Male and female
- Study of the sexes i
- England Penguin Books 1981
- 413p.
Margaret Mead is well known for her out- standing studies of primitive societies. Here she compares the sexual attitudes of Pacific cislanders with those of modern Americans, in a fascinating attempt to answer the question: "How are men and women to think about their maleness and their femaleness in this twentieth century?' She shows that, while sex may be screamed at us from newspapers, TV screens, and advertisements, it is a guilty sex for we have lost beyond reclaim the instinctive body- awareness of the naked South-Sea islander. Lack of preparedness may prevent is from realizing our adult sexual potentialities; it may also make our society the poorer if the two sexes are not contributing their full, distinctive qualities to its total culture. 'Certainly one of the most important contributions to contemporary thought which has appeared in the last decade' - Geoffrey Gorer