영성, 몸-마음, 젠더, 생태, 평화 Scapbook: 만화로 보는 성의 역사 A graphic history of sex

2021/10/27

만화로 보는 성의 역사 A graphic history of sex

[독서생활] <만화로 보는 성의 역사 - 인류학자이자 정신의학자가 쓴 섹스에 관한 과감하고도 장대한 인류학적 서사시>

필리프 브르노 (지은이), 레티시아 코랭 (그림)

<섹스 이야기: 시대를 걸처 그림으로 보는 역사> (불어, 영역)

THE STORY OF SEX, A GRAPHIC HISTORY THROUGH THE AGES

PHILIPPE BRENOT, ILLUSTATED BY LAETITIA CORYN

TRANSLATION BY WILL MCMORRAN

===

interview
A graphic history of sex: ‘There is no gene that drives sexuality. All sexuality is learned’
Homa Khaleeli

Changes in sexuality over time have made the modern family what it is. What next? Homa Khaleeli asks the authors of a groundbreaking graphic guide, The Story of Sex

The Story of Sex … some images from the book. Illustration: Laetitia Coryn

Sat 29 Oct 2016 16.00 AEDT

793

Philip Larkin famously announced that sexual intercourse began in 1963 (“Between the end of the ‘Chatterley’ ban / And the Beatles’ first LP”). Being French, and a psychiatrist to boot, Philippe Brenot takes a rather longer view. In his latest book, The Story of Sex, a bestseller in France, he runs an anthropological eye over the sexual mores of human societies from prehistoric times to today. Yet Brenot believes that the sexual revolution did spark a dramatic change, creating the modern couple, which is the basis of our families today. Now, however, he thinks this partnership of equals is under assault from all sides.

The academic, who has the wonderful title of director of sexology at Paris Descartes University, has spent his life studying sexuality. The Story of Sex is an irreverent, graphic novel (in both senses), filled with fascinating – if alarming – history. Cleopatra used a vibrator filled with bees; the word “trousers” was considered to be positively pornographic in Victorian England. Illustrator Laetitia Coryn’s extremely cheeky, but never sordid, pictures liven up the page and keep the narrative zipping along. The book was a real collaboration, says Coryn, who says it was made easier by Brenot’s firm ideas – and the fact he liked her jokes.

The illustrator admits she hesitated slightly over collaborating on the book. “I told my publisher we have to be careful with the drawings and with the jokes – we have to be sensitive,” she says, because she wanted the book to have as wide an audience as possible. “I didn’t put any porn in it!” As a reader, however, the frankness of the pictures still shocked me (you, er, might not want to whip out the book on public transport or in the office).

Philippe Brenot and Laeticia Cory. Photograph: Pierre Hybre/MYOP

Talking to Brenot over the phone (through charmingly accented English that becomes somewhat eccentric as he struggles with the complexities of his ideas) it’s impossible to escape the psychiatrist’s anxiety about our attitudes to love and intimacy today. We have never been freer to define our own relationships, and follow our own pleasure, he says, but despite this we are far from satisfied; and the modern couple is looking dangerously fragile.

“It’s incredible the difficulties couples have,” Brenot declares, in a tone that makes me imagine he is throwing his hands in the air in despair. Of the couples he sees in therapy, he says, “there is nothing wrong with them psychologically, but still they cannot communicate quietly, live calmly and have sexual fulfilment”.

While we think of lovers as a timeless relationship model, it has been the family that has been paramount in society for most of history, the 68-year-old says. “The couple used to get together for the sake of the family,” he explains. And the idea of equality in long-term pairings is even more recent, with “traditional” marriages putting men firmly in charge of their spouses.

“Love marriages have only been widespread for a century or so, and homosexuality was condemned until very recently,” Brenot notes.

“Since the 1970s, we have begun to invent modern couples with respect for each other and equality between the sexes,” he says. “This only came about after ‘marriage’ as a concept began dying out. Not because people stopped getting married, but because marriage stopped being seen as a sacred union – couples instead started developing on their own terms.”

Yet the rise in divorces since the 1970s and breakups of long-term relationships shows that the modern couple is not surviving, Brenot argues. In part, he says, this is because we are demanding more than ever before.

“It is difficult to live intimately, because we want perfect love and perfect sex and that is very difficult in a long-term relationship. We want a lot more than a reliable person to raise kids with.”

The solution, he says, is for us all to learn more about sex – which is where his book comes in. “It’s not possible to understand our intimate sex lives without looking at centuries of history, and even the origins of human life,” he says. “We understand what we live today if we understand from where we came.”

For instance, he says, if we look at the way relationships were formed in early human societies we can see echoes of our own problems. “We came from primates, but in chimp society there are never couples or families. There are lone males and females with children.” It was only as our brains evolved and emotions developed – including love – that monogamous relationships set in. For the first time (“somewhere between 1 million BC and 100,000BC”), it was possible to know the paternity of a child.

The Story of Sex … The Great Change 1960-1970. Illustration: Laetitia Coryn

While the beginning of family life may sound like a wonderful moment, Brenot argues that it was also the start of women’s subjugation, with men taking possession of their female partner and offspring – which traditional marriage legalised. “Paternity is the beginning of male domination,” says Brenot simply. “The day that happened, men took possession of women.”

In the animal kingdom, Brenot argues, there is none of the domination of female partners that has been a hallmark of human societies through history, nor is there domestic violence. Instead, among animals “males fight against other males and females fight with other females,” he says.

“Violence between men and women is only in humans – because of marriage, which puts men above women.”

During antiquity, meanwhile, a woman’s role was to provide a child – and female sexual pleasure was dismissed. But this role was also a dangerous one. “There were so many impediments to female pleasure. In the 18th and 19th centuries, one in six pregnant women died in childbirth. Then there were the infections and sexual violence.”

For men, of course, things were different. “Men have always done what they wanted,” says Brenot.

