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Is Sex Necessary? or Why You Feel the Way You Do
“If this book isn’t a minor classic—and one uses the term ‘minor’ only because it is so gorgeously funny and not ponderous enough to be a major—well, one doesn’t know what book is. Let’s compromise and just call it a classic.” --Will Cuppy, New York Herald Tribune The first book of prose published by either James Thurber or E. B. White, Is Sex Necessary? combines the humor and genius of both authors to examine those great mysteries of life—romance, love, and marriage. A masterpiece of drollery, this 75th Anniversary Edition stands the test of time with its sidesplitting spoof of men, women, and psychologists; more than fifty funny illustrations by Thurber; and a foreword by John Updike.
203 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1929
28 people are currently reading
1133 people want to read
About the author
James Thurber
355 books606 followersThurber was born in Columbus, Ohio to Charles L. Thurber and Mary Agnes (Mame) Fisher Thurber. Both of his parents greatly influenced his work. His father, a sporadically employed clerk and minor politician who dreamed of being a lawyer or an actor, is said to have been the inspiration for the small, timid protagonist typical of many of his stories. Thurber described his mother as a "born comedienne" and "one of the finest comic talents I think I have ever known." She was a practical joker, on one occasion pretending to be crippled and attending a faith healer revival, only to jump up and proclaim herself healed.
Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
From 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed current books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios," a title that later would be given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber also returned to Paris in this period, where he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
In 1925, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, getting a job as a reporter for the New York Evening Post. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor with the help of his friend and fellow New Yorker contributor, E.B. White. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 when White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication. Thurber would contribute both his writings and his drawings to The New Yorker until the 1950s.
Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Adams gave Thurber his only child, his daughter Rosemary. Thurber remarried in June, 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66, due to complications from pneumonia, which followed upon a stroke suffered at his home. His last words, aside from the repeated word "God," were "God bless... God damn," according to Helen Thurber.
Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
From 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed current books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios," a title that later would be given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber also returned to Paris in this period, where he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
In 1925, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, getting a job as a reporter for the New York Evening Post. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor with the help of his friend and fellow New Yorker contributor, E.B. White. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 when White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication. Thurber would contribute both his writings and his drawings to The New Yorker until the 1950s.
Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Adams gave Thurber his only child, his daughter Rosemary. Thurber remarried in June, 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66, due to complications from pneumonia, which followed upon a stroke suffered at his home. His last words, aside from the repeated word "God," were "God bless... God damn," according to Helen Thurber.
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April 2, 2019
This book is hilarious. A satire on the state of sexuality in this country, but also eerily accurate. Likewise, the stick figure, minimalist drawings (sketches, really) garnered many laughs from me, for being downright silly but also made a lot of sense. While reading this book, there were numerous "I know exactly how that feels" and "How did they explain that conundrum/emotion/relationship/situation so well?" moments. I relished each of the ingenious "case histories", humorous examples of the sad state of affairs most of our sexual education and relations are in.
Take a look at the glossary at the back of the book as a small sampling of the laughs you will receive. Plus, it is co-written by one of my favorite children's bookstore authors, E.B. White. Do I sound like an advertisement? Well, I feel this book deserves my free endorsement.
The forward by Updike offers some helpful information, such as the fact that E.B. White penned all the even numbered chapters, the forward, "Answers to Hard Questions", & ""A Note on the Drawings in This Book". Thurber was responsible for the odd numbered ones, the glossary, the preface by the fictional "H. R. L. Let Boutellier, C.I.E.", & the drawings (White claims credit for collecting them from the trash every night, befriending the maids, and darkening the lines that Thurber made every so lightly).
Definitely read the forward to the forward. Definitely definitely read each of the following chapters. Uber definitely look at the sketches. Superlatively definitely laugh as often as you feel. And I assure you that that will be often.
One of the best things about this book is how well it has stood the test of time. The point is, not that much has changed since 1929. Men are still being stupid and naïve, women and men alike are still playing games that I find completely unnecessary for the most part; and, sadly, the chances of this changing in the next few centuries is quite unlikely by my count. We still cannot easily tell love from passion; the "feminine types" described are still valid (my favorite is the buttonhole twister, who "has a curious habit of insinuating a finger or, usually the little finger on the right hand, unless she be left handed, and to the lapel buttonhole of a gentleman and twisting it. Usually, she a man who is taller than herself and usually she gets him quite publicly, and parks, on street corners, and the like. Often, while twisting, she will place the toe of her right shoe on the ground, with the heel elevated, and will swing the heel slowly through an arch about 30 or 35 degrees, back and forth. She invariably goes in for negative statements during the course of her small writhings, such as it is not, I am not, I don't believe you do, and the like"); it seems actually even more true now than then that us children need to teach our parents about sex (especially the less traditional forms it takes these days, from swingers to LGBT to BDSM to special desires so strange one could never make it up); claustrophobia for the husband in a seemingly trapped marriage is still a valid concern, and the advice to explain guest towels to the husband in a non demeaning way seems like good advice; the "recessive knee" phenomenon still exists ("occasions arise sometimes when a girl presses her knee, ever so lightly, against any of the young man she was out with. It is not a hard push, you understand, rather the merest touch of knee to knee, light as the brush of a falling blossom against one's cheek, and as lovely" In the typical male, he will leave his knee there, maybe even apply counter pressure. In the frigid male, however, this causes the "recessive knee". Why? "I found that in 93% of all cases, the male was suspicious, and 4% he was ignorant, and in 3% he was tired. I have presented these figures to the American Medical Association and am awaiting a reply.)
Some things in this book are simply there for laughs, so ridiculous they are; such as the story of the husband who leaves a basket under the hearth, awaiting the stork, or the wife who insists on her new husband to present the bluebirds in order for them to have children. This is presented as, supposedly, "one of the extremest cases of Birds and Flowers Fixation". I love how Thurber & White capitalize these fictitious disorders and phenomena, making it seem official. It was even more hilarious to read in E.B. White's forward how he had received letters from individuals that were actually convinced this book was expressing official scientific data, missing the satire idea altogether.
Yes, with technology, some of this has changed (i.e. online dating and the extent to which the youngest can learn anything and everything they want regarding sex (and more) in mere seconds). At its core, though, this masterpiece of a book is still relevant, and anything that might not be it makes up for in pure laughs. I, personally, plan to regale it as a classic for decades to come.
Take a look at the glossary at the back of the book as a small sampling of the laughs you will receive. Plus, it is co-written by one of my favorite children's bookstore authors, E.B. White. Do I sound like an advertisement? Well, I feel this book deserves my free endorsement.
The forward by Updike offers some helpful information, such as the fact that E.B. White penned all the even numbered chapters, the forward, "Answers to Hard Questions", & ""A Note on the Drawings in This Book". Thurber was responsible for the odd numbered ones, the glossary, the preface by the fictional "H. R. L. Let Boutellier, C.I.E.", & the drawings (White claims credit for collecting them from the trash every night, befriending the maids, and darkening the lines that Thurber made every so lightly).
