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THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE

By Nicole NEWNHAM

Documentary - Completed 2022

Shere Hite’s 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings rocked the American establishment and presaged current conversations about gender, sex

Festivals
& Awards

Sundance Film Festival 2023

U.S. Documentary Competition

- Year of production
- 2022
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- USA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Duration
- 116 mn
- Director(s)
- Nicole NEWNHAM
- Synopsis
- The Hite Report, a groundbreaking study of the intimate experiences of women, remains one of the bestselling books of all time since its publication in 1976. Drawn from anonymous survey responses, the book challenged restrictive conceptions of sex and opened a dialogue in popular culture around women’s pleasure. Its charismatic author, Shere Hite, a feminist sex researcher and former model, became the public messenger of women’s secret confessions. With each subsequent bestseller, she engaged television titans in unforgettably explicit debates about sexuality while suffering the backlash her controversial findings provoked. But few remember Shere Hite today. What led to her erasure?
  
  Digging into exclusive archives, as well as Hite’s personal journals and the original survey responses, filmmaker Nicole Newnham (Crip Camp, Audience Award: U.S. Documentary, 2020 Sundance Film Festival) transports viewers back to a time of great societal transformation around sexuality. Her revelatory portrait is a rediscovery of a pioneer who has had an unmistakable influence on current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy, as well as a timely, cautionary tale of what too often happens to women who dare speak out.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE

Festivals& Awards

Festivals
& Awards