The groundwork was laid forNicole Newnhams Oscar-contending documentaryThe Disappearance of Shere Hiteback when the director was just a girl.
It screened in the Best of Fests section, reserved for documentariesIDFAconsiders the best of the year.
But it was fascinating.
‘The Disappearance of Shere Hite’Courtesy of Mike Wilson/IFC Films/Sapan Studios
Here [in Europe], I dont think people carry that shame.
The film rewinds to the late 1960s when Hite did graduate work at Columbia University in New York.
It became a massive bestseller.
‘The Disappearance of Shere Hite’IFC Films /Courtesy Everett Collection
Her data was very strong, and also it went against the prevailing wisdom of the time.
To put it another way, some men perceived a loss of their primacy in womens sexual fulfillment.
As the film explores, Hite faced attacks from some academics over her research methods.
Proponents of traditional values were no more inclined to embrace her findings.
Hite violated taboos by speaking openly and frankly about sex in a public context.
And she made the daring assertion that accepted sex practices were culturally embedded.
She said a great thing in one of the interviews she did in the mid-90s, Newnham observed.
She said, The reason Ive been attacked so much is because I connect sex to politics.
And she said, If I was just saying, oh, isnt it cozy how women orgasm?
Hite spent the last decades of her life in Europe, away from the calumny she faced in America.
Hite had gone from being a name on everyones lips to a figure lost or erased from history.
In other words, Hite hasnt lost her political edge.
