Part 3, Scientia Sexualis Summary and Analysis

Various sex societies around the world focus on the ars erotica; in the erotic arts, pleasure is its own justification and the truth of sex is derives from pleasurable acts. The truth of sexual pleasure remains unanalyzed and secret because public analysis would destroy the physical pleasure and invalidate the experience. In these societies, acknowledged masters teach initiates sexual practice. In the Western cultures, the erotic arts have been replaced by scientia sexualis, or the science of sexuality.

The science of sex involves the rigid codification of pleasure and the source of sexual pleasure and utilizes methods of interrogation and inquest first derived from the Christian confessional. Thus, the pleasure of sex is found in the solicitation and discursive repetition of sexual sin. Western literature embodies this principle in the confessional novel, and the practice...