Even for men, sex for pleasure was something that happened “outside the home – for instance with prostitutes. Women were seen either to provide offspring or pleasure.” In ancient Rome, these rules were so strictly upheld that women could take their husbands to court for ejaculating anywhere but inside her body during intercourse, “because sex within marriage was for procreation, and the wife’s role was to receive sperm”.

Even during periods that today we think of as being golden ages for same-sex relationships, such pleasures were “reserved for the elite” – and the reality was often less accepting than we think. In ancient Greece, for instance, it was only the man who was “receiving” who was not stigmatised in a pairing. Similarly for the libertines in the 18th century, “there was a fluid sexuality, but it was also the top end of society – the intelligentsia and aristocracy. Throughout the centuries and the world’s rural populations, to be gay – or for women to have control of their own sexuality – has always been frowned upon.”

The Story of Sex … Between War and Peace. Illustration: Laetitia Coryn

Today too, Brenot argues, while much has been written about more people exploring fluid sexualities, entering polyamorous relationships and breaking down gender norms, “we shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that this is trickling down to all sections of society”. And he warns too about a backlash from “new moralists” who oppose gay marriage, and will, no doubt, do the same for trans rights and alternative relationships as they gain more legal rights. Coryn says this is one of the reasons she enjoyed creating the book. “In France, people who don’t want gay people to be married, is a huge phenomenon. It’s awful. We say in the book this is a misunderstanding of sexuality; homosexuality is normal. I hope this is one topic on which people will change their mind in reading the book.”

For heterosexual couples, relationships began to look up about the time of the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Up until this period, “men were having fun outside the home – hunting animals or chasing women. While women were always at home,” says Brenot. But the new spirit of education and the pursuit of knowledge changed this. Finally, says Brenot, men and women could be friends and even have platonic love.

Yet it took contraception for men and women to gain a semblance of equality. Previously “women were immobilised by marriage. They can’t get out of it, they don’t have the possibility of working or being free. The story of sex is, first of all, the story of marriage and the difficulties [it creates] for women.”

To start combating the problems that these historical inequalities have left us with, the psychiatrist insists, we need better sexual education, and one that starts at an early age. “People think sexuality is just an instinct,” he says, “that it is natural like eating and drinking. No. There is no gene that drives sexuality. All sexuality is learned.”

Because of this, says Brenot, the models for our sexuality are very important. Today, talking about sex is still taboo, and the dissemination of pornography has filled the void. “People say pornography changes adolescent life. But it changes everyone’s sexuality,” he says. “We have sex differently now; we try to imitate what we see [on our screens]. People feel bad and say, ‘I can’t do what they do.’”

The Story of Sex … the 21st century. Illustration: Laeticia Cory

To displace this dangerous model, “sexual education should teach the rules that should govern relationships; it should teach us about communication, about consent and respect. This is not natural [to us]. We have to learn this.”

Coryn says that while the Story of Sex is not a sexual education manual, “we wanted it to be uninhibited”, to make talking about sex seem as natural as it should be.

“From the time children are little girls and boys, we have to teach them that everyone should be respected and to start accepting difference,” says Brenot. But, he says, while men and women are equal, that does not mean that they are the same. Railing against the teaching of “gender studies” departments, he says that a refusal to admit this difference is allowing gender inequality to become entrenched.

“They say, ‘Don’t speak of differences – a man is the same as a woman. Society is guilty of making differences, but underneath we are the same.’”

Unpicking these ideas, he says, is the only way to combat our most pressing problems. For example, “physical strength is different from a very young age. So [children] need to understand boys are stronger and take that into account – because that is the start of domestic violence, which is a real problem.”

If we leave this teaching too late, he says, the battle is already lost: “In children’s fairy stories it is the boy who seduces the girl, so there is power play early on.” Then there is the fact men have always been free to have multiple partners throughout history, because men don’t get pregnant. It is only by introducing the idea early on that “contraception is a joint responsibility” that we can challenge this.

Today’s modern couple, he points out, faces new challenges from the rise in options for dating to “new forms of relationship,” says Brenot. Yet Coryn stresses, as does Brenot, that there has never been a better time for people to live in terms of sexuality. Yet one thing has not changed, says Brenot – everyone still wants to find somebody to love. “People are afraid to be alone at the end of their life. They are afraid not to find the perfect person to live with. It is a difficult problem for everyone today.

“We have to learn how to live together anew.”

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LOVE

While there are some presages of love in the animal kindom (courtship rituals, offeririe, attachments...), the feeling of love seems to be characteristic of human relationships. In traditional societies, the ritual known as "seduction" among humans is a male privilege. This patient courtship - over several months, or even several years - ritualized in dances, invitations, secret trysts... is often cut short in modem societies when it would often be worth reviving: This is one of the secrets to endurinig relationships.

Is love a choice? Not really. First arid foremost it's the emotions that do all the talking arid choosing for lovers. However, traditionally, the family arid society have long imposed their will. Today, when individuals are free to make their own decisions, attraction is sparked by a first glance, a glimpse of a silhouette, or a face... The voice is one of the most personal of the signals we send: Timbre, inflections, a particular accent are all instruments of seduction. The kiss thus plays a very special role. It is the most intimate contact one can have, for touch, sound, taste and smell all combine to foreshadow sexual intercourse. The kiss often conveys more emotion than a lengthy declaration. It's the union of physical arid emotional love, an unbreakable bond that brings human beings together.

Emotion at its most intense, love at first sight paralyzes, transports, devastates. It's acinie's Phaedra seeing Hippolytus for the first time: "I saw him, I blushed, I turned pale before him" (Phaedra, 1.3). This kind of love is a psychological encounter. Then, through the magic of hormones, the bond crystallizes: the brain in love awakens. Oxytocini, dopaminie and enidorphints bring us to the verge of ecstasy.

Then comes the great metamorphosis that leads from passionate to lasting love, and creates a relationship that can stand the test of time. For time is evidently the great obstacle that love must overcome! How can one make the excitement of those first days East? How can one keep the passion alive? goes love really only last three years? Obviously riot - it lasts as long as the authenticity of our feelings.