Definitely read the forward to the forward. Definitely definitely read each of the following chapters. Uber definitely look at the sketches. Superlatively definitely laugh as often as you feel. And I assure you that that will be often.
One of the best things about this book is how well it has stood the test of time. The point is, not that much has changed since 1929. Men are still being stupid and naïve, women and men alike are still playing games that I find completely unnecessary for the most part; and, sadly, the chances of this changing in the next few centuries is quite unlikely by my count. We still cannot easily tell love from passion; the "feminine types" described are still valid (my favorite is the buttonhole twister, who "has a curious habit of insinuating a finger or, usually the little finger on the right hand, unless she be left handed, and to the lapel buttonhole of a gentleman and twisting it. Usually, she a man who is taller than herself and usually she gets him quite publicly, and parks, on street corners, and the like. Often, while twisting, she will place the toe of her right shoe on the ground, with the heel elevated, and will swing the heel slowly through an arch about 30 or 35 degrees, back and forth. She invariably goes in for negative statements during the course of her small writhings, such as it is not, I am not, I don't believe you do, and the like"); it seems actually even more true now than then that us children need to teach our parents about sex (especially the less traditional forms it takes these days, from swingers to LGBT to BDSM to special desires so strange one could never make it up); claustrophobia for the husband in a seemingly trapped marriage is still a valid concern, and the advice to explain guest towels to the husband in a non demeaning way seems like good advice; the "recessive knee" phenomenon still exists ("occasions arise sometimes when a girl presses her knee, ever so lightly, against any of the young man she was out with. It is not a hard push, you understand, rather the merest touch of knee to knee, light as the brush of a falling blossom against one's cheek, and as lovely" In the typical male, he will leave his knee there, maybe even apply counter pressure. In the frigid male, however, this causes the "recessive knee". Why? "I found that in 93% of all cases, the male was suspicious, and 4% he was ignorant, and in 3% he was tired. I have presented these figures to the American Medical Association and am awaiting a reply.)
Some things in this book are simply there for laughs, so ridiculous they are; such as the story of the husband who leaves a basket under the hearth, awaiting the stork, or the wife who insists on her new husband to present the bluebirds in order for them to have children. This is presented as, supposedly, "one of the extremest cases of Birds and Flowers Fixation". I love how Thurber & White capitalize these fictitious disorders and phenomena, making it seem official. It was even more hilarious to read in E.B. White's forward how he had received letters from individuals that were actually convinced this book was expressing official scientific data, missing the satire idea altogether.
Yes, with technology, some of this has changed (i.e. online dating and the extent to which the youngest can learn anything and everything they want regarding sex (and more) in mere seconds). At its core, though, this masterpiece of a book is still relevant, and anything that might not be it makes up for in pure laughs. I, personally, plan to regale it as a classic for decades to come.
February 1, 2009
Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. If you're a fan of Monty Python, Jerry Seinfeld, the Marx Brothers, Jonathan Swift or Steve Martin, I highly recommend this book.
This book was written by E.B. White and James Thurber in 1929, and I will never, never look at the author of Charlotte's Web the same way again. It is still remarkably topical; while some of the phrasing is dated, the dry satirical wit is priceless.
Some passages (although the humor has less punch when taken out of context):
Chapter 2: How to Tell Love from Passion
Chapter 3: A Discussion of Feminine Types
Chapter 4: The Sexual Revolution: Being a Rather Complete Survey of the Entire Sexual Scene
Chapter 6: What Should Children Tell Parents?
There are also 50 or so illustrations by Thurber scattered throughout the book, which are Pythonesque in their demented sense of humor.
While I borrowed this book from the library, I plan on buying it as soon as possible.
This book was written by E.B. White and James Thurber in 1929, and I will never, never look at the author of Charlotte's Web the same way again. It is still remarkably topical; while some of the phrasing is dated, the dry satirical wit is priceless.
Some passages (although the humor has less punch when taken out of context):
Chapter 2: How to Tell Love from Passion
Let us say you have sat down to write a letter to your lady....Finally you get settled and you write the words, "Anne darling.." If you like commas, you put a comma after "darling"; if you like colons, a colon; if dashes, a dash. If you don't care what punctuation mark you put after "darling", the chances are you are in love--although you may just be uneducated, who knows?
Chapter 3: A Discussion of Feminine Types
Successfully to deal with a woman, a man must know what type she is. There have been several methods of classification, none of which I hold thoroughly satisfactory, neither the glandular categories--the gonoid, thyroid, etc.--nor the astrological--Sagittarius, Virgo, Pisces, and so on. One must be pretty expert to tell a good gonoid when he sees one. Personally, I know but very little about them, nor if I had a vast knowledge would I know what to do with it.
Chapter 4: The Sexual Revolution: Being a Rather Complete Survey of the Entire Sexual Scene
The sexual revolution begins with Man's discovery that he was not attractive to Woman, as such. The lion had his mane, the peacock his gorgeous plumage, but Man found himself in a three-button sack suit. His masculine appearance not only failed to excite Woman, but in many cases it only served to bore her.And I swear that the rest of Chapter 4 was stolen by Seinfeld for an episode.
Chapter 6: What Should Children Tell Parents?
So many children have come to me and said, "What shall I tell my parents about sex?" My answer is always the same: "Tell them the truth. If the subject is approached in a tactful way, it should be no more embarrassing to teach a parent about sex than to teach him about personal pronouns. And it should be less discouraging."As a side note, I thought page 117 was hysterical.
There are also 50 or so illustrations by Thurber scattered throughout the book, which are Pythonesque in their demented sense of humor.
While I borrowed this book from the library, I plan on buying it as soon as possible.
April 14, 2023
Two of America's best authors found each other in the offices of The New Yorker, employees each, in 1927. Although both had been writing for some time, they were not yet "authors" (as in, writers of books). The economy took a nose dive, and it was 1929 all over for the first time:
When Thurber and I concocted the book, we were riding one of the many small waves that, taken all together, created the turbulence of the late 1920's. Those were unstable years. The economy was blown up beyond reasonable dimensions, and nerves were frazzled. The literature of the period blossomed with deep and lugubrious books on sex and marriage. . . .The tonsil was clearly bowing to the psyche in 1929.
Thurber and I were neither more, nor less, interested in the subject of love and marriage than anybody else of our age in that era. I recall that we were both profoundly interested in earning a living, and I think we somehow managed, simultaneously, to arrive at the conclusion that (to borrow a phrase from Mr. Wolcott Gibbs) the heavy writers had got sex down and were breaking its arm. We were determined that sex should retain its high spirits. So we decided to spoof the medical books and, incidentally, to have a quick look at love and passion.
. . .When the two of us walked into Harper's reception room carrying the finished manuscript and a sheaf of Thurber's pencil drawings, we not only didn't give the book twenty years, we didn't give it twenty minutes. . . .
