The Disappearance of Shere Hite
The 1970s’ feminist and sex guru is restored to her true prominence in Nicole Newnham’s comprehensive documentary.
Until now Nicole Newnham was best known for the valuable, Oscar-nominated Crip Camp, a Netflix documentary about the disabled which she made with James Lebrecht in 2020. Now going it alone she turns her attention to very different subject matter but has once again given us a documentary that is worthy of an Academy Award. The new work aims to restore the reputation and status of Shere Hite who died in 2020. Back in 1976 it would have seemed impossible that Hite's importance would in time fade from view. In that year she published a book which caused a sensation and would come to be the 30th best seller of all time: The Hite Report on Female Sexuality took five years to prepare, reported on detailed responses to questionnaires about the sexual desires and experiences of women and played a major role in the efforts of feminists to change society’s attitude to women. Especially startling at the time was the emphasis on the pleasure that females could obtain from masturbation and the fact that clitoral stimulation could readily satisfy without a man being involved.
Other notable feminists of the time are as famous today as they were then, but Hite’s name virtually disappeared from sight. Newnham's film sets out to show why that happened and, in telling Shere Hite’s story, it not only uses past interview footage, news shots and personal photographs but is able to offer fresh interviews with many who knew her. They include friends, fellow feminists, editors and publishers while the soundtrack incorporates extracts from the writings of Shere Hite read by Dakota Johnson who is herself a co-producer of the film.
Although on the lengthy side at 118 minutes, The Disappearance of Shere Hite gives an effective account of her career proceeding beyond that initial success to record reactions to her follow-up books. One dealt with male sexuality while another, Women and Love, covered areas related to emotional needs that had not been included in her study of female sexuality. Newnham’s film is very persuasive in capturing the flavour of the times and in theorising as to why Hite became subjected to so much criticism. The original book had been controversial both for its frankness and for airing ideas about women's sexual desires previously not discussed. Nevertheless, it appeared at a moment when the women's movement was growing and at a time when liberal attitudes were increasing despite opposition. Hite herself was bisexual and a natural supporter of rights for lesbians and gays when they were being confronted by such reactionaries as Billy Graham and Anita Bryant. Hite declared that she wanted no labels, no repression.
In contrast to that, The Hite Report on Male Sexuality infuriated men far more widely because the men quoted in it frequently talked of the sad lack of emotional satisfaction in their sex lives. If developing demands for women's rights caused many men to embrace a macho outlook as a means of self-defence, it also meant that they were in denial of the views expressed by the men in this new book. To admit to them would in their eyes be an admission of their social inferiority. No wonder then that criticism erupted and that, fairly or not, it involved questioning the scientific validity of Hite's methods and challenged the statistics put forward. A comparably hostile reaction would apply again when Women and Love indicated that emotional frustration frequently led married women into infidelity. That suggestion caused outrage even though society readily accepted similar behaviour in men.
All of this is covered fully but perhaps on occasion too thoroughly. However, it is in the handling of Hite’s private life that the film is decidedly less adroit. It could be argued that to focus on the person as well as on the career was unnecessary, but the film’s approach is inconsistent. Early on it does give us an effective portrayal of Hite’s struggles to get by in New York when studying there with class and gender prejudice affecting her and leading to her to getting by through modelling work including nude posing for Playboy. Very much later in the film a brief earlier reference to a difficult childhood is expanded on. It is akin to an assertion that Hite’s history and character are indeed important to the film. Nevertheless, this woman, sometimes seen as lonely but also described as flamboyant, remains in personal terms rather elusive even if her intelligence is clear. An artist lover, Eric Rath, contributes at one point, yet her own love life is left vague. We do learn of her marriage in 1985 to Friedrich Höricke a German pianist younger than herself but nothing is said about it ending in 1999, nor do we hear a word about her second marriage. In contrast to that the film does show how increasing criticism in America wore her down leading to her leaving the country and giving up American citizenship but short sequences in London and Paris need more filling out to do justice to her later years. When most publishers were ignoring her, she did get a novel out in England. This was in 1994 and it was entitled Ariadne and Jupiter but of its contents and quality we are told nothing.
There can be no doubt that anyone with a keen interest in Shere Hite and her role in feminist history will appreciate this film. But, if it seems longer than it need be, it also paradoxically fails to deliver as much detail as one would wish in several areas. Nevertheless, even if it may be valid to question just how scientific Hite’s work was, there is no doubt but that it opened up fresh areas for discussion which would lead to significant changes in society and in the understanding of women's feelings about sex. The need to own one's body is a cry much heard today and Hite undoubtably contributed to that. Her significance is not to be doubted.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Karla Jay, Regina Ryan, Mike Wilson, Janet Wolfe, Iris Bosch, Martin Sage, Gene Simmons, Ed Rath, Bob Gotlieb, James Hamilton, Joanna Briscoe, Dylan Landis, Kay Whitlock and the voice of Dakota Johnson.
Dir Nicole Newnham, Pro Nicole Newnham, Molly O’Brien, R. J. Cutler, Elise Pearlstein, Kimberley Ferdinando and Trevor Smith, Screenplay Nicole Newnham, Ph Rose Bush, Ed Eileen Meyer, Music Lisbeth Scott.
This Machine/NBC News Studios/TeaTime Pictures-Dogwoof Releasing.
118 mins. USA. 2023. US Rel: 17 November 2023. UK Rel: 12 January 2024. Cert. 15.