EDUCATION

We know today that human sexually is not innate: It is Learned and constructed through the images that society offers us.

Even among our cousins, the primates, who Live in a natural habitat, sexuality is Learned through experience - young monkeys witness the courting and Frolicking of the adults. The need for a model is evident: A young chimpanzee, isolated from its peers, is paradoxically incapable of mating when it reaches adulthood.

Yet there is a fundamental difference. The phenomenon of modesty: Humans always make Love away from the group. This is one of the great problems with sexuality: On the one hand it requires education; on the other, culture and religion suppress any model arid often any form of sexual education.

Sex education is today well established in Northern Europe (the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden...). elsewhere, the influence of religion and family often limits this practice. A genuine sex education should take the biopsychological, emotional and social aspects of sexuality into account, should allow children to understand differences between the sexes, interpersonal relationships, the importance of developing critical thinking, an open mind arid respect for the other. In the Netherlands, where a complete program of sex education is delivered from primary school upward, the rates of unwanted pregnancies and abortions is the lowest in the world.

Porn: In the absence of any real sex education, young adolescents will seek information from their peers and from the only iconographic model of sexuality - porn. This is quite evidently the worst possible model, and the reason why a more reliable source of knowledge is indispensable, from primary school right through to the last year of secondary. By the age of 11, one in two adolescents has already watched porn.

PROHIBITIONS

From the beginning, all societies have decreed prohibitions concerning sexuality. These vary greatly according to culture, religion arid period. In the course of the long history revealed in this book, we have seen, for example, the prohibition then the acceptance of homosexuality, masturbation, and free sexual behavior...

The incest taboo is the first of these. It's the renunciation of sexual desire toward the members of one's own clan, a fouridationial law for humanity. In the animal kingdom there is already an avoidance of incest through the exogamy of young females (see pp.1-17) who leave their community at puberty to go arid live it-i another group away from their biological father. Females also distance themselves from their young male offspring as soot-i as they become too frisky. The human taboo is far more fragile, conveyed by language, stories arid myths. It is transgressed too often. But there are no reliable statistics regarding incest, a matter too private ever to be openly admitted. An inquiry by the International Association of Victims of Incest in 2009 estimates that it affects 3% of the general population. This is doubtless a low estimate.

Religious prohibitions come next: the duty of celibacy or chastity; the ban on sex before marriage; the bail on adultery; the ban on divorce; the repression of autoeroticism (masturbation); the ban on sodomy; the ban on contraception...

There are also Legal and societal prohibitions: penalties for sex with children (incest and pedophilia); penalties for nioniconisenisual sex; penalties for rape in marriage... It is by respecting these Fundamental prohibitions that sexuality can now be freely lived, without moral judgment, between two consenting adults and according to a very simple rule: Vo nothing that might make someone else feel uncomfortable.

MARRIAGE

Whether one lives in a monogamous or polygamous society, marriage traditionally performs the same furictiori. For the sake of procreatiori, it unites a mart and a woman (arid today in some countries, two men or two womer). It is only very recently (the 1911 century in Europe) that this union has taken on a sentimental dimension (the marriage of Cove).

Monogamy/polygamy: If one Looks at human cultures in their entirety, one sees that monogamy is in the minority, and polygamy in the majority. Societies that claim to be monogamous have laws forbidding remarriage without divorce. In polygamous societies there cart be second arid third marriages coricurreritty... with one unspoken caveat: Remarriage is only possible for meri! Polygamy is a sign of male domiriatiori.

Globalization: Under the cultural influence of Western societies, Christian marriage (coriserisual, monogamous arid indissoluble) terids to impose its model on the whole world, arid the prefererice for a sirigle union begins to prevail even in countries where polygamy is erishriried iri law.

There are still, sadly, far too many early and forced marriages, imposed by Families, mainly in sub-Saharari Africa (where over a quarter of girls aged between 15 arid 19 are married), Southeast Asia and South America.

In the laboratory of the West, the union of two individuals is in complete flux, with a drop in those getting married, the possibility of same-sex marriage, and of a series of "slices of life" - relationships with differerit partriers iri the course of a lifetime. Two adult individuals cam thus "become a couple" according to the conditions they choose.

This great freedom that Western societies offer is riot without its problems. The lack of a rigid framework and of religious, familial or social prohibitioris mearie that young couples must firid their own way, if they are riot to go their separate ways.

This is the price of living and loving freely.

NORMALCY

Within this world of great freedom, we tend to say that there is no such thing as a "normal" sexuality - for every relationship is different, whether it is with oneself, with one or more parriers, Frequemt or occasional, with a partner of the same sex or a clifferemt one. One rule is worth remembering, however: Everything is possible when it comes to sexual relations between two adults only as long as there is consent and rio coercion.

History: As The 9oty of 9ex has shown, history is a series of irisrucioris and condemnations when it comes to sexuality. Each culture, each religion, each era defines its own normality, and does so for is own ends - for example, in the past, reproductive sex was the only kind allowed by Christianity.

Personal life: "What is normal F" is, however, the question most frequerily asked by adolescents discovering their sexuality. "Am I normal ?" "What about the shape of my breasts ?" "The size of my penis ?" And now that sex is everywhere: "Am I a good lover?,*-*

These legitimate questions should not become causes of anxiety. Sex education and the support of teachers, doctors or psychologists should allow adolescents to express their concerns and to grow in confidence.

Some myths: The size of a boy's pens is a red herring. Except in very rare cases, such a boy is really talking about the size of his self-esteem! Vaginal or clitoral? Another myth, for women have many routes to pleasure - tenderness, touch, orgasm... Whether they are vaginal or clitoral - all orgasms are created equal!

Porn addiction: This happens when Internet images become the sole source of sexual arousal and education. This can never be a substitute for real encouriters. Here once again self-confidence and learning about how to relate to others offer answers to the sense of isolation that emanates from screens.