EB White, Introduction written for reissue in 1950, 21 years after first publication in 1929.
I've spent hours looking for just the right quotes, sections, points to lay bare so a reader of 2023 will be titillated enough to jump in - and of course have simply enjoyed the re-reading! EB White, known for his Strunk's Elements, as well as the endearing characters we know as Charlotte and Wilbur, is probably more familiar to today's readers than his partner in this delicious advocacy - James Thurber, one of the most understated, dry humorist to spring off a page. Wait. No, he doesn't spring - he makes his statement and waits that scrumptious beat - to see if the reader gets it. . . .moving on either way. But as with all humor, context is all. There is so much brought up and out that being of that time helps a reader understand the wry twist to their clever cocktails.
Soooooo hilarious! If you can't find a copy, just go to the Internet Archive and dive in. You'll learn about the true reason for fudge-making, Charades and what children to should tell their parents (when the time is right). Link for Internet Archive below (or just google it). It's free (for now). . .
https://archive.org/details/issexnece...
When Thurber and I concocted the book, we were riding one of the many small waves that, taken all together, created the turbulence of the late 1920's. Those were unstable years. The economy was blown up beyond reasonable dimensions, and nerves were frazzled. The literature of the period blossomed with deep and lugubrious books on sex and marriage. . . .The tonsil was clearly bowing to the psyche in 1929.
Thurber and I were neither more, nor less, interested in the subject of love and marriage than anybody else of our age in that era. I recall that we were both profoundly interested in earning a living, and I think we somehow managed, simultaneously, to arrive at the conclusion that (to borrow a phrase from Mr. Wolcott Gibbs) the heavy writers had got sex down and were breaking its arm. We were determined that sex should retain its high spirits. So we decided to spoof the medical books and, incidentally, to have a quick look at love and passion.
. . .When the two of us walked into Harper's reception room carrying the finished manuscript and a sheaf of Thurber's pencil drawings, we not only didn't give the book twenty years, we didn't give it twenty minutes. . . .
EB White, Introduction written for reissue in 1950, 21 years after first publication in 1929.
I've spent hours looking for just the right quotes, sections, points to lay bare so a reader of 2023 will be titillated enough to jump in - and of course have simply enjoyed the re-reading! EB White, known for his Strunk's Elements, as well as the endearing characters we know as Charlotte and Wilbur, is probably more familiar to today's readers than his partner in this delicious advocacy - James Thurber, one of the most understated, dry humorist to spring off a page. Wait. No, he doesn't spring - he makes his statement and waits that scrumptious beat - to see if the reader gets it. . . .moving on either way. But as with all humor, context is all. There is so much brought up and out that being of that time helps a reader understand the wry twist to their clever cocktails.
Soooooo hilarious! If you can't find a copy, just go to the Internet Archive and dive in. You'll learn about the true reason for fudge-making, Charades and what children to should tell their parents (when the time is right). Link for Internet Archive below (or just google it). It's free (for now). . .
https://archive.org/details/issexnece...
April 7, 2014
“An imagined kiss is more easily controlled, more thoroughly enjoyed, and less cluttery than an actual kiss.”
Although I hope I am far from believing above statement to be true (yet), this book was a joy to read. There are several layers of fun in it—primary is the ironic distortion of the psychology pseudo-sci self-help books of the late 20s (I've never read any of them, though I can imagine what can come out of naïve or mistaken reading of Freud) implicitly including gorgeous jokes on the “methodology” of science (crazy illustrative case studies, silly self-observations, reckless allusions on “the famous authors”, mocking each other from a scientific standpoint etc.). Then there's that truly nerdy stance of authors—social awkwardness 101 in every sentence, every page—and that awkwardness is sooo cute at times.
“Love: The pleasant confusion which we know exists.
Loving: Being confused by, or confusing some one.“
Finally, it's pretty interesting to read the book 85 years after its publication: it's quite surprising to read a book written just for fun (and a best seller at that time) from the times of The Great Gatsby and such—on the one hand, it's surprisingly frivolous; on the other, it's in a sharp contrast to the reflective gender discussion of today.
Hilarious.
“It was originally my intention also to show how this uncertainty overcomes one at the end of a day in the country when a man is so tired that he not only can't distinguish love from passion, but has all he can do to distinguish one station on the New Haven railroad from another and often gets out at 125th Street by mistake. I say this was my intention; but thus far I have been so unsuccessful in explaining the difference between love and passion that to go on would be to lay myself open to criticism. The fact of the matter is, it's very difficult to tell love from passion. My advice to anyone who doesn't feel sure of the difference between them is either to give them both up or quit trying to split hairs.”
Although I hope I am far from believing above statement to be true (yet), this book was a joy to read. There are several layers of fun in it—primary is the ironic distortion of the psychology pseudo-sci self-help books of the late 20s (I've never read any of them, though I can imagine what can come out of naïve or mistaken reading of Freud) implicitly including gorgeous jokes on the “methodology” of science (crazy illustrative case studies, silly self-observations, reckless allusions on “the famous authors”, mocking each other from a scientific standpoint etc.). Then there's that truly nerdy stance of authors—social awkwardness 101 in every sentence, every page—and that awkwardness is sooo cute at times.
“Love: The pleasant confusion which we know exists.
Loving: Being confused by, or confusing some one.“
Finally, it's pretty interesting to read the book 85 years after its publication: it's quite surprising to read a book written just for fun (and a best seller at that time) from the times of The Great Gatsby and such—on the one hand, it's surprisingly frivolous; on the other, it's in a sharp contrast to the reflective gender discussion of today.
Hilarious.
“It was originally my intention also to show how this uncertainty overcomes one at the end of a day in the country when a man is so tired that he not only can't distinguish love from passion, but has all he can do to distinguish one station on the New Haven railroad from another and often gets out at 125th Street by mistake. I say this was my intention; but thus far I have been so unsuccessful in explaining the difference between love and passion that to go on would be to lay myself open to criticism. The fact of the matter is, it's very difficult to tell love from passion. My advice to anyone who doesn't feel sure of the difference between them is either to give them both up or quit trying to split hairs.”
January 24, 2015
A pre-kinsey sex book. Parody or not, it's one of the most terribly dated books i've ever read. When they discuss "sex" by mentioning things like "where the guest towels are kept" and "leaving muddy footprints on the floor", it's clear that the authors are actually talking about the domestic aspects of relationships between men and women and absolutely not talking about "sexual intercourse". So the book was kind of odd and confusing a lot of the time when it said it was talking about "sex" but actually wasn't.
Elements of observational comedy were also lost in translation: a story about a man having to explain where babies come from to his young wife may have been a common occurrence when this book was written, but just seems insane by modern standards.
