Myth and Sexuality

by Jamake Highwater

In this fascinating study of the ways in which our ideas about sex and gender are shaped, Jamake Highwater shows that far from being the most natural force of our lives, sexuality is the one most susceptible to cultural influences. Each culture designates various practices as appropriate or inappropriate, moral or immoral, healthy or unhealthy. Author's TV appearances include the PBS series Six Great Ideas and The Power of Myth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, Sexuality, History, Psychology

Hardcover

First published February 26, 1990

About the author

Jamake Highwater, born as Jackie Marks, and also known as Jay or J Marks (14 February 1931–June 3, 2001), was an American writer and journalist of eastern European Jewish ancestry.[1] From the late 1960s he claimed to be of Native American ancestry, specifically Cherokee. In that period, he published extensively under the name of Jamake Highwater. One version of his shifting story was that he had been adopted as a child and taken from his Indian home in Montana to grow up in a Greek or Armenian family in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. I liked how sexuality was discussed from different religious and cultural viewpoints.

Trigger Warnings: The chapter (Body as Machine) begins with animal cruelty. The chapter (Body as Commodity) began with a gang-rape. Thought I'd include this, as I would have liked to have been forewarned instead of stumbling upon it by surprise.

[Forrest McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing the history of this author, this book needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The author is notorious for misrepresenting and appropriating native cultures, even going as far as to claim he is native American when that is easily disputed as false.
Ideas presented in here such as - humans didn't know sex produced babies - grand and overarching descriptions of ancient cultures understanding of sex and gender - even generalizations about present sexuality ... It all reeks with the air of the fallacy of appealing to ancient wisdom. It is the same force that makes a white Jewish man decide that identifying as native American gives some sense of prestige or authority (I can only assume, though I'm sure such thoughts are moreso unconscious. It's the White Void at work.)

With all that said - there are very well written, concise points throughout the book that do have a level of rigor behind them - from the predominance of matriarchal societies to the misogynistic homosexuality of Rome - the evolution of female disempowerment is actually written in a way I found clarifying and enlightening.
Additionally, the later chapters about modern life were illuminating at least from a philosophical view if anything... I doubt the process of sexual commodification is as clear cut as it is portrayed in the book, but like earlier chapters the concise and thorough exploration of violence and its relation to sex, capitalism and it's relation to sex, religion and it's relation to sex... All were well thought out and put together in a way that I haven't seen before. Not to say the author is necessarily providing new information, but the framework he uses is very effective at making one contemplate deeply the origin of their own sex drive, and the sexual culture we find ourselves in.

Overall, I think for how short of a read it is, this book is packed with valuable perspective and genuinely apt diagnoses of certain sexual threads that snake through our history... But it is certainly not a stopping point, nor a comprehensive book. If anything this book is a wonderful jumping off point to explore his sources and work by more rigorous experts in the field.... Especially because this author is particularly discredited for his misrepresentation of indigenous culture, it's best to take everything written within with a grain of salt.

[Ross]

When I purchased this used book nearly 20 years ago, I had no idea of the controversy behind the person who should be known by his pre-pretendian name, Jay Marks. When this book was originally published in 1990, it was several years after it came out that he was not Native American as he claimed. Verified native authors have called much of his work on North American culture stereotypical and uninformed. I am glad that I purchased it used rather than New.

My interest in this book was not due to his unsubstantiated claims as a Native American, but for the connection of mythology to sexuality as in the title of the work. I am reading it with a different eye that notes his pretendian status and how it might relate to the authenticity of the work. That said, there is good information and I am torn as one who generally chooses not to highlight persons who have done what he has done. I don't recommend buying this book new, and I am taking the contents of the information with cautious interest.

[Dreamersemporium]

good