ORIENTATION

Orientation designates an individual's sexual attraction to a particular gender: If someone is attracted to a member of the same sex, this is described as homosexuality; if it is to a member of the opposite sex, heterosexuality; If it is to members of both sexes, bisexuality. Taking the reproduction of the species as an imperative, the great religions have always privileged only the fertile union (between a man arid a woman) arid condemned infertile (homosexual) attraction. The long history we have traced amply demonstrates the tradition of prosecuting homosexuality until recent times in the West. Today, homosexuality is still subject to a death penalty in six countries (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria, Mauritania/ Sudan and Yemen) and to corporal punishment, prisori, or judicial proceedings in over a huridred countries.

In Western countries where it is easier to reveal one's sexual orientation/ the proportion of homosexuality and bisexuality is 3-4% for men arid 1-2% for women. But the social acceptance of homosexuality is still often a problem, as the continued demonstrations against gay marriage clearly show.

Ideritiy/Orieritation: It is important to clarify the distinction between identity and orientation, for this issue creates considerable corifusiori. Sexual orientation is not a matter of identity - whatever orie's orientation (gay, straight, bi) the individual lives as a man or as a woman. By contrast, transsexualism describes a conflicted sexual identity: Individuals have a profound sense of not belonging to the sex they were assigned at their birth. They therefore seek to transform their bodies to align with how they feel. This can be very painful. These bio-psychological cases are rare (1 out of 100,000 to 400,000 people).

PERVERTION

"Perversion'*' is an old word with moralistic connotations to describe an individual "tumirig From the straight arid narrow.',, it is associated with ideas of possession arid manipulation. Because of this moralistic context, we now use the term "paraphilia" to describe an obsessive sexual Fantasy that causes the individual distress.

Paraphilias are numerous: exhibitionism (sexual pleasure From displaying one's genitals in public); voyeurism (pleasure from observing others who are riaked or having sex); fetishism (pleasure from particular objects or parts of the body); sexual masochism (pleasure from one's own paint); sexual sadism (pleasure from inflicting palm on others); trarisvestism (dressing in clothes usually worn by the opposite sex); zoophilia (sexual attraction to animals) arid all sorts of other practices... These are peculiar, arid oferi uriheaithy, ways of experiericirig sexual pleasure. irisofar as they are practiced amorig adults and without pressure or coercion, they are riot illegal. In our free and open society, we don't make moral judgments about what goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults. There is only one great prohibition: the intrusion of adult sexuality into the world of children or adolescerits, which is known as pedophilia. such cases must always be reported and prosecuted.

Perverted personality: We still refer to a "perverted persoriality" to describe the hold or coritrol art iridividual may Forcibly exert over ariother individual. Such forms of coritrol are illegal. Those who commit sexual aggression must be reported and its victims given support.

PROSTITUTION

"The oldest profession in the world" no doubt emerged after the establishment of prohibitions that limited access to sex. In marked contrast with so-called "primitive" societies, where erotic play takes place from childhood and where there is little sexual frustration, in the more complex, male-dominated societies characteristic of the human species, the appropriation of females by certain dominant males creates an imbalance. Sex then becomes a commodity to be exchanged against food, preserits, money... Arid in the dominant polygamous structure of traditional societies there will inevitably be those who are "sexually disinherited."

In the course of this long history of human sexuality, we have seen prostitution emerge and grow, first within religions and then within institutions (the municipal brothels in Athens), arid ultimately fueled by poverty, war, migratiori and despair...

Globalization: Prostitution has mow become globalized. Male or female, adult or child, it is always a matter of enslavement and often sustained by sexual tourism. It is estimated that L40 million people worldwide prostitute themselves, with 9 out of 10 of these dependent on a pimp. It has also been established that the majority of prostitutes have experienced sexual violence in childhood (between 75 arid 90% of male and female prostitutes have suffered sexual abuse, in most cases within the family).

In so-called "developed" countries where sexual Frustrations are comparatively insignificant, where eroticism is a part of marital sexuality, prostitution has become margirialized. Many countries On Europe, Russia, Canada, Australia, South America...) have decriminalized prostitution while still prosecuting pimping. In other countries (United States, China...) it remains illegal at the cost of a high incidence of clandestine procurement.

Abolitionism or regulation Two questions arid two perspectives remain at odds: Is prostitution a form of human exploitation that must be abolished? or is it an activity like any other that should simply be regulated?

===

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Sep 15, 2016 Warwick rated it liked it
Shelves: history, sex, comics
Very odd, very French project to summarise the social and cultural history of human sexuality in the form of a comic strip. In some other cultures, perhaps, the absence of such a thing might not have been seen as a big gap in the market. The author, Philippe Brenot, is a psychiatrist who has published works on male sexual violence, fantasy, and masturbation, so the text does come with a certain academic cachet – sweetened here by the simple, playful illustrations of Laetitia Coryn, an artist known mainly for her work on the short-lived BD revue AAARG! Her pictures are all bold primary colours and minimal background detail, the characters realistic enough to be anatomically correct, but cartoonish enough to be fairly inoffensive no matter what activities they're engaged in.

With more than 200 pages here – the average BD album is usually around fifty – there is plenty of space to explore the subject, and indeed we get into a surprising amount of detail on subjects ranging from primate evolutionary biology, to Classical paederasty, medieval legends and religious sensitivity, the development of contraception, concepts of female virtue and virginity, masturbation, literary censorship, psychiatry, VR porn and almost everything in between – though never more than a page or so on each. Hard to know who the audience for this is supposed to be, but I quite enjoyed myself – and learnt a few things too. Not least about the French publishing market.

[Sep 16]

Somewhat to my amazement, the Telegraph just ran a whole feature on this book, clickbaitingly headlined Passion, porn and the truth about female fantasies: meet the man who taught the French about sex, where I learn with some surprise that Sex Story is ‘the book France won’t stop talking about, the book that sold 20,000 copies in its first month’. The authors certainly sound like they're enjoying themselves. Anyway, an English translation is forthcoming, so you, too, can soon be as bemused by it as I was.