The book also suffers from its lack of any grounding in the real world. Whilst Thurber's distinctive style of charming, subconsciously improvised nonsense works beautifully when applied to his memoirs about his childhood, relatives, experiences etc. (in My Life and Hard Times) it's just stupid and irritating when he lacks a basis of real events and just ends up improvising a lot of bullshit that doesn't really mean anything. Eventually you get the feeling that you're just reading the ramblings of an eloquent but shallow man who is more interested in the contents of his own imagination than he is in writing anything with any real insight or substance.
It's funny in places but ultimately sucks because it pretends to be a book full of insight and observation but instead substitutes these things for digression and imagination. It's kind of like a Gerald Durrell book if Gerald Durrell had never been on any actual expeditions and just made everything up instead. Waste of time.
Elements of observational comedy were also lost in translation: a story about a man having to explain where babies come from to his young wife may have been a common occurrence when this book was written, but just seems insane by modern standards.
The book also suffers from its lack of any grounding in the real world. Whilst Thurber's distinctive style of charming, subconsciously improvised nonsense works beautifully when applied to his memoirs about his childhood, relatives, experiences etc. (in My Life and Hard Times) it's just stupid and irritating when he lacks a basis of real events and just ends up improvising a lot of bullshit that doesn't really mean anything. Eventually you get the feeling that you're just reading the ramblings of an eloquent but shallow man who is more interested in the contents of his own imagination than he is in writing anything with any real insight or substance.
It's funny in places but ultimately sucks because it pretends to be a book full of insight and observation but instead substitutes these things for digression and imagination. It's kind of like a Gerald Durrell book if Gerald Durrell had never been on any actual expeditions and just made everything up instead. Waste of time.
November 18, 2013
Well, this is a mildly entertaining if very dated parody of the scientific (or "scientific," perhaps)approach to understanding human sexuality that began to emerge in the early twentieth century. White and Thurber evidently thought folk like Freud and co. were generally a pretty silly bunch, and I can't entirely disagree with that assessment, in all honesty. However, this book doesn't really do a lot to explode them, so much as it offers a series of loosely-linked and mildly amusing but still ultimately sexist ripostes (e.g. male frigidity as an answer to the female kind, a pseudo-scientific take on the old saw that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and so on). The basic conceit is that over-intellectualizing sex is absurd, which (today, anyway) hardly seems like a point woth making, as one either has already long come to that conclusion or is caught up in complex theoretical gender models that make Freud or Kinsey look like models of the sensible and straightforward. Some of the anecdotes are quite amusing parodies of case histories, though. Part of the problem might be that the humour is a trifle too light and urbane--well, White and Thurber were New Yorker fixtures, after all--rather than really hard-edged in its satire. I'm tempted to pun on "juvenile" vs "juvenalian," but it would be very unfair to categorize the work as juvenile, or sniggering. If anything, it's not juvenile enough, being just a hair shy of stodgy, or fusty, a bit surprising from the writer who brought such verve to the children's classics he wrote.
July 25, 2007
An often hilarious piece of drollery that can ultimately lead to depression if you haven't gotten laid in awhile. In between fits of laughter, you start to realize that both you and the authors aggree that, not only is sex absolutely necessary, it should be our primary and paramount concern in life.
I would advise not to read this book in a cold bed.
I would advise not to read this book in a cold bed.
March 23, 2022
A bit dated and misogynistic. I get why it was popular in its day, but meh.
January 16, 2025
A humorous tongue-in-cheek parody
April 30, 2025
This book was a collaboration of two eminent male authors in the late 1920s and is a parody about sexual relations of that time. It has not aged well since humor changes over time.
November 15, 2014
I borrowed this one from a friend after seeing it on his shelf and immediately being intrigued by E.B. White's name on the cover. I mean, it was a little unexpected to see the creator of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little included in a book about sex.
A brilliant spoof of the multitude of professional sex study books that were released at the time (and are really still being published today), Thurber and White turn all the clinical talk into hilarity by discussing relations between men and women in a unique way, their own.
Illustrated by Thurber's unique style, the book goes into the differences between men and women, discusses the confusion of the American male, tries to identify the differences between love and passion, and even explores the frigidity of men (which the authors find much more interesting than frigidity in women). There is also a glossary of terms with definitions written by White and Thurber, definitely worth the read.
The one dated bit of information I found was the reference the authors made to men carving swastikas into wood as a way of keeping their minds off sex. Looking at the events of what would come soon after this book was published, it certainly gives one pause.
A brilliant spoof of the multitude of professional sex study books that were released at the time (and are really still being published today), Thurber and White turn all the clinical talk into hilarity by discussing relations between men and women in a unique way, their own.
Illustrated by Thurber's unique style, the book goes into the differences between men and women, discusses the confusion of the American male, tries to identify the differences between love and passion, and even explores the frigidity of men (which the authors find much more interesting than frigidity in women). There is also a glossary of terms with definitions written by White and Thurber, definitely worth the read.
The one dated bit of information I found was the reference the authors made to men carving swastikas into wood as a way of keeping their minds off sex. Looking at the events of what would come soon after this book was published, it certainly gives one pause.
June 30, 2014
What a team! The reader gets what the reader expects from the two great humorists: James Thurber and E. B. White. I laughed until I was in pain. Is Sex Necessary was first written in l929, renewed at least seven times. One hundred years from now I suspect another renewal, and its humor and revelance will still apply. Have fun!
May 6, 2012
A few favorite excerpts:
“I think we somehow managed, simultaneously, to arrive at the conclusion that ... the heavy writers had got sex down and were breaking its arm.” (White, pg. 4)
“The problem in this case was to make sex seem more complex and dangerous. This task was taken up by sociologists, analysts, gynecologists, psychologists, and authors; they approached it with a great deal of scientific knowledge and an immense zeal. They joined forces and made the whole matter of sex complicated beyond the wildest dreams of our fathers. The country became flooded with books. Sex, which had hitherto been a physical expression, became largely mental. The whole order of things changed. To prepare for marriage, young girls ... read books on abnormal psychology. If they finally did marry, they found themselves with a large number of sex books on hand, but almost no pretty underwear. Most of them, luckily, never married at all - just continued to read.” (White, pg. 12)
“A type of which one hears a great deal but which has never been very ably or scientifically analyzed, for the guidance of men, is the Quiet Type. How often one hears the warning, ‘Look out for the Quiet Type.’ Let us see if we should look out for it, and why. The element of menace in the Quiet Type is commonly considered very great. Yet if one asks a man who professes knowledge of the type, why one should look out for it, one gets but a vague answer ‘Just look out, that’s all,’ he usually says. When I began my researches I was, in spite of myself, somewhat inhibited by an involuntary subscription to this legendary fear. I found it difficult to fight off a baseless alarm in the presence of a lady of subdued manner.
