultimate value is a strong
society and a strong society is one in which
everyone gets married and stays married.
The theme interests the student very much
and he finds the method of presentation an in-
vitation to debate. There are other ways in
which this text appeals to students. It is ex-
tremely well organized so that students grasp
the outline of the chapters quickly. The writing
is interesting to students, perhaps because of
limited use of statistics.
In his preface, Dr. Kephart states that this
book covers the family field without recourse to
outside reading material. However, this reviewer
finds some imbalance in the areas covered. It is
true that many of our previously published texts
have underplayed the sexual factor in marriage
but this text goes too far in the opposite direc-
tion. There is an initial chapter on the biologi-
cal foundations of the family which discusses
the sexual and reproductive behavior of mam-
mals with some effort to compare or contrast
man with other mammals. There is a chapter on
the physiological basis of marriage dealing with
human sexual anatomy and the physiology of
reproduction. A third chapter, titled "The Sex-
ual Factor in Marriage" discusses at some
length the differences between men and women
in sex interest and the cultural factors which
inhibit sex interest or expression especially for
the female. The conclusion is that much sexual
maladjustment in marriage is traceable to these
differences in interest. Then follows the debate
about society versus the individual focused on
the question: Would cultural changes aimed at
increasing the female's interest make for better
adjustment and serve both the individual and
society? Some of the material might be useful
in a functional course but could be greatly con-
densed for the purposes of this text.
The very brief treatment of marital adjust-
ment in one chapter, a large part of which is
devoted to studies of class differences in ad-
justment, also seems out of balance. When us-
ing the text recently, the reviewer felt it nec-
200 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIVING
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essary to supplement this chapter with addi-
tional materials on the other factors which affect
marital adjustment, such as role expectations,
and personality factors with special emphasis
on psychological needs and the culturally in-
duced goals of the pair.
There can be no complaint about the thor-
oughness of the chapters on courtship, dating
and the research findings on mate selection.
There are two chapters on premarital sex codes
which contain much of the discussion on the in-
terests of the individual versus society. The
chapters on family disorganization are compre-
hensive and well organized. An exceptional fea-
ture is a full chapter on desertion.
This reviewer can vouch for student accept-
ance of this text, and when did two instructors
ever agree on all that should be included or
emphasized in a course, especially the course
for which this text is intended?
AMY G. GERLING
University of Wichita
Psychoanalysis of the Prostitute. Maryse Choisy.
New York: Philosophical Library, 1961. 138
pp. $4.75.
Dr. Choisy, a well-known psychoanalyst in
Paris, wrote this booklet for an American audi-
ence, or rather for the Philosophical Library.
In essence it seems to contain Madame Choisy's
philosophy of history. The primeval matriarchal
societal forms were subdued during the "Penic
Wars" (penic seems to come from penis) by
the patriarchal societal orders. The struggle was
that of two ideologies (the author prefers Welt-
anschauung)-between the permissive, sex-as-
devine-force oriented matriarchal peoples
(forms of sacred or temple prostitution preva-
lent), and the restrictive authoritarian, patri-
archal tribes (nomadic and aggressive), the
latter being the winners. With fathers (war-
riors, hunters) in control of the social organiza-
tions, women lost their status and prestige, be-
came property; virginity and chastity (exclu-
sive ownership either by God or the husband)
became supreme values, and prostitution as-
sumed mercantile, modern forms. Separation of
sex from love, and of sex from religion, led to
a debasement of the sex act which in prostitu-
tion reaches the lower depths.
Two case studies of prostitutes, their cor-
responding pimps and a glimpse into the psyche
of the customer are offered as illustration (pre-
ceding the main body of the book) of psycho-
analysis beyond Freud. Even should the reader
disagree with the psychoanalytic approach in its
entirety, Madame Choisy's book offers interest-
May, 1962
ing insight into the workings of our society: for
instance, her discussion of scandal (the break-
ing of a taboo), prostitution breaking two ta-
boos at once, sex and money; or her discussion
of the "League of Mothers" which she views
not actually as a re-emerging form of matri-
archy, but rather as a continuation of the patri-
archal Weltanschauung, something of a group
of females pretending they are males and as-
similating male values.
On the whole, however, the reviewer is some-
what sceptical about the whole work. To make
a good analysis of the myths of the present and
of the past, the book is too short; besides,
Simone de Beauvoir dealt with it in her Second
Sex quite well. Further, two case studies (de-
spite the fact that psychoanalysts do not use
sampling techniques) do not exhaust the topic
at all, at least in the way they are presented.
And finally, there seems to be some ideological
inconsistency in the author's philosophy of his-
tory: while matriarchal social systems favoring
free sexual expression (including mother-son
incest, and temple prostitution) are depicted as
free of our version of prostitution, Madame
Choisy does not want to propose a return
(highly theoretical, of course) to matriarchal
societal forms. Rather a transformation of our
"inner attitude toward love" (at present patri-
archal) is postulated to make prostitution dis-
appear, despite the fact that the emergence of
the patriarchal system brought about the emer-
gence of prostitution.
DANIEL KUBAT
Clarkson College of Technology
The Abortionist. Dr. X as told to Lucy Free-
man. Garden City, New York: Doubleday &
Co., Inc., 1962. 216 pp. $3.95.
This is an intelligent and readable effort to
convey to the general public some of the facts
about a pressing social problem-facts which
often have been obscured by shame, misinfor-
mation, misguided moral indignation, and gen-
eral apathy. The authors cite the best available
statistical estimates, indicating that there are
between 200,000 and 1,200,000 induced abor-
tions annually in the United States. They point
out the confusion and lack of uniformity of
our current laws on abortion, and the fact that
these laws are completely ineffective in curbing
illegal abortion. As Dr. X (a physician-abor-
tionist) reports, "There is never a scarcity of
patients. They are there if I am but willing to
accept them, all faiths, all creeds, all races."
Description of a police raid (which was sup-
ported by wire tap evidence) illustrates the
May, 1962 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIVING
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lengths to which law-enforcers must go if there
are to be any prosecutions at all. Evident too is
the way in which public (and official) ambiva-
lence concerning abortion provides a breeding
ground for corruption: "Graft is accepted by all
abortionists as a necessary annoyance and added
expense passed on to the patient."
It is clear that our anti-abortion laws have
served only to divert the persisting demand into
illegal rather than legal channels-in most cases
with extreme unpleasantness, considerable dan-
ger, and subsequent guilt feelings, for the
women involved. While recognizing the impor-
tant role contraceptive practice can play in re-
ducing the abortion problem, the authors also
favor extending indications for therapeutic
abortion to cover: general health (too many
children), eugenic reasons, humanitarian rea-
sons (rape, incest), psychological reasons and
social reasons (unmarried motherhood). They
make the important point, often glossed over,
that the abortion operation-when performed
by a qualified practitioner under proper con-
ditions and in the early weeks of pregnancy-
is quick, painless and safe.
The Abortionist relates specific cases encoun-
tered by Dr. X, interspersed with more general
observations about the abortion situation. The
entire presentation is made by Dr. X in the first
person, although it seems clear that Miss Free-
man's own research has been fitted into the
story where relevant. While this technique makes
for easy reading, it may have its disadvantages.
Those who would condemn out of hand any
professional abortionist might write off Dr. X's
generalizations as mere efforts to rationalize
his own behavior. This would be unfortunate,
for most of the general observations appear
sound. At the same time a few questionable
statements are made, and it would be interest-
ing to know to whom they are attributable. This
reviewer wonders, for instance, about the basis
for asserting, "Even in hospitals, an abortion is
performed in the hush of a guilt which cannot
help but adversely affect the doctor who wields
the instrument." Similarly, with apparent refer-
ence to most abortion-seekers, the authors write
of, "The complicated, unconscious reasons that
drive a woman to become pregnant and then
not want her child. .. ." Such an assertion
seems doubtful, and is quite inconsistent with
the many cases Dr. X presents which demon-
strate the rational reasons for desiring to termin-
ate a pregnancy. A chapter also considers pos-
sible psychological factors which led Dr. X
into the practice of abortion. Such discussion
tends to obscure the more relevant sociological
201