[Oct 16] (less)
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Nov 28, 2017 Summer rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: graphic-novels, nonfiction
This book had a lot of great information, but some sizable issues as well. There was racism: a Roman slave was depicted as black to contrast with other "white" Roman women, even though race as we know it today came about due to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and stratification in Roman society would be based on class and nation of origin. Rome, having conquered many territories, was made of people we would consider today as black, white, North African, Western Asian, etc. There was also transmisogyny (referring to a trans woman as "he") and general misinformation on transgender issues - though I know this was translated from French so I understand language may have gotten muddled in the process.

There is also a clear lack of any non-European history, save for Ancient Egypt, Ancient Persia, and our distant ancestors in East Africa. I guarantee you, humans were having sex in Asia, Africa, and the Americas before colonization. It would have been nice to see some more information about those many diverse peoples.

All in all, this was an entertaining read. (less)
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Mar 30, 2018 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: comics, read-in-2018, history-biography
With a title like that, how could I resist picking this up? Sadly though, Brenot’s humorous historical account of sex was lacking for me.

The first major flaw is scope: unsurprisingly, this is very Euro-centric with some forays in Persia and Egypt. Otherwise, Brenot only examines sex in the Western world, which is fine, but also a bit disappointing. Also, despite this relatively narrow scope, it also felt like Brenot tried to cram too much information into too-short a page count. I feel a bit guilty being hypocritical like this, but if you’re going to tackle a subject like this, I think it would work much better to clearly narrow the focus and dive deeper into said subject.

Of course, mileage will vary greatly with my above critique, but something to keep in mind if you’re thinking of picking this up!

Secondly, Brenot doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on sexuality that isn’t hetero. There was quite a bit of material that went over homosexuality, but almost strictly between men. There was a handful of pages that talked about Sappho and her work, but otherwise, I can’t remember any other mention of lesbian/sapphic women (though please correct me if I’m wrong). Brenot attempts to broach the trans spectrum, but he mostly stumbles through it (ie. a trans woman is referred to as ‘he’). As other reviews have pointed out, this may be an issue of translation, but it’s an issue nonetheless.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this work was the art. Coryn’s cartoony style isn’t groundbreaking, but it certainly injects a good dose of humour into the work which I loved. And, to be fair to Brenot, I did learn a lot of fun factoids. This was a decent, though far from great, overview of this sometimes still taboo subject.

A lukewarm recommendation, but far from terrible!
(less)
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Mar 01, 2019 rosalind marked it as dnf · review of another edition
Shelves: nonfiction, history, library-copy, graphix, het-up
this has some really blatant issues with heteronormativity that i could have ignored, but it’s also racist? no thanks
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Sep 21, 2018 Jenee (her/hers) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This book was graphic, funny, and informative. Not just about sex and relationships, but with the travel through history, and how society and roles have really shaped the way we look at people, sex dynamics, and just humans in general. I loved the history behind everything.
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Dec 03, 2020 Morgan rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: own
This is the type of comic your either going to like or have issues with mostly because of the topic. I liked this more than I thought I would. Looking at the previews beforehand I didn't know what it would cover besides some basic historical figures and their sex life. Well it's more than that. He tries to tell a story of Noah and Saw during different times to explain how people lived back then. This way, you don't just hear about kings and queens, but the everyday person. I also apricate how this book covers the history of homosexuality, they've been around since the dawn of time, even though the word is relativity new. As a bisexual myself, it's nice to see people talking about sex and not treating my thoughts as a mental illness or like I'm some special kind of person. In fact, one reason I like reading about sex is it helps me finds myself. I'm also interested in reading more sexology books after this comic book, this made a good introduction.

I will say, as an American, at times I thought this book was lacking in other cultures. It's obviously a French made book. Some of the names he mentions he assumes his readers know. I read a lot of French literate, but some names he gives are just last names and there were a few people I had to look up or find out which person he was talking about. This book needed an index or some translation notes. (less)
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Mar 03, 2017 Nate Hanson rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Graphically annotated factoids about the history of human sex. Thankfully acknowledges the overwhelmingly dominant waves of misogyny and repression for most of recorded history.

Overall a fun, light read, except for the occasional glaring inaccuracy (namely some outdated or at best contested theories about how, whom, and why our pre-human ancestors liked to canoodle).
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Aug 22, 2020 Mattia Ravasi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Very French-centric, but exceedingly informative too, especially in revealing the historical connotations of certain categories & ideas we have come to take for granted. Its progressive argument for the importance of teaching the history of sexuality is relevant and commendable.
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Sep 01, 2018 Heather rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Interesting and ridiculously thorough (*cough cough*).
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Sep 23, 2017 Kirsten rated it liked it · review of another edition
Some phrasing felt a bit 'off' to me - it seemed a bit judgemental in places that were possibly meant to be satirical - and the book is definitely skewed towards what's considered a western history (a mention of this lopsided view does pop up, I don't remember where), but I do love the illustrations and I'm impressed with a majority of the history the creators covered. (less)
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Sep 17, 2017 Hannah rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: reviewed
I had the unexpected pleasure of having the chance to read this prior to its publication date. And let me tell you, this is one hilarious read! I was able to read the entire book in approximately 2 hours. It was an unexpected page turner mostly due to the hilarious illustrations and comic book style format. I learned a lot just as much as I relearned information I had read about years ago. It definitely is a Western culture heavy book as it mostly focuses on European and American history, although it does touch a bit on Egyptian history as well. However disappointing it may be to see the lack of representation, I feel like it would probably diminish the quick-ness in reading and the enjoyment factor that the comic book format allows. Perhaps a sequel that encapsulates Asian, South American, and more African cultures is already in the works. I sure hope so because this was so hilarious, entertaining, and educational. (less)
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Nov 28, 2017 Anita rated it really liked it · review of another edition
This was a pretty dense graphic novel, but 100% worth the time it took to read it. I loved the format of the whole thing, but loved most how it takes a subject that we're rarely taught about and makes it interesting. Using history and tying the taboos of sex to it really helps one understand how society's opinion on sex has been slowly cultivated over the years. The book perfectly blends humor and seriousness where it makes sense to keep you engaged. Plus, the illustrations are really enjoyable. I think where it fails is in creating a pretty narrow minded spectrum of history, not including other countries/cultures very often when talking about the change in society's opinions of sexuality. However, I also wonder if it was narrowed down more so that it could be compacted into this consumable amount of pages. Many more chapters and it would have needed a second volume to achieve where it was trying to go.

