Betty Dodson: Difference between revisions

{{short description|American sex educator (1929–2020)}}

| birth_place = [[Wichita, Kansas]], [[United States|U.S.]]

| death_place = [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], U.S.

'''Betty Dodson''' (August 24, 1929{{spnd}}October 31, 2020) was an American [[sex education|sex educator]]. An artist by training, she exhibited [[erotic art]] in [[New York City]], before pioneering the [[Sex-positive feminism|pro-sex feminist]] movement. Dodson's workshops and manuals encourage women to [[Masturbation|masturbate]], often in groups.

Betty Dodson was born in Kansas to her mother Bess Crowe Dodson whose family came from a Protestant background.<ref>https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crowe-2679</ref><ref>https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62049746/william-ellsworth-crowe</ref> Dodson went to New York City to train as an artist in 1950, and lived on [[Manhattan]]'s [[Madison Avenue]] sincefrom 1962.<ref name="GuardMay14">{{cite news|last=Theobold|first=Stephanie|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/05/masturbation-secret-to-a-long-life-betty-dodson-self-love|title=Masturbation: the secret to a long life?|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=May 5, 2014|access-date=March 7, 2015|archive-date=March 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318192158/http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/05/masturbation-secret-to-a-long-life-betty-dodson-self-love|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1959, Dodson married Frederick SternLief, an advertising director,; withthey the marriage ending in divorcedivorced in 1965.<ref name="GuardMay14"/> Dodson's quest for "sexual self-discovery" began after her divorce.<ref name="GuardMay14"/> Dodson held a first one-woman show of erotic art at the Wickersham Gallery in New York City in 1968.<ref>{{cite book|last=Allyn|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eP42DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA141|title=Make Love, Not War: The Sexual Revolution: An Unfettered History|date=May 23, 2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-134-93473-7|pages=141|language=en}}</ref> In 1987, her [[Ms. (magazine)|''Ms.'' magazine]] [[memoir]] and instructional series, ''Sex for One'', was published. [[Random House]] later published the work broadly, and it was translated tointo 25 languages.<ref name=":0" />

Dodson criticized [[Eve Ensler]]'s ''[[The Vagina Monologues]]'', which she believed has a negative and restrictive view of sexuality andwith an [[Misandry|anti-male]] bias.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://truthout.org/articles/betty-dodsons-feminist-sex-wars/|title=Betty Dodson's Feminist Sex Wars|first=Melissa Gira|last=Grant|website=Truthout|date=December 16, 2013 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322041644/https://truthout.org/articles/betty-dodsons-feminist-sex-wars/|archive-date=March 22, 2020|access-date=March 22, 2020}}</ref>

From the 1970s onwards, she organised ''[[Bodysex workshops]]''. Bodysex is a practice developed by Betty Dodson to help women connect with their bodies and [[erogenous zones]], heal [[shame]]s, improve [[pleasure]] perception, and promote [[self-love]]. In the workshops, women were guided to explore their bodies and masturbate together to learn, with guidance, ''how'' to have an [[orgasm]] as a woman alone and with a [[sexual partner]].<ref>Carlin Ross, Betty Dodson: ''Betty Dodson Bodysex Basics''. Betty Dodson Foundation, 24 February 2017. ISBN 978-0578190723.</ref> Her two-hour sessions featured 15 naked women, each using a [[Hitachi Magic Wand]] to aid in masturbation.<ref name="winks1997">{{citation|last1=Winks|first1=Cathy|last2=Semans|first2=Anne|contribution=''Profiles in pleasure: Betty Dodson'' &#124; Vibrators and partners|editor-last1=Winks|editor-first1=Cathy|editor-last2=Semans|editor-first2=Anne|title=The New Good Vibrations Fuide to Sex|title-link=The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex|pages=102, 154|publisher=[[Cleis Press]]|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|year=1997|isbn=9781573440691}}</ref> Dodson used the [[Hitachi Magic Wand]], a main-powered [[vibrator (sex toy)|vibrator]], in demonstrations and instructional classes to instruct women regarding self-pleasure techniques.<ref name="christophertrout">{{cite news|last=Trout|first=Christopher|title=The 46-year-old sex toy Hitachi won't talk about|url=https://www.engadget.com/2014/08/27/history-of-the-hitachi-magic-wand/|work=[[Engadget]]|date=August 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827183517/http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/27/history-of-the-hitachi-magic-wand/|archive-date=August 27, 2014|access-date=August 30, 2014}}</ref><ref name="westheimer">{{citationCite book|last=Westheimer|first=Ruth K.|author-link=Ruth K. Westheimer|contributionchapter=Savouring solo play and fantasy|editor-last=Westheimer|editor-first=Ruth K.|editor-link=Ruth K. Westheimer|title=Sex for Dummies|pages=204–206|publisher=Wiley|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|year=2007|isbn=9780470045237}}</ref> She provided a Magic Wand to each woman for these sessions.<ref name="dodson1996">{{citationCite book|last=Dodson|first=Betty|contributionchapter=Making love alone|editor-last=Dodson|editor-first=Betty|title=Sex for one: the joy of selfloving|page=154|publisher=Crown Trade Paperbacks|location=New York|year=1996|isbn=9780517886076}}</ref> She recommended women put a small towel over their [[vulva]] in order to dull the sensation of the vibrator and prolong the pleasurable experience.<ref name="kmkemp2003">{{cite journalmagazine|url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9810770/25-ways-have-your-best-orgasm-ever|title=25 ways to have your best orgasm ever!|first=K. M.|last=Kemp|journalmagazine=[[Marie Claire]]|date=June 2003|page=233|volume=10|issue=6|via=[[InfoTrac]]|publisher=Hearst Communications|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218144954/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9810770/25-ways-have-your-best-orgasm-ever|archive-date=February 18, 2017|access-date=February 18, 2017}}</ref> The essence of her method was to provide vaginal and clitoral stimulation at the same time.<ref>Betty{{Cite book|last=Dodson:|first=Betty |title=Orgasms for Two: The Joy of Partnersex |date=2003|publisher=Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale|isbn=978-1-4000-5203-5.}}</ref> Dodson taught thousands of women to achieve [[orgasm]] using this technique.<ref name="winks1997" /> Her technique became known as the Betty Dodson Method.<ref name="piastruck">{{cite journal|first1=Pia|last1=Struck|last2=Ventegodt|first2=Søren|title=Clinical holistic medicine: teaching orgasm for females with chronic anorgasmia using the Betty Dodson Method|journal=[[The Scientific World Journal]]|volume=8|pages=883–895|doi=10.1100/tsw.2008.116|pmid=18836654|pmc=5848654|date=2008 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 2014, she stated that she considered herself a [[fourth-wave feminist]], stating that the previous waves of feminist were banal and anti-sexual, which is why she has chosen to look at a new stance of feminism, fourth wave feminism. In 2014, Dodson worked with women to discover their sexual desires through masturbation. Dodson said her work has gained a support from an audience of young, successful women who have never had an orgasm. This includes fourth-wave feminists – those rejecting the anti-pleasure stance they believe [[third-wave feminism|third-wave feminists]] stand for.<ref>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Lydia|title=Betty Dodson and fourth-wave feminism: masturbation is key to longer life|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/betty-dodson-fourth-wave-feminism-masturbation-key-longer-life-1447536|work=[[International Business Times]]|date=May 7, 2014|access-date=May 12, 2014|archive-date=May 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511082917/http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/betty-dodson-fourth-wave-feminism-masturbation-key-longer-life-1447536|url-status=live}}</ref>