... the next Q.T. that I encountered I placed under observation ... I used to see her riding on a Fifth Avenue bus, always at the same hour. I took to riding on this bus also, and discreetly managed to sit next to her on several occasions. She eventually noticed that I appeared to be cultivating her and eyed me quite candidly, with a look I could not at once decipher. I could now, but at that time I couldn’t. I resolved to put the matter to her quite frankly, to tell her in fine, that I was studying her type and that I wished to place her under closer observation ...
‘Madam,’ I said, ‘I would greatly appreciate making a leisurely examination of you, at your convenience.’ She struck me with the palm of her open hand, got up from her seat, and descended at the next even-numbered street - Thirty-sixth, I believe it was.” (Thurber, pgs. 73-74)
“Schmalhausen trouble is a common ailment among girls in their twenties. It usually attacks girls who have taken a small apartment (schmalhausen) and are reading the behaviorism essays of Samuel D. Schmalhausen. The effect of sitting within narrow walls and absorbing a wide viewpoint breaks down their health. The paint that they suffer during this period is caused by their discovery of the lyrical duality, or two-sidedness, of life - a discovery that unbalances all sensitive young ladies in whom sex cries for expression.” (White, pg. 94)
“Too many wives do not consider it important to explain the facts of the guest towel to their husbands. A wife expects her husband to pick up his knowledge in the gutter or from other husbands, who know as little about the actual truth as he does himself. If a husband uses a guest towel, he should be gently reproved and then told where guest towels come from, in clear, simple language ... He should be made to understand that no man ever uses a guest towel, either in his own home or when he is a guest somewhere else, that they are hung up for lady guests to look at and are not to be disturbed. If he is told these simple truths in a calm, unexcited way, the chances are that he will never use a guest towel again and that he won’t worry unduly over the consequences of his having used one once or twice. But as soon as he is given the idea that he has done something terrible, that old feeling of being boxed in comes over him. He begins to think that he will never do anything right around the house, and that his home is merely a laboratory in which he has been trapped for the purpose of serving as the subject of strange experiments with towels and furniture.” (Thurber, pgs. 146-147)
“No one can quite comprehend the motives and the successes of a kiss-decliner who does not recall his counterpart in mediaeval history. In the Middle Ages, when men were lusty and full of red meat, their women expected as much. A baronial fellow, finishing his meal, made no ado about kissing a Middle Age woman. He just got up from the table and kissed her. Bango, and she was kissed. Love had a simple directness which was not disturbed until the arrival, in the land, of the minnesingers. It got so no baronial hall of the Middle Ages was free from these minnesingers. They kept getting in. They would bring their harps with them, and after dinner they would twang a couple of notes and then sing a frail, delicate song to the effect that women should be worshiped from afar, rather than possessed. To a baron who had just drunk a goblet of red wine, this new concept of womanhood was screamingly funny. While he was chuckling away to himself and cutting himself another side of beef, his wife, who had listened attentively to the song, would slip out into the alley behind the castle and there the minnesinger would join her.
‘Sing that one again,’ she would say.
‘Which one?’
‘That one about worshiping me from a little distance. I want to hear that one again.’
The minnesinger would oblige. Then he would illustrate the theme by not kissing the woman, but dancing off lightly down the hill, throwing his harp up into the air and catching it again as he went.
‘What a nice young man,’ the baron’s wife would think, as she slowly turned and went in to bed.” (White, pgs. 161-163)
“I think we somehow managed, simultaneously, to arrive at the conclusion that ... the heavy writers had got sex down and were breaking its arm.” (White, pg. 4)
“The problem in this case was to make sex seem more complex and dangerous. This task was taken up by sociologists, analysts, gynecologists, psychologists, and authors; they approached it with a great deal of scientific knowledge and an immense zeal. They joined forces and made the whole matter of sex complicated beyond the wildest dreams of our fathers. The country became flooded with books. Sex, which had hitherto been a physical expression, became largely mental. The whole order of things changed. To prepare for marriage, young girls ... read books on abnormal psychology. If they finally did marry, they found themselves with a large number of sex books on hand, but almost no pretty underwear. Most of them, luckily, never married at all - just continued to read.” (White, pg. 12)
“A type of which one hears a great deal but which has never been very ably or scientifically analyzed, for the guidance of men, is the Quiet Type. How often one hears the warning, ‘Look out for the Quiet Type.’ Let us see if we should look out for it, and why. The element of menace in the Quiet Type is commonly considered very great. Yet if one asks a man who professes knowledge of the type, why one should look out for it, one gets but a vague answer ‘Just look out, that’s all,’ he usually says. When I began my researches I was, in spite of myself, somewhat inhibited by an involuntary subscription to this legendary fear. I found it difficult to fight off a baseless alarm in the presence of a lady of subdued manner.
... the next Q.T. that I encountered I placed under observation ... I used to see her riding on a Fifth Avenue bus, always at the same hour. I took to riding on this bus also, and discreetly managed to sit next to her on several occasions. She eventually noticed that I appeared to be cultivating her and eyed me quite candidly, with a look I could not at once decipher. I could now, but at that time I couldn’t. I resolved to put the matter to her quite frankly, to tell her in fine, that I was studying her type and that I wished to place her under closer observation ...
‘Madam,’ I said, ‘I would greatly appreciate making a leisurely examination of you, at your convenience.’ She struck me with the palm of her open hand, got up from her seat, and descended at the next even-numbered street - Thirty-sixth, I believe it was.” (Thurber, pgs. 73-74)
“Schmalhausen trouble is a common ailment among girls in their twenties. It usually attacks girls who have taken a small apartment (schmalhausen) and are reading the behaviorism essays of Samuel D. Schmalhausen. The effect of sitting within narrow walls and absorbing a wide viewpoint breaks down their health. The paint that they suffer during this period is caused by their discovery of the lyrical duality, or two-sidedness, of life - a discovery that unbalances all sensitive young ladies in whom sex cries for expression.” (White, pg. 94)
“Too many wives do not consider it important to explain the facts of the guest towel to their husbands. A wife expects her husband to pick up his knowledge in the gutter or from other husbands, who know as little about the actual truth as he does himself. If a husband uses a guest towel, he should be gently reproved and then told where guest towels come from, in clear, simple language ... He should be made to understand that no man ever uses a guest towel, either in his own home or when he is a guest somewhere else, that they are hung up for lady guests to look at and are not to be disturbed. If he is told these simple truths in a calm, unexcited way, the chances are that he will never use a guest towel again and that he won’t worry unduly over the consequences of his having used one once or twice. But as soon as he is given the idea that he has done something terrible, that old feeling of being boxed in comes over him. He begins to think that he will never do anything right around the house, and that his home is merely a laboratory in which he has been trapped for the purpose of serving as the subject of strange experiments with towels and furniture.” (Thurber, pgs. 146-147)
“No one can quite comprehend the motives and the successes of a kiss-decliner who does not recall his counterpart in mediaeval history. In the Middle Ages, when men were lusty and full of red meat, their women expected as much. A baronial fellow, finishing his meal, made no ado about kissing a Middle Age woman. He just got up from the table and kissed her. Bango, and she was kissed. Love had a simple directness which was not disturbed until the arrival, in the land, of the minnesingers. It got so no baronial hall of the Middle Ages was free from these minnesingers. They kept getting in. They would bring their harps with them, and after dinner they would twang a couple of notes and then sing a frail, delicate song to the effect that women should be worshiped from afar, rather than possessed. To a baron who had just drunk a goblet of red wine, this new concept of womanhood was screamingly funny. While he was chuckling away to himself and cutting himself another side of beef, his wife, who had listened attentively to the song, would slip out into the alley behind the castle and there the minnesinger would join her.