Perhaps that means a second volume is in order to comb through additional countries and cultures to more broadly speak to the history of sex. (less)
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Dec 29, 2019 Kristian rated it liked it
There were moments that made me laugh out loud, there is lots of humour to make this sexual education enjoyable. The illustrations are very good.

Lots of stories about the sex lives of men throughout history, unfortunately not so much about the stories of the sex lives of women. Maybe this is subjective and I didn't notice the women or history hasn't documented women as well as men.

It gives me the foundations to go of and do further research about topics such as gay rights.

There were many moments where I think perhaps jokes were lost in translations, but i appreciate the effort to localise some of the jokes.

(less)
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Jan 28, 2018 David Thomas rated it really liked it
I obviously read the English translation of this. It's a comprehensive history of sex in the West in graphic novel format, staring with prehistoric man. It charts the course of sexual norms and mores through antiquity in Greece, Rome, and Egypt, up through the ages to modern times. My only complaint is that it exclusively deals with sex in the West. They don't even briefly mention anything outside of Western Europe and the USA. I came away mostly satisfied, but I'd love to see something like this for the rest of the planet. (less)
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Nov 17, 2018 Eunice rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: graphic-novel
An interesting, amusing look at sex through the ages, with lots of interesting tidbits throughout. I did find the lack of sources a little concerning, though, and I wonder if they were included in the original French? There are some instances of highly speculative bits (that may have been little more than slanderous rumor) presented as historical fact. But, I understand that it's quite a bit of history to go through, so it's understandable that they had to gloss through a few details. Overall worth the read. (less)
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Dec 12, 2016 Eddie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Sort of a graphic novel. Excellent info on sex and sexuality throughout human history. It shows that human sexuality is not gender specific but a social construct during the different epochs of humanity. I would use this book in my sex ed class but it might not pass the sex police. And I'm retired anyway. (less)
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Mar 18, 2017 Katherine rated it did not like it · review of another edition
Shelves: should-want-to-read-but, from-the-library
Perhaps a combination of too much text, uninspiring artwork, and awkwardly edited text, but I was left frustrated with the reading and the flow and stopped a quarter of the way through. Might try again with French version, to see if it's a matter of language and translation. (less)
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Apr 21, 2017 Geoffrey Skinner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
I quite enjoyed this book and enjoyed learning a few new things about the history of sexuality. The distinctly French take was also fun
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May 27, 2017 Antonio De la rosa rated it liked it
I now know how. But why?
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Apr 06, 2020 Petr rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: history, own, comics
EN/CZ

This is a summary of the history of western sexuality told in the form of a comic. The authors are French and it is clear during the whole book that this is the point of view and also the original audience (just to react to those reviews that take this as a flaw). The book does not shy away from any topic and I think gives them good exposition w.r.t. to their distribution in the population and thus intended audience.

What I consider as the most important part of the book is the clear modern sexological statement at the end of the book where a few pages are dedicated to the description of gender, normality, and other topics. Basically, the whole book and the historical expose of human sexual behaviour serves to show that from a sexological point of view, anything goes with the only condition that the two people both agree to it. What society thinks about it is then a different matter.

I did not fact-check the book, but it seems like a solid introduction to western sexuality. Yet I found there one blatant mistake, possibly caused by the Czech translation, when the Greeks suffer from syphilis, although the book itself tells us later that this came from the Americas. Also, what seemed like a half-used idea was the historical reoccurrence of a few characters (also well known from French animated TV series Il était une fois… l'Homme). But it occurs seldomly in the comic and does not manage to establish a connecting element for the narrative.

CZ:
Myslím, že vhodný komixový úvod do problematiky sexuologie a sexu i s evropocentrickou historickou ukázkou, která ve své podstatě uvozuje a demonstruje, že sex a naše návyky kolem něj se mohou velmi měnit a odkud mnohé naše dnešní předsudky historicky pramení. Myslím, že jako doplnění (či v nějakých smutných případech možná i jako plná náhrada) sexuálního vzdělání je kniha vhodná. Je dost peprná, aby zaujala, zároveň však se zdá být i dost faktická, aby obohatila. Nejpodstatnější je na konci tvrzení o tom, že vlastně vše je dovoleno, pokud oba (či i další) jedinci s tím souhlasí. Alespoň z pohledu sexuologie, jak historická exkurze ukazuje, společnost na to může mít jiný názor.

Myslím, že kniha obsahuje (možná jen překladatelskou) chybu s tvrzení o syfilis mezi Řeky. Co mě také mrzí, že nebyla úplně dotažena do konce úvodní myšlenka, že by se čtenář setkával v jednotlivých obdobích se stejnými lidmi v jaké si spirále návratů a opakování událostí. Kniha obsahuje náznak takové snahy, ale není to tak markantní jako bývalo třeba v seriálu Byl jednou jeden člověk. (less)
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I think that a suitable comic book introduction to the issues of sexology and sex with a European-centric historical example, which in essence introduces and demonstrates that sex and our habits around it can change greatly and where many of our prejudices today historically stem from. I think that the book is suitable as a supplement (or in some sad cases perhaps as a full replacement) to sex education. She is peppery enough to attract, but at the same time she seems factual enough to enrich. The most important thing at the end of the statement is that in fact everything is allowed if both (or other) individuals agree. At least from the point of view of sexology, as the historical excursion shows, society may have a different opinion. I think the book contains (perhaps just a translation) error with the claim of syphilis among the Greeks. What I also regret is that the introductory idea that the reader would meet the same people in individual periods in what spiral of returns and repetition of events was not completely completed. The book contains a hint of such an effort, but it is not as striking as it used to be in the series Once Upon a Man.