Dodson died on October 31, 2020, at the age of 91, from [[cirrhosis]] in a Manhattan [[nursing home]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://ekstrabladet.dk/sex_og_samliv/kys-og-kaerlighed/orgasme-pioner-doed/8351318|title=Orgasme-pioner død|website=Ekstra Bladet|access-date=November 2, 2020|language=da|archive-date=November 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102223514/https://ekstrabladet.dk/sex_og_samliv/kys-og-kaerlighed/orgasme-pioner-doed/8351318|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite news|last=Green|first=Penelope|date=November 3, 2020|title=Betty Dodson, Women's Guru of Self-Pleasure, Dies at 91|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/style/betty-dodson-dead.html |urllanguage=en-statusUS |work=live[[The New York Times]] |access-date=November 4, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

* {{Cite book |last=Dodson |first=Betty |urlyear=https://books.google.com/books?id=fa_BswEACAAJ1978 |title=Liberating Masturbation: A Meditation on Self Love |dateurl=1978https://books.google.com/books?id=fa_BswEACAAJ |publisher=Dodson |language=en}}

* {{Cite book |last=Dodson |first=Betty |year=1996 |title=Sex for One: The Joy of Selfloving |datelocation=1996New York |publisher=[[Random House|Crown Trade Paperbacks]] |isbn=0-517-88607-3|location=New York|oclc=15696491}}

* {{Cite book |last=Dodson |first=Betty |urlyear=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFImjQcChocC2003 |title=Orgasms for Two: The Joy of Partnersex |dateurl=2003https://books.google.com/books?id=lFImjQcChocC |publisher=Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale |isbn=978-1-4000-5203-5 |language=en}}

* {{Cite book |last=Dodson |first=Betty |year=2013 |title=Learn to Orgasm in 4 Acts |publisher=Betty A Dodson Foundation Incorporated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCmYDAEACAAJ|title=SexqpRYAQAACAAJ by Design: The Betty Dodson Story|date=2016|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|isbn=978-10-5308578-341212140-96 |language=en}}

* {{Cite book |last=Dodson |first=Betty |year=2016 |title=Sex by Design: The Betty Dodson Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qpRYAQAACAAJUCmYDAEACAAJ |titlepublisher=LearnCreateSpace toIndependent OrgasmPublishing inPlatform 4 Acts|date=2013|isbn=978-01-5785308-121403412-69 |language=en}}

* {{Cite book |last=Muscio |first=Inga |authorlink=Inga Muscio |date=March 13, 2018 |title=Cunt: A Declaration of Independence |edition=20th anniversary |others=Foreword by Betty Dodson |location=New York |isbn=978-1-58005-664-9|edition=20th anniversary|location=New York|oclc=1008762930}} (Foreword by Betty Dodson)

* {{Official website|http://dodsonandross.com}}

[[Category:People21st-century fromAmerican Manhattanwomen]]