‘Sing that one again,’ she would say.
‘Which one?’
‘That one about worshiping me from a little distance. I want to hear that one again.’
The minnesinger would oblige. Then he would illustrate the theme by not kissing the woman, but dancing off lightly down the hill, throwing his harp up into the air and catching it again as he went.
‘What a nice young man,’ the baron’s wife would think, as she slowly turned and went in to bed.” (White, pgs. 161-163)
January 12, 2015
E. B. White's essays, children's books, and Elements of Style writing tips are justifiably classics, but I can't say the same for his first book, Is Sex Necessary?. Hastily written in collaboration with his friend and colleague James Thurber (they wrote alternating chapters), fitted out with Thurber's rough cartoons, and published around the time of the stock market crash in 1929, it's dated in the way that only a humor book from 85 years ago can be. Thurber and White were evidently parodying the pop-psychology and pop-sexuality books of the '20s, but because those books and ideas are no longer in vogue, the parody thereof mostly falls flat, too. (Samuel D. Schmalhausen, who seems to be White and Thurber's main target, doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.)
Is Sex Necessary? has some amusing passages, mostly relating to absurd "case histories" that the authors claim to have witnessed or carried out. Investigating the admonition to "look out for the Quiet Type," Thurber spots a quiet woman on a bus, approaches her with the line "Madam, I would greatly appreciate making a leisurely examination of you, at your convenience," and is rewarded with a slap. There is also a funny (if incredibly dated) story about a young bride whose husband must disabuse her of the notion that babies are brought by lilies and bluebirds. And the section about women who become neurotic due to society's conflicting messages about sex (is it a lyrical expression of romantic tenderness, or is it a casual animal instinct?) still rings true today. That's also one of the only passages in the book that views women with understanding and sympathy; most of the rest of it is written from the perspective of a commitment-phobic man.
But often, it's just too hard to cut through the straight-faced parodies of dry scientific writing, and the vast differences between the 1920s and nowadays, to reveal the underlying humor. A pun about women having Narcissism and men having Begonia-ism fails because it's difficult for a 21st-century reader to wrap their head around the idea of young bachelors staying home and cultivating begonias (which was evidently a thing in the '20s). In a historical sense, it's interesting to be reminded that the sexual revolution didn't begin in the 1960s; young people in the '20s thought that they were leading a sexual revolution too, rebelling against Victorian morality. But despite the illustrious reputations of the men who wrote it, I too often found Is Sex Necessary? a historical curio, rather than a timeless classic.
Is Sex Necessary? has some amusing passages, mostly relating to absurd "case histories" that the authors claim to have witnessed or carried out. Investigating the admonition to "look out for the Quiet Type," Thurber spots a quiet woman on a bus, approaches her with the line "Madam, I would greatly appreciate making a leisurely examination of you, at your convenience," and is rewarded with a slap. There is also a funny (if incredibly dated) story about a young bride whose husband must disabuse her of the notion that babies are brought by lilies and bluebirds. And the section about women who become neurotic due to society's conflicting messages about sex (is it a lyrical expression of romantic tenderness, or is it a casual animal instinct?) still rings true today. That's also one of the only passages in the book that views women with understanding and sympathy; most of the rest of it is written from the perspective of a commitment-phobic man.
But often, it's just too hard to cut through the straight-faced parodies of dry scientific writing, and the vast differences between the 1920s and nowadays, to reveal the underlying humor. A pun about women having Narcissism and men having Begonia-ism fails because it's difficult for a 21st-century reader to wrap their head around the idea of young bachelors staying home and cultivating begonias (which was evidently a thing in the '20s). In a historical sense, it's interesting to be reminded that the sexual revolution didn't begin in the 1960s; young people in the '20s thought that they were leading a sexual revolution too, rebelling against Victorian morality. But despite the illustrious reputations of the men who wrote it, I too often found Is Sex Necessary? a historical curio, rather than a timeless classic.
November 28, 2015
Written in 1929 by EB White and James Thurber while both were working at The New Yorker, it's still lol funny, current, and sharp on the thousands of moments of humiliation and bewilderment in relationships. Written from the male perspective, it's not about sex but its "pathologisation" by psychologists like Freud and others writing in popular journals offering advice that befuddle rather than help. Thurber wrote movingly on the claustrophobia felt by men in marriage - while girls/women are comparatively more in their element, with their instincts for nesting, boys/men are mostly happier running along outside. He wrote of a hapless husband who was literally "painted in" his bathroom, and "boxed in" elsewhere, ending up with a quiet sort of desperate depression. Happily cured by being sent out to the ranch, of course. (Thurber was at that time married to an ambitious former campus beauty queen, and had reportedly said that sleeping with her was like sleeping with the Statue of Liberty!)
The chapter on male frigidity is funnier ... The tone is much brighter for the rest of the book. An example from White: "The sexual revolution began with Man's discovery that he was not attractive to Woman, as such. The lion had his mane, the peacock his gorgeous plumage, but Man found himself in a three-button sack suit. His masculine appearance not only failed to excite Woman, but in many cases it only served to bore her. The result was that Man found it necessary to develop attractive personal traits to offset his dull appearance. He learned to say funny things. He learned to smoke, and blow smoke rings. He learned to earn money. This would have been a solution to his difficulty, but in the course of making himself attractive to Woman by developing himself mentally, he had inadvertently become so intelligent an animal that he saw how comical the whole situation was."
Excellent foreword by John Updike, which provides useful context.
The chapter on male frigidity is funnier ... The tone is much brighter for the rest of the book. An example from White: "The sexual revolution began with Man's discovery that he was not attractive to Woman, as such. The lion had his mane, the peacock his gorgeous plumage, but Man found himself in a three-button sack suit. His masculine appearance not only failed to excite Woman, but in many cases it only served to bore her. The result was that Man found it necessary to develop attractive personal traits to offset his dull appearance. He learned to say funny things. He learned to smoke, and blow smoke rings. He learned to earn money. This would have been a solution to his difficulty, but in the course of making himself attractive to Woman by developing himself mentally, he had inadvertently become so intelligent an animal that he saw how comical the whole situation was."
Excellent foreword by John Updike, which provides useful context.
March 1, 2011
Not quite as funny as some of Thurber's later stuff, but there were still a lot of fun bits.