Mar 13, 2018 Joshua rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
I wish this book had been around when I was a teenager, or at very least, when I was just starting college and looking for something to major in. Ever since I found one of my dad's Playboys when I was six I've been extraordinarily fascinated with sexuality. it might have been attending a private Christian school where the only "sexual" avenue which was encouraged was "abstinence only," but I think in fact I've always just been a sex nerd.

Phillippe Brenot has provided me a beautiful book then, because not only has he produced a fascinating history of human sexuality, he's written one in the form of a graphic novel, my other keen interest.

The reader who approaches this book had better have a sense of humor because Brenot and Laetita Coryn (the illustrator) constantly attempt to inform their reader about the philosophies and ideas which have surrounded human sexuality, and as the book shows this has often manifested in some absurd and at times, ridiculous conceptions about what reproduction actually entails. Whether it's the rampant sexism which has existed through the centuries, or the incredible sexual drives of some of history's most notable figures (Queen Victoria's sex drive leaves me a little daunted to tell the truth) Brenot and Coryn have made a real achievement in terms of acknowledging how sex has driven society. This honesty is the success of this graphic novel, but also ultimately the success of sexuality studies period.

Human beings have reached a time when sexuality can be discussed, analyzed, written about, and presented openly in society, and while there is some concern that sexual freedom often precedes cultural regression, this book leaves me hopeful for the future. Women and men and everyone in-between have reached a point where their sexuality can manifest in a variety of fashions without much fear of societal aggression. And to put it more plainly, when there is a book which can write and show the sex life of Queen Victoria without any sort of cultural blowback, it's a step in the right direction. (less)
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Feb 20, 2018 Jarrah rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: non-fiction, graphic-novel, history
As a fan of medical history, sociology and graphic novels, I was really excited to read The Story of Sex. Unfortunately, this chronicle by Philippe Brenot (psychiatrist and director of sexology at Paris Descartes University) fell a little short for me.

I did find the book entertaining, and I appreciated Laetitia Coryn's jaunty and frequently hilarious cartoons. I also learned some fun factoids.

However, I felt the book suffered from issues around scope, trying to convey an immense period of time (Stone Age through the future) while at the same time failing to include non-European history except for the lives of cave people, and an overview of sex in Ancient Egypt and Persia. The vast majority of the book is completely Eurocentric, mostly focusing on France and the UK. If the book had been called Sex: A European History, that could've clarified the scope and prevented the impression that Europe was the only place where interesting sex history happened post-Antiquity.

The book also fumbled around trans issues and language. Some of this may have been due to translation problems but a section at the end on "orientation" seemed to take pains to portray trans identity as extremely marginal.

Finally, I had not expected the book to so clearly convey a radical feminist bias against sex work and pornography. Most of the book speaks of the history of "prostitution" fairly matter-of-factly but there are a couple of points where the author shares his view that all "prostitutes" are victims of a male-dominated society. This is most clear in the end notes, where he equates child sex slavery with all other forms of prostitution, and it bothered me to have this presented as if it were objective truth, with not even an acknowledgement of another side to the issue. (less)
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Sep 08, 2021 elina added it · review of another edition
The title for Story of Sex does not lie. It does indeed relay to the reader a graphic history through comic strips and is informative throughout. Occasionally it is fun and interesting; at other times the jokes do not land so well, being instead slightly strange and trying too hard.

However, the novel's greatest flaw lies in its title, as well. While The Story of Sex is indeed a graphic novel about the history of sex and sexuality, it is largely about the West's history with the concepts. Thus the title of A Graphic History Through the Ages is entirely misleading. There is a chapter regarding Babylon and another about Ancient Egypt, but otherwise the novel concentrates solely on Europe and the US with but few references to other regions. It was a huge disappointment to me.

I had heard of the devastating consequences of colonialism in the approaches to sexuality and sex in colonised regions, but colonialism was mentioned only once in the novel with no relation to its results in non-Western areas. I had heard of Chinese emperors who'd had male lovers, but again, no mention. As the novel was written by a French, I expected a Western point of view, but not one to this extent.

Additionally, there were some odd bit occasionally that could be seen as homophobic, transphobic, or racist.

The Story of Sex is informative and an easy read due to its easy tone and medium as a graphic novel, and for that reason I do recommend reading it, but only so, if the reader keeps a critical eye on the art and the contents. (less)

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만화로 보는 성의 역사 - 인류학자이자 정신의학자가 쓴 섹스에 관한 과감하고도 장대한 인류학적 서사시 | 만화로 보는 교양 시리즈

필리프 브르노 (지은이),레티시아 코랭 (그림),이정은 (옮긴이)다른2017-11-03원제 : Sex Story (2016년)

기본정보

208쪽190*250mm540gISBN : 9791156331797

편집장의 선택

"겉치레를 벗어던진 성의 역사"

성의 역사는 그 자체로 인류의 역사나 다름이 없고, 인간을 넘어 생각하면 생명의 역사와도 동의어로 쓰일 수 있을 만한 주제다. 이렇게 방대한 주제라 그간 제대로 다루어지지 않은 것은 아니다. 금기와 수치심은 이 주제에 접근하려는 마음을 막았고, 때로는 종교적인 이유나 정치적인 이유로 규제되기도 했다. 긴 세월 그렇게 지내왔으니, 20세기 들어 맞이한 성해방은 여전히 어색하고, 21세기에 만들어갈 성문화는 갈피를 잡기 어려운 형편이다.

