PREFACE

I believe that the problem of sexual frigidity in women is one of the gravest problems of our times. Over 40 per cent of married women suffer from it in one or another of its degrees or forms. And their suffering, emotionally and physically, is very real indeed.

Those who are most closely related to the frigid woman—husband and children—suffer too. This is so because frigidity is an expression of neurosis, a disturbance of the unconscious life of the individual destructive to personal relationships. No matter how much she may consciously wish to, the frigid woman cannot protect her loved ones from the effects of her problem. Thus frigidity constitutes a major danger to the stability of marriage and to the health and happiness of every member of the individual family.

Despite its extent and seriousness, women who suffer from frigidity generally know very little about their problem. They do not know its nature or its causes nor how or where to find help for it. No adequate book for the lay reader, nor any popular magazine article that indicates a real way out, has yet been written on this enormously important subject. The problem has been surrounded by silence, and this has engendered ignorance, misinformation, and has fostered feelings of helplessness and hopelessness in the suffering individual.

I have written this book to break this unhealthy silence, to bring to the individual woman what science knows about frigidity, to show her that, no matter how much she may have despaired, her problem can almost certainly be resolved.

Marie Robinson, M.D.

November 1, 1958
New York, N.Y.

CONTENTS

Preface7
[1]PARADISE LOST13
[SECTION I]
The Normal Woman
[2]THE NORMAL ORGASM29
[3]THE NOT IMPOSSIBLE SHE41
[SECTION II]
The Psychology of Frigidity
[4]WHAT IS FRIGIDITY?59
[5]THE WAR BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN70
[6]WHY WOMEN CAN BECOME FRIGID83
[7]ANATOMY AND DESTINY96
[8]THE GROWTH OF LOVE106
[9]DANGERS ON THE ROAD TO WOMANHOOD120
[SECTION III]
The Fear of Love—Case Histories
[10]TOTAL AND PARTIAL FRIGIDITY131
[11]THE MASCULINE WOMAN147
[12]PSYCHIC FRIGIDITY159
[SECTION IV]
The Bridge to Womanhood
[13]THE POWER OF LOVE177
[14]STEPS TO FREEDOM182
[15]THE MALE SEX: A NEW HORIZON197
[16]THE NATURE OF SURRENDER209
[17]SEXUAL SURRENDER216
[18]THE ROLE OF THE MALE233
[19]THE LORE OF LOVE246
[ADDENDA I]259
[ADDENDA II]262

THE POWER OF
SEXUAL SURRENDER