P. 104 -- "When she arrived in New York and secured her unfurnished apartment (usually in West Fourth Street), her mental elation was so great and her activity in making parchment lamp shades so unabating that for the first couple of weeks she let sex go. Women are notoriously apt to get off the track; no man was ever diverted from the gratification of his desires by a parchment lamp shade."
P. 113 -- "Young women who allude to their mothers as 'mumsy' almost invariably present difficult problems in adjustment."
P. 123 -- "I have talked with hundreds of children about the problem of educating their parents along sex lines. So many of them have told me that they honestly tried to give their elders the benefit of their rich experience in life, but that the parents usually grew flushed and red and would reply, 'Nice people don't talk about such things.'"
P. 127 -- "Fig. 7. It is customary to illustrate sexology chapters with a cross section of the human body. The authors have chosen to substitute in its place a chart of the North Atlantic, showing airplane routes. The authors realize that this will be of no help to the sex novice, but neither is a cross section of the human body."
P. 104 -- "When she arrived in New York and secured her unfurnished apartment (usually in West Fourth Street), her mental elation was so great and her activity in making parchment lamp shades so unabating that for the first couple of weeks she let sex go. Women are notoriously apt to get off the track; no man was ever diverted from the gratification of his desires by a parchment lamp shade."
P. 113 -- "Young women who allude to their mothers as 'mumsy' almost invariably present difficult problems in adjustment."
P. 123 -- "I have talked with hundreds of children about the problem of educating their parents along sex lines. So many of them have told me that they honestly tried to give their elders the benefit of their rich experience in life, but that the parents usually grew flushed and red and would reply, 'Nice people don't talk about such things.'"
P. 127 -- "Fig. 7. It is customary to illustrate sexology chapters with a cross section of the human body. The authors have chosen to substitute in its place a chart of the North Atlantic, showing airplane routes. The authors realize that this will be of no help to the sex novice, but neither is a cross section of the human body."
July 12, 2015
The reason I picked this book at a Clunes thrift store was because my mind couldn't put E. B. White of beloved children's favourite Charlotte's Web and sex together! Ha! However, this 1929 work isn't about sex. Well it is, sort of, but not in *that* way [read: no naughty bits!]. It is an extremely funny take on men, women, courtship rituals, expectations, and realities set against the American sensibilities of the 20s. A humorous social commentary of sorts, if you will. Although entirely tongue-in-cheek, there is an underlying critique of the nature of relationships. Yet, with compelling chapters like, "The Nature of American Male", "Claustrophobia, or What Every Young Wife Should Know" and "Frigidity in Men", there is plentiful opportunity for literal laugh-out-loud moments, alongside nuanced insights of gender relations.
Obviously stereotypes abound, and this was well before our current climate of political corrrected-ness (not that there wasn't any back then), but there are are so many nonsensical bits in here that you can't not still relate to, or laugh at. I will definitely be reading this again, for more "tips" on how to handle the temperaments of my new husband (who is neither American nor a child of the early 1900s, but that's another problem for another day!) hahaha
Obviously stereotypes abound, and this was well before our current climate of political corrrected-ness (not that there wasn't any back then), but there are are so many nonsensical bits in here that you can't not still relate to, or laugh at. I will definitely be reading this again, for more "tips" on how to handle the temperaments of my new husband (who is neither American nor a child of the early 1900s, but that's another problem for another day!) hahaha
June 2, 2009
Yes, it’s the same author who did Charlotte’s Web. However, I was expecting something completely different from this book. It turns out that this book is a parody.
Imagine 1929. In the field of sexuality, Freud was the man. Ellis was gaining a reputation, and Kinsey is about to begin his sexual experiments. Many people don’t think of the 1920’s as a sexual time in history. But I guess people were eventually getting out of their Victorian slumbers.
At any rate, Freud and others made sexuality into a science. Thurber and White take advantage of this and write a book that mocks the whole scientific outlook on sex. At some moments, it’s humorous. But both of the authors wrote for The New Yorker and so their humor is very dry.
Just to give you a sampling, they mention that when a woman makes fudge, it’s a good way to entice a man. They made up a condition called “Recession Knee” for the man. “Recession Knee” is when the man pulls his knee away from the woman in order to get away from her. It’s kind of like his own version of frigidity.
If you’re in the mood for some New Yorker humor, that deals with sex, and mocks the science of sex, then this book is for you.
Imagine 1929. In the field of sexuality, Freud was the man. Ellis was gaining a reputation, and Kinsey is about to begin his sexual experiments. Many people don’t think of the 1920’s as a sexual time in history. But I guess people were eventually getting out of their Victorian slumbers.
At any rate, Freud and others made sexuality into a science. Thurber and White take advantage of this and write a book that mocks the whole scientific outlook on sex. At some moments, it’s humorous. But both of the authors wrote for The New Yorker and so their humor is very dry.
Just to give you a sampling, they mention that when a woman makes fudge, it’s a good way to entice a man. They made up a condition called “Recession Knee” for the man. “Recession Knee” is when the man pulls his knee away from the woman in order to get away from her. It’s kind of like his own version of frigidity.
If you’re in the mood for some New Yorker humor, that deals with sex, and mocks the science of sex, then this book is for you.
June 14, 2012
As a final word on sex, this book fails. I’m glad I didn’t read this when I was young – it might have put me on the wrong track for years. As it was, I had to compile my perception of sex from tattered fantasy novels and lurid novellas accidentally classified in the young adult section of my local library. The discovery, when I was twelve, of a suitcase stuffed with the most hardcore pornography imaginable - buried, like some hideous treasure, in the damp leaves of the woods - well, that did not help either.
Thurber’s drawings scattered throughout this book are slightly interesting. A surprisingly astute observation comes tucked away in the appendix: White explains the sketches represent the ‘the melancholy of sex’ and ‘the implausibility of animals’. White explains most of the men in the drawings look frightened, but I disagree: I think they mostly look angry. This book is supposed to be light reading, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Thurber was secretly (or not so secretly) a misogynist, and a bitter one at that.
Thurber’s drawings scattered throughout this book are slightly interesting. A surprisingly astute observation comes tucked away in the appendix: White explains the sketches represent the ‘the melancholy of sex’ and ‘the implausibility of animals’. White explains most of the men in the drawings look frightened, but I disagree: I think they mostly look angry. This book is supposed to be light reading, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Thurber was secretly (or not so secretly) a misogynist, and a bitter one at that.
August 27, 2013
Originally published in 1929 and written by two famous children's books' authors before they were famous children's books' authors, this is a spoof of the then newfangled do-it-yourself psychology books, psychoanalysis in general, and the professional sex education movement. It doesn't actually talk about sex. It's completely tame and dances all around the subject, focusing instead on sex substitutes, types of females, misunderstandings of lilies and bluebirds, the foibles of frigid males with recessive knees, what children should tell their parents, etc. It's light satire, at least by today's standards, and I often found myself somewhat bored, although it did manage to draw forth a few chuckles. Although a classic and worthy of reading for its place in history alone, it's definitely dated, being both misogynistic and ethnocentric. However, it's interesting and entertaining at the same time.
June 19, 2016
James Thurber is one of my favorite authors, and I rank him in my top three humorous writers. This is an early (1929) book in the careers of both James Thurber and E.B. White written shortly after they joined the New Yorker staff.
If you're looking for sex in this book you are not going to find it. At the time of the writing of this book, when sex was psychologically discovered and prominently written about, White and Thurber decided to do a spoof on these psychological publications. Is Sex Necessary....is the result.
Both authors are accomplished writers and I enjoyed reading the book. I found the book amusing, I smiled often, and even chuckled occasionally. There are several of James Thurber's line drawings which I believe you will enjoy. I certainly do.
I recommend this book to all readers, and I believe that the older you are the more you will enjoy it. It is a book to be read over again at different stages of your life.
If you're looking for sex in this book you are not going to find it. At the time of the writing of this book, when sex was psychologically discovered and prominently written about, White and Thurber decided to do a spoof on these psychological publications. Is Sex Necessary....is the result.
Both authors are accomplished writers and I enjoyed reading the book. I found the book amusing, I smiled often, and even chuckled occasionally. There are several of James Thurber's line drawings which I believe you will enjoy. I certainly do.
I recommend this book to all readers, and I believe that the older you are the more you will enjoy it. It is a book to be read over again at different stages of your life.
July 9, 2012
Originally published in 1929 and written by two famous children's books' authors before they were famous children's books' authors, this is a spoof of the then newfangled do-it-yourself psychology books, psychoanalysis in general, and the professional sex education movement. It doesn't actually talk about sex. It's completely tame and dances all around the subject, focusing instead on sex substitutes, types of females, misunderstandings of lilies and bluebirds, the foibles of frigid males with recessive knees, what children should tell their parents, etc. It's light satire, at least by today's standards, and I often found myself somewhat bored, although it did manage to draw forth a few chuckles. Although a classic and worthy of reading for its place in history alone, it's definitely dated, being both misogynistic and ethnocentric.
June 4, 2010
"There wasn't one woman in ten thousand, riding frontwards on the rear seat of a tandem wheel, who would permit her consort to ride backwards on the front seat. The result of all this was not adjustment, but irritability. Man became frustrated."
"Understanding the principles of passion is like knowing how to drive a car; once mastered, all is smoothed out; no more does one experience the feeling of perilous adventure, the misgivings, the diverting little hesitancies, the wrong turns, the false starts, the glorious insecurity. All is smoothed out, and all, so to speak, is lost."
"Strange to say the habits of birds and flowers have done as little to clarify the human scene as almost any other two manifestations in nature."
"Understanding the principles of passion is like knowing how to drive a car; once mastered, all is smoothed out; no more does one experience the feeling of perilous adventure, the misgivings, the diverting little hesitancies, the wrong turns, the false starts, the glorious insecurity. All is smoothed out, and all, so to speak, is lost."
"Strange to say the habits of birds and flowers have done as little to clarify the human scene as almost any other two manifestations in nature."
May 18, 2013
Many reviewers may not have gotten the joke. And the joke is somewhat hidden given that this was written in 1929 as a parody of the many sex and relationship manuals of the 1920s. I found the whole thing wryly amusing when I first read it in my early 20s, but now, after more experience in the field, absolutely dead-on. Women take note: Thurber was an unapologetic misogynist and horribly "hen-pecked" husband whose humor will no doubt seem dated and sexist. That said, I heartily recommend the book to anyone still able to laugh at sex, relationships, and the undeniable differences between men and women.
July 11, 2013
There are times when it shows its age; language used and assumption of traditional gender norms. That being said there are clever sections in this collection of essays that take on the guise of being a study of sex and relationships.
Psychology and those who write on sex are a frequently lampooned in references to others' work in the subject, but that particular kind of joke sadly stops short of elaborating.
There are some passages I could better relate to--particularly the frigidity of males , the sheepishness of adults regarding sex, and the fussing over love versus romance--that are more timeless and funny than the pokes at psychology.
Psychology and those who write on sex are a frequently lampooned in references to others' work in the subject, but that particular kind of joke sadly stops short of elaborating.
There are some passages I could better relate to--particularly the frigidity of males , the sheepishness of adults regarding sex, and the fussing over love versus romance--that are more timeless and funny than the pokes at psychology.
September 14, 2013
"An imagined kiss is more easily controlled, more thoroughly enjoyed, and less cluttery than an actual kiss. To kiss in dream is wholly pleasant. First, the woman is one of your selection, not just anyone who happens to be in your arms at the moment. Second, the deed is garnished with a little spring of glamour which the mind, in exquisite taste, contributes. Third, the lips, imaginatively, are placed just so, the right hand is placed just so, the concurrent thoughts arrive, just so." -E.B. White, Is Sex Necessary? (Ch. 8)
And so with that my masturbation addiction is fully justified.
And so with that my masturbation addiction is fully justified.
September 3, 2015
A somewhat amusing satire making light of Freudian and other psudeo-scientific "research" on the relationships between men and women. The sex of the title refers more to marriage and love than sexual intercourse. The chapter on children explaining sex and childbirth to their oblivious parents (who have only managed to have children by accident), was probably the funniest chapter. Otherwise, the book wasn't quite sharp or scathing enough to overcome its dating; it becomes really clear that the style of scientific posturing the authors are critiquing doesn't exist in the same way anymore (though of course there are still plenty of bullshit guides to sex and relationships today).
April 12, 2010
The book was written as a spoof on sex and the study of sex that went on at the turn of the century. Classic for the time, all ails and ridiculous behaviors by men are laid at the feet of women (those not too bright companions that should stick to their knitting and leave their man total and complete access to freedom). If anything, it's insulting. I read it at the behest of a close male friend that thought it was hysterical, which only made me wonder how far we have truly advanced in the exposure of sexist attitudes in the last 50 years.
March 8, 2016
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not the version I read. I have a copy of the original 1929 version and read it. This goofy book from 1929 by a couple of humorous writers is full of amusing comments and drawings about relationships between men and women. Chapters on how to tell Love from Passion, how children should tell their parents about sex, (which has mention of the “generation gap”). The chapter on the Frigidity in Men is also very amusing. Somewhat dated but interesting historically and socially and still can elicit a few chuckles.
February 22, 2009
This was not originally in Dad's Thurber collection--or maybe it had been kept in his room. In any case, when it appeared on the shelf in the living room I'd already read a bunch of Thurber and was immediately interested. The title, however, made me self-conscious about this enthusiasm. I was obsessed with and rather ignorant about sex. Consequently, I read the thing after my parents were in bed and was disappointed. It wasn't sexy at all and much of the humor was beyond my ken.
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