이 책은 모두가 보는 데서 교미하던 영장류가 남이 보지 않는 곳에서 섹스를 나누는, 그리하여 성적 수치심이 시작되고 사랑을 발견하는 장면에서 이야기를 시작해, 인류재생산을 인공지능이 맡고 성욕은 사라지는 2200년 미래까지 이야기를 밀고 나간다. 글과 그림 모두에서 겉치레를 벗어던지고 성을 둘러싼 인간의 호기심과 욕망을 솔직하게 들여다보는 방식은, 이와 달리 은밀한 방식으로 소통되며 쌓인 오해를 바로잡고, 새로운 성문화로 나아갈 공통의 기반을 다진다. 지금까지 그래왔듯 앞으로도 과감하고 장대하게 펼쳐질 성의 역사를 이전보다 유쾌하게 맞이할 수 있기를, 인류의 일원으로 바라고 바랄 따름이다.

- 역사 MD 박태근 (2017.11.14)

이 시간, 알라딘 사은품 총집합!

책소개

만화로 보는 교양 시리즈. 성적 수치심은 어디서 오는 걸까? 매춘은 정말 세상에서 가장 오래된 직업일까? 고대 사람들은 동성애를 허용했을까? 자위는 어째서 금기시된 걸까? 남성의 욕구와 여성의 욕망은 어떻게 다를까? 고이 감추어온 비밀을 열어젖혀 이제껏 우리가 알지 못했던 역사를 보여준다. 짐짓 교양 있는 역사서는 절대 다루지 않는, 지금까지 역사의 주변부로 밀려나 있던, '비공식적'인 이야기를 적나라하게 펼친다.

저자 필리프 브르노는 인류학자이자 정신의학자이며, 파리 제5대학교(파리 데카르트 대학교)에서 성과학을 가르치고 있는 교육자다. 필리프 브르노는 그가 섭렵한 다양한 전문지식을 바탕으로 고대부터 현대에 이르기까지 인류의 성문화를 탐색해, 가장 과감하고 흥미로운 역사서를 써냈다. 주제는 직접적이고, 묘사는 재치가 넘치며, 그림은 재기발랄하다.

고이 지켜온 비밀
제1장 기원
제2장 바빌론, 자유로운 사랑
제3장 이집트, 평등 사회
제4장 그리스, 사랑의 만신전
제5장 로마, 영예와 쇠퇴
제6장 중세, 지옥과 천국
제7장 르네상스 시대, 화가와 그 모델
제8장 저주받은 엠(M)
제9장 계몽주의와 억압, 성적 방탕
제10장 19세기, 고지식한 사람들과 매춘
제11장 20세기, 성해방
제12장 미래의 섹스

메모

찾아보기

참고문헌

저자들의 책

책속에서

P. 19 인류 섹스의 새로운 점: 모두가 보는 데서 교미하는 다른 영장류와 달리, 연인은 사랑을 나누기 위해 숨는다. 그들은 남이 보지 않는 곳에서 섹스를 한다. 성적 수치심이 탄생했다. 인류가 사랑을 발견하는 순간이다. 인간을 서로 강하게 맺어주는 감정인 사랑을 말이다. 사랑은 인류의 특징이다.

P. 48 고대 이집트인들의 삶은 평온했다. 여성 질환과 출산에 관한 의학이 발달해 있었다. 이집트인들은 생식 과정에서 남녀의 역할을 최초로 이해한 사람들이었다. 아마도 여성을 평등하게 대했기 때문일 것이다. 그러고 보면 자유를 향한 진보는 생식 능력에 대한 이해와 여성해방을 통해 이루어지는 게 아닐까. 이렇듯 이집트에서 시작된 여성해방은 수천 년이 걸려서야 실현되었다. 접기

P. 66 오늘날의 통념으로는 고대의 성풍속을 이해하기 힘들다. 그리스인들은 동성애자도 이성애자도 아니었다. 그들은 동성애자나 양성애자, 이성애자를 구별하지 않았고, 이런 것은 아무런 의미도 없었다. 이런 용어는 19세기에 만들어진 것이다. 성행위는 장소(아테네, 스파르타, 테베 등)와 시대에 따라 다양한 방식으로 용납되거나 처벌받았다. 여성 혐오가 강했던 고대 그리스 사회에서는 오로지 지배 관계만이 중요했다. 남성은 삽입할 수 있기에 우월한 존재다. 따라서 삽입당하는 남자나 여자는 당연히 열등한 존재다. 삽입당하는 대상이 누구인지는 중요하지 않다. 중요한 건 그 남자가 누구한테 끌리느냐이다. 남자는 누구든 사랑할 수 있기 때문이다. 물론 그게 ‘아름다운’ 사람이면 더욱 좋지만. 접기

P. 81 자유로운 여자, 즉 자기 자신을 존중하는 로마의 여성 시민은 성적 쾌감을 느끼지 말도록 교육받는다. 재생산을 해야 하는 존재인 여성은 ‘배’라고 불린다. 좋은 시민이 될 아이들을 낳으려면 그래야만 하는 것이다! 이런 식으로 정당화된 아내의 ‘수동성’은 서구 사회에서 2000년 가까이 모범으로 여겨졌다. 아내와 반대로 매춘부는 남자 위에 올라타 ‘적극성’을 보인다! 접기

P. 170 여성의 성은 남성의 성 모델에 종속되어 있다고 여겨졌다. 클리토리스는 남성 생식기의 대체물이고, 클리토리스의 존재를 옹호하면 미성숙한 사람으로 생각되었다. ‘진짜’ 여자는 남자의 음경으로 쾌감을 느껴야 한다는 것이다. 여기에서 질 오르가슴형 여성과 클리토리스 오르가슴형 여성이 존재한다는 잘못된 프로이트적 생각이 나오게 된다. (중략) 사실 프로이트는 자신의 글에서 성에 대해 거의 말하지 않았고, 그가 성과학을 정립한 것도 아니다. 게다가 그는 자유로운 여자들이 자신에게 이야기한 이런 성에 대해서 잘 알지 못한다고 말했으며, 자신의 성을 표현하는 것도 어색해했다. 접기