On the occasion of a meeting of the American Philosophical Association some years ago, hotel housekeepers were overheard commenting that in comparison with other conventioneers, philosophers 'don't screw very much, but they sure do drink a lot'. What the real if apocryphally reported housekeepers may not have noted - obliged as they were to be constantly cleaning up after those chaste philosophical revellers - is that philosophers do talk about sex. True, until fairly recently, 'professional philosophers' (themselves a recent invention) couldn't imagine that sex might be a topic they could wrap their professional tongues around. But this has given way to a recognition - albeit in some quarters still grudging - that since philosophy might have something to do with human life, and human life something to do with sex, maybe it's okay for philosophers to talk philosophically about sex, where 'sex' includes but is not limited to what philosophers might or might not engage in between bouts of boozing at conventions.

LRB 16 November 2000 | PDF Download