THE NAKED WOMAN

Reviewed 1/10/2010

The Naked Woman, by Desmond Morris

THE NAKED WOMAN A Study of the Female Body Desmond Morris New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2004				Rating: 5.0 High
ISBN-13 978-0-312-33852-7
ISBN-10 0-312-33852-X	276p.	HC/BWI	$25.95

Here, British zoologist Desmond Morris takes us on a tour of the female anatomy. After a short chapter sketching human evolution, he takes it from the top, describing female hair in its several varieties and discussing the changes biological and cultural evolution have imposed upon it. This pattern continues with the other visible components of the head and proceeds downward, item by item, through the feet. At every step. Morris reminds us of the biological basis of the body part he is discussing.

"At the age of thirty, men are 15 times more accident-prone than women. This is because men have retained the risk-taking element of child's play more strongly than women. Although this quality frequently gets men into trouble, it was a valuable asset back in primeval times when, in order to succeed in the hunt, men were forced to take risks. Primeval women were too valuable to risk on the hunt, but the males of the tribe were expendable, so they became the specialized risk-takers. If a few of them died in the process, it did not reduce the breeding abilities of the small tribes, but if a few women died, then the breeding rate was immediately threatened. It is important to remember that, in primeval times, there were so few of us alive on the planet that breeding rates became all-important."

– Page 2

A few Fascinating Facts

Many Christian churches in medieval Europe hung stone images of female genitalia above their doors to ward off evil. (page 52)
Freud denigrated oral gratification because his own mouth (afflicted by cancer of the palate) caused him great pain. (page 89)
To Japanese men, the nape of a woman's neck is as erotic as breasts are to Westerners. (page 102) And in Santoria (voodoo), the soul is said to reside in the nape of the neck. (page 105)
The oldest known necklace was made by a Neanderthal ca. 38,000 BCE (page 106)
The rude gesture we call "the finger" originated in Roman times, when it was called (among other things) The Impudicus. (page 133)
About one in 200 women is polymastic (has more than two breasts.) Most of the extras are vestigial. But in 1886, doctors recorded both a French and a Polish woman who had 10 fully functional breasts. (page 151)

The discussion is notable for its frankness, giving straightforward coverage of sexual anatomy (it's frank but not prurient) and of controversial topics like female genital mutilation. (While Morris makes it clear that he detests FGM, he does not indulge in polemics.)1 However thoroughly researched (the list of references runs to almost 200 titles), this is not a scholarly treatise, but rather a popular book intended for a general audience. Morris writes in a breezy style that is as enjoyable as it is informative. The result is a book that is easy to read, filled with fascinating facts, and illustrated by 75 black-and-white photographs. There is one questionable passage,2 and a few places where he omits a fact I thought he would have included.3 And there is a small number of grammatical errors. None of this detracts overmuch from its quality. It is a book I recommend unreservedly.

The cover image is that of the paperback, although I believe the hardcover has an identical image.

1 It's not necessary to rant about FGM to generate a sense of outrage; all that's needed is to tell the truth — for example, that 3,000 girls are circumcised every day in Egypt, and in that country the Sheikh of Al Azhar issued a fatwa against anyone opposing the practice. (page 217)

2 Morris also makes some unsupported assertions. (See the Errata page.) But this is forgivable in a popular book where there are no citations. It's just that these particular claims struck me as unlikely.

3 For example, he never mentions the medical problems women have had due to silicone breast implants. (Most of these are due to second-generation implants. The technology is now entering its fifth generation. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_implant )

Errata for The Naked Woman