Register free at https://rosacampbell.eventbrite.co.uk
Come and meet Shere Hite — the feminist hero whose notorious work revolutionized how we think about sex, marriage, and the female orgasm…
Molly Smith (co-author of Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights) and Dr Hannah Boast (Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh; author of Hydrofictions: Water, Power and Politics in Israeli and Palestinian Literature) will join former IASH Fellow Dr Rosa Campbell in discussion, followed by a drinks reception.
Despite being one of the leading thinkers of the second wave feminist movement, today Shere Hite is little known, little written about, and (unsurprisingly) little read. Her groundbreaking book, The Hite Report, was the first feminist exploration of the link between sex and power in women's own words. It sold millions of copies when first published in 1976 and revolutionized the way people thought about relationships and the female orgasm. How then did it, and Hite, disappear from public consciousness?
Using original research material and cultural analysis, Rosa Campbell explores Hite’s complicated life and literary legacy. Campbell expands on Hite’s ideas about sex — namely, that sex is sexist — and tracks Hite through her fraught childhood, her struggles working in the porn industry, and her eventual "cancellation" by the far-right Evangelical movement. All the while, Campbell holds Hite and The Hite Report to account for their own failings and absence of intersectionality.
In a post-MeToo world, with the far right on the march globally, this book’s examination of shifting ideological movements is essential to understanding both the current feminist movement, as well as how conservative, reactionary, counter-mobilization efforts can silence even the most successful of women.
Dr Rosa Campbell is a writer and historian based in London. She works on the global history of feminism and is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at King's College London and holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. She has held fellowships at Harvard University, The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh and the National Library of Australia. Beyond academia, she writes often for a public audience. She is the author of The Book that Taught the World to Orgasm and then Disappeared: Shere Hite and The Hite Report out now with Melville House in the US/UK and New South in Australia/NZ.
This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and to avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee everyone a place. Admission is on a first come, first served basis.
Accessibility: This event will take place at IASH, 2 Hope Park Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9NW. Please see a map here: https://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/location The Seminar Room is on the first floor, and unfortunately IASH does not have a lift. If you have mobility issues and would like to discuss access, please contact iash@ed.ac.uk as